HOW TO SURVIVE YOUR CHILD'S REBELLIOUS TEENS: New Solutions for Troubled Parents

by Myron Brenton ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 1979

A well-modulated approach to parenting teenagers, which espouses the principles of Families Anonymous. Founded by the parents of some addicts in California, Families Anonymous offers group support and basic guidelines: keep rules to a minimum but make them count. It's a low-keyed approach with some of the religious overtones of AA; designed to offset the helplessness and hopelessness many parents of teenagers feel, it also incorporates into its program the findings of current researchers--Chess and Thomas on temperament, for example, or the Offers on parental influence. Parents who subscribe to the self-help group's program begin by taking a personal inventory and then learn ways to make their disapproval known--calmly, clearly, firmly, and consistently. Brenton gives short case histories to dramatize each point--manipulative teenagers, effects on siblings, etc.--in an accessible enough fashion, and he does not gloss over the more agonizing circumstances: drugs, promiscuity, violence, runaways. But be advised: Families Anonymous does recommend that recalcitrant children be sent away from home: ""release with love"" may mean enforced early independence for older teenagers--a strategy some readers will find realistic, others pessimistic. Overall, a clear enunciation of Families Anonymous tactics.

Pub Date: March 12, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION