Field Guide To The American Teenager: A Parent's Companion - Softcover

Riera, Michael; Diprisco, Joseph; Michael Riera, Ph.D.; Joseph Di Prisco, Ph.D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0738205192 ISBN 13: 9780738205199

Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2001

Synopsis

Addressing the isolation, fear, and silence parents endure during their child's adolescence, authors Michael Riera and Joseph Di Prisco get beyond the stereotypes to expertly guide parents to a better appreciation of their teenager's frustrating if not completely troubling behavior.Through stories and conversations, Field Guide to the American Teenager dramatizes teens living their lives on their own terms, illuminating for bewildered and sometimes beleaguered parents what is extraordinary in the ordinary reality of everyday teenage life. Complete with suggestions for parents to improve communication, Field Guide lets parents stand briefly in their teenager's shoes, ultimately guiding families toward genuine mutual respect and understanding.

About this title

Review:

While the Field Guide to the American Teenager offers titular hope of guidance for the parents of teens, a more accurate title would be "Field Observations of the American Teenager." Authors and educators Michael Riera and Joseph DiPrisco, both Ph.D.s, present insights into many issues that are commonly confronted by teens today: drug use, weapons at school, homosexuality, romance, eating disorders, and race relations, to name a few. But rather than confronting the issues with a laundry list of do's and don'ts, the authors try to help readers understand what teens are thinking and why they act as they do. A discussion of date rape, for instance, doesn't offer any specifics on how to help teens avoid this situation; instead, it looks at why teens choose to engage in the kind of risk-taking behavior that might lead to date rape. "What is frightening about adolescence," they write, "is how close to the margins of irreparable damage and loss teenagers routinely place themselves, how close they come to the shore of no return." These types of observations aren't necessarily reassuring to parents who may be looking for a pat formula to help them navigate the teen years. Many chapters, with titles like "Drinking and Driving" or "Race and Adolescence," have little to do with the named topics. Instead, the authors use such topics as jumping-off points for discussions of underlying issues like trust, communication, self-esteem, integrity, friendship, ambiguity, peer pressure, and responsibility.

Any parent who has raised a teen knows that there is no one formula for success. Field Guide will help parents better understand their teens--but it leaves the hard work of finding parenting strategies that fit a particular teen firmly in the hands of the parent. --Virginia Smyth

About the Author:

Michael Riera, Ph.D., has worked in education since 1980. The author or co-author of four other popular parenting books including Field Guide to the American Teenager and Uncommon Sense for Parents of Teenagers, he is the family and adolescent correspondent on "The CBS Early Show." He has also appeared on "Oprah," "Today," "The View," and "48 Hours." He lives in Berkeley, California. Joseph Di Prisco, Ph.D., is an educator and writer who has taught for more than twenty years in public, independent, and Catholic schools, middle school through college. He lives in Berkeley, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0738205192
• ISBN 13: 9780738205199
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336