I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers [Paperback]

Faith Conlon (Author), Gail Hudson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2005

Teenagers: they roam in packs, mope silently in their rooms, sneak out, talk back, sneer, yell, roll their eyes, and think their parents just might be the dumbest creatures on Earth. Raising a teen is perhaps the most challenging phase of childrearing, a time when kids push every known hot button and wreak havoc with carefully thought-out parenting strategies. I Wanna Be Sedated brings a sense of humor and perspective to some of the deepest worries of parents. Joyce Maynard explores the house rules for boy-girl sleepovers in "The Girlfriend Sleeps Over," Dan Glick writes about drug dilemmas in "I Definitely Inhaled." Debra Gwartney speaks candidly about every parent's worst nightmare in "Runaway Daughter." And, Anna Quindlen reflects upon her rapidly emptying nest in "Flown Away, Left Behind." Featuring dynamic, top-caliber writing, this delightful collection speaks to the challenging, exhilarating, and occasionally mind-blowing task of parenting teenagers.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Comforting a colicky baby sounds like a cakewalk in comparison to the tales in these essays. As Anna Quindlen puts it: "Those of you waiting for your babies to sleep through the night will be amazed at how quickly they come to sleep through the afternoon after a night out." Typical parental woes regarding teenage rebellion—mood swings, drugs, drinking, sex, and Marilyn Manson concerts--are all included.

Editors Conlon and Hudson chose to include several humorous pieces, most notably the one from Dave Barry, who chronicles his son's madcap solo trip to Europe. Despite Barry's hounding and reminders, the teen promptly lost his passport—during the flight to Frankfurt. But the humor serves to temper the most pervasive emotion in the collection—reluctance—as moms and dads bittersweetly watch, mostly helplessly, as their kids struggle to grow up and find their identities and independence. Any parent who's tired of being called "inadequate, clueless, or simply annoying" [p. 171] will find comfort hearing about the travails of these moms and dads.

Former Newsweek reporter Daniel Glick gives a heartfelt account of his "drug talk" with his son, a long-dreaded event since, as he puts it, "I definitely inhaled." His son's reaction? "I'm just glad you didn't lie to me 'cuz I wouldn't have believed that an old hippie like you never smoked dope." The standout essay is by Debra Gwartney, a mother of four from Eugene, Oregon, whose two oldest daughters repeatedly ran away: "they had to go and keep going until they decided to return." [p.189] A more fitting title for the anthology might be Janis Joplin's "Another Piece of My Heart." It's true these parents feel like they're going insane, as Joey Ramone sang, but as the teens here get tattooed, sneak lovers into the basement for overnight trysts, and blow off their college applications until the last possible second, their parents' souls are what suffer, even more so than their sanity. --Erica Jorgensen

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (March 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580051278
• ISBN-13: 978-1580051279
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Please, please sedate me!, July 1, 2005

By 

Cathy G. "Mom of 5 teens-and-older" (Olympia, WA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers (Paperback)

I don't know if I feel better or worse after reading this incredible book. I could see myself and my teenagers in so many of the stories. I'd laugh, I'd tear up, I'd holler to one of my three teens to "listen to this, sounds like us (you, me)"
This is must reading for every parent of teens, it is our lives. No family is perfect, nor even close, but it's so easy to think everyone else has it easier than we do.
We all have our struggles, most mutter through somehow.
It's just the getting there that's so roller-coaster.
Teenagers are so roller-coaster.
Great book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From one of the contributors to the anthology, May 7, 2005

By 

Marion Winik (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers (Paperback)

I just finished reading this book and I was wowed. First, as a parent gorging herself on a feast of rare, delicious honesty, thirty heaping platters of truth and solace and fellow-feeling. Second, as a devotee of the essay form, I was pleased to encounter so many favorite names and to be introduced to so many exciting new ones. Third, as a contributor - proud to see my work in this setting.

I think the essay I most needed to read as a parent was Stevan Allred -- and I had similar grateful responses to Daniel Glick's, Gail Hudson's and Debra Gwartney's strong and brave work. What a freaking relief it all was. Even just the little detail in Roberta Israeloff's, about the backpack dropped by the door and left to sit till the next morning on departure -- did me a world of good. The editors did an amazing job in the tough area of humor: Chast and Barry are the gold standard, of course, and Cameron's opener is perfect. The exquisite writing in Hal Ackerman's poem and Anna Viadero's piece -- as well as the Erdrich and the Lyons essays (I love this Lyons guy - I love all the dads) -- make the last section an incredibly lyrical salvo. Laura Smith Porter got it just right (I have a band here too), as did Joyce Maynard (Ditto condoms and girlfriends), and what a great last line by Anna Quindlen.

Hudson and Conlon have done a stand-out job, shedding equal light on the scary lonely parts of this job and the funnest-ever Marx brothers camaraderie of it.

Buy two - I've already given both of mine away.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars we're not alone!, April 13, 2006

By 

J. Motroni - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers (Paperback)

Reading this book came at a time I was feeling overwhelmed with teenage issues and it gave me a sense of perspective that I sorely needed.