(Review) A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens

PARENTING a teen today is more difficult compared to 20 years ago. However, here’s a new book to help today’s parents cope with and handle teen issues such as lying, ­hanging with the wrong crowd, spending too much time online, and ­falling grades, among others.
The teenage years can be a ­nightmare for many parents and Joani Geltman’s book is a timely and good guide to get the teen talking, listening, and behaving ­­­appropriately, both at home and while outside with friends.
Geltman covers some 80 areas of ­concern for those raising teenagers in a hyper­-­sexual, ­super-social, non-stop digital ­environment.
They include:
► How to protect against the invasion of social media and its influence on your child’s safety, social life, ­academics, and reputation;
► How to discuss drinking, drugs, and other harmful substances;
► What to say when discussing ­sexuality, sexting, date rape, online predators, and sexual ­harassment;
► What to watch for in regards to bullying, eating disorders, suicidal tendencies and depression;
► How to ensure your child is ­succeeding in school, despite the distractions of life;
► How to show your teen how his or her attitude and actions have ­consequences – and how to hold them accountable; and
► A four-step roadmap on how to argue and communicate with your teen.
Tackling teen problems and issues as well as parental confusion, the book offers quick ­answers and also solutions to dozens of ­behaviours that often drive parents crazy.
Geltman advises parents to act quickly, calmly, and ­knowledgeably, to stop their teen from spiralling out of control as well as to open up the lines of ­communication, and get them back to be a positive and ­responsible person.
Refreshingly honest and practical in her approach to teen ­problems, ­Geltman uses humour to difuse the conflict in parent-teen ­relationship.
In the process, she offers many practical strategies for parents to adopt in tackling teen issues.
As a leading parent ­expert, Geltman has four decades of experience in working with youth, ­including as a psychology ­professor, school ­counsellor and social worker, a family therapist, and a parenting coach.
She holds a Masters degree in social work from Washington University and has been quoted or published by USA Today, Psychology Today, Boston Globe and The Washington Post.
Parents of teens needing a ­supportive, insightful guide to help them through the pitfalls of their child’s toughest years should take a look at A Survival Guide to Parenting Teens.
This is one book that will offer parents , especially first-timers as well as seasoned ones, a lifeline to ­discharging their ­parental ­obligations.