The New Adolescence: Raising Happy and Successful Teens in an Age of Anxiety and Distraction

The New Adolescence by Dr. Christine Carter was even better than I had hoped. As the mom of a thirteen-year-old girl and an eleven-year-old boy, I have picked up a few parenting books in the past few years, and this was by far the best one of all. The author uses stories of her own kids and her friend’s to share great examples, which makes her advice memorable and keeps your attention. She covers a variety of topics that are important to me as a mom. It’s surprisingly comprehensive. Topics include tips on communication, how to influence your teens to set their own goals and be motivated to work towards them, and talking about tough subjects such as sex and drugs, with real-world suggestions that made me realize that conversations have to be much more specific to kids to help them anticipate complex situations they may be involved in and how to be ready to deal with them. She also covers suggestions on the use of technology. All of this is presented with a combination of research to back up her advice and real examples from her role as a mom to teenagers. This is a book that I will read more than once to absorb more the second time. Christine would be the friend you’d call for advice for all of your parenting dilemmas, if you could.