Author(s): Gill Hines

Parenting

Do you find bringing up teenagers more of a pain than a pleasure? Do you find it hard to relate to their values and interests? Do you feel isolated from their new, more separate, lives? Raising teenagers can test parental love to breaking point, particularly if you have previously enjoyed a close and loving relationship. The child over whom you exercised near-total control has suddenly become taller than you, louder than you, with an inside knowledge of all your failings - and a sudden urge to point them out. What is more, this newly arrived creature may talk and dress in a way you find alien and tell you nothing - whilst needing ever-greater financial handouts. Parents of teenagers can feel very isolated and excluded. Help is at hand. Here is a really practical guide to help teenagers, their parents and the rest of the family. "Whatever!" will help you spot the joy in newly emerging adults, which can be obscured when you concentrate only on the difficulties. It will provide you with workable strategies for every situation, which you can put into practice immediately. You will wonder how you ever managed without this invaluable and insightful book.