The Essential Guide to the New Adolescence: How to Raise an Emotionally Healthy Teenager

Adolescence has always been a time of struggle for both children and parents, but in her twenty years of work as a psychologist, Ava L. Siegler has recognized that this stage of development is now beginning sooner and lasting longer for almost every child. Sometimes adolescence begins as early as nine, and it can endure into the twenties. Compounded by the fact that we live in an increasingly complex society, adolescence now incorporates a host of new issues with which parents must be prepared to help their children cope. Siegler teaches parents that while there is no such thing as a "typical teen," there are five categories into which adolescents do fit, each with different problems and solutions. She also addresses the five basic fears that teens face, and shows parents how to use what she calls the "Four C's" (compassion, communication, comprehension, competence) in talking to their kids. With a detailed case study for each type of adolescent, as well as dialogues parents can use to talk to their teens, The Essential Guide To The New Adolescence provides all the information parents need to help their kids navigate their way through adolescence.