How much independence should parents allow teenagers who claim rights and privileges but do not take responsibility, show excessive confidence and test the boundaries of discipline? To what extent should parents try to understand and accept changes in their adolescent child when he doesn't fully understand these changes himself? And how can parents cope with the physical changes and emotional challenges in their adolescent child? Margot Waddell offers helpful advice to parents whose children have reached the turbulent teenage years. From conflict management to addressing issues of bullying, stealing and same-sex friendships, she guides parents as they watch often helplessly how their children alternate between maturity and immaturity and wrestle with questions of identity on their journey to self-definition. The author also encourages parents to accept that they may come second in importance to their child's friends, may not be privy to secrets and may not even understand the language their child uses.This book provides practical and sensitive advice for parents to help them relate to and communicate with their child at a difficult time of transition, while being prepared to question what they thought they already knew about their son or daughter and about parenting.
