Making Sense of Your Teenager (Parent & Child) [Paperback]

Lawrence Kutner (Author)

Book Description

Series: Parent & Child | Publication Date: April 1, 1998

The Fascinating, Frustrating,: and Confusing Evolution of Adolescence

As youngsters reach adolescence, they change both physically and emotionally. Overnight, a teenager becomes a mass of contradictionsan enigma to confound even the best of parents. Now Dr. Lawrence Kutner, the "Ask the Expert" columnist for Parents magazine, offers the latest advice on effectively handling the tumultuous teen years.

In MAKING SENSE OF YOUR TEENAGER, the final volume in Dr. Kutner's Parent & Child series, the author gives reasonable and practical advice to help parents navigate the rocky teen years. From puberty, dating, and appearance to eating disorders, depression and sexuality, Dr. Kutner emphasizes communication, limit-setting, and freedom of expression as the keys to a healthy parent-teen relationship.

FOLLOWING HIS GUIDANCE, PARENTS LEARN HOW TO HELP TEENS:

Cope with the changes of puberty
Respond to peer pressure
Avoid risky behaviors: alcohol, drugs, smoking and sex
Argue productively
Handle dating and their first breakup
Realize their college and career aspirations
and much more!

With Dr. Kutner's illuminating and sound insights, MAKING SENSE OF YOUR TEENAGER is the only guide parents need to help their teenage children grow into happy, well-adjusted young men and women.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The first challenge of a parenting book is gaining the readers' trust. In Making Sense of Your Teenager, Lawrence Kutner does just that--his is the wise, humorous, benign voice of experience. Especially interesting insights are included in the sections on cosmetic surgery, religious challenges, and reacting to a teenager's erotic experimentation. The chapter titled "Risky Behaviors: Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking, and Sex" is solid and positive. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A noted psychologist, columnist, and author (Pregnancy and Your Baby's First Year, LJ 1/93), Kutner once again gives parents sound advice?this time regarding the parent-teen relationship. In the fourth and final book in his "Parent & Child" series, he offers insight into teenage behaviors that on the surface are confused, contradictory, and awkward?actions that, in fact, reflect the adolescent's grappling with such issues as self-identity, bodily changes, romantic attractions, and peer pressure. With an emphasis on the importance of communication and understanding, Kutner's advice to parents is at once intelligent, practical, and witty. Pervading his comments on potential problems is his positive and reassuring attitude about the teen years. While acknowledging that "life with teenagers is an adventure," Kutner reminds parents to "hang on and enjoy the ride"; fortunately, he provides a road map that will help them make the trip without a serious breakdown. Essential for libraries with strong childrearing collections.?Pamela W. Bellows, Northwestern Connecticut Community-Technical Coll. Lib., Winsted
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380713551
• ISBN-13: 978-0380713554
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,257,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D., one of the best-known psychologists in North America, is the executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation near Washington, DC. Prior to joining that foundation in 2009, he was on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he was founder and co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital.

For seven years he wrote the "Parent & Child" column for the New York Times, which was syndicated to approximately 350 newspapers around the world. He also was the "Ask The Expert" columnist in Parents Magazine.

In 1990 he received the National Psychology Award from the American Psychological Association, citing his New York Times column as the best writing about psychology in the country. In 2008 the APA gave him its Award for Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Media Psychology.

He lives with his wife, Dr. Cheryl K. Olson, outside of Washington, DC. They have a son who's in college.