The Good Enough Teen: Raising Adolescents with Love and Acceptance (Despite How Impossible They Can Be)

Respected psychologist Dr. Brad Sachs helps parents to recognize their unrealistic expectations for their teenagers and to love, accept and nurture the family they have to its full potential. His approach frees them to discover acceptance of themselves and of their children.

The ages twelve to eighteen are often the most challenging and trying years for adolescents––and their parents. No other phase of life is characterized by so much physical and psychological change happening so quickly. And frequently the child parents had loved and understood becomes a teenager they hardly recognize––the child who loved music grows into a teen who wants to play video games rather than the piano; or the little girl who loved dolls becomes a teen who loves staying out with her older, rebellious boyfriend. The Good Enough Teen, however, shows you how to see your child's evolution as a window of opportunity––for you, for your child, and for your entire family. Rather than having you brace for your offspring's adolescence with your eyes shut and your jaw clenched, this book will help you to understand the invisible transformation teens are experiencing, as well as the ways in which your own adolescence intimately influences this understanding. You will find yourself better able to see even your child's most exasperating behaviours as steps in his or her striving towards maturity, rather than chronic problems or mean–spirited efforts designed to make you miserable.

The Good Enough Teen presents a developmental overview of what parents can expect from their children during adolescence, then delineates the five stages in the journey towards accepting a child for who he or she is. With prescriptive tools and strategies for parents, including checklists, quizzes, and exercises, and numerous case studies from the author's own practice, The Good Enough Teen is vital help for any parent with a teenager.