A Positive Approach to Raising Happy, Healthy and Mature Teenagers

Adolescence can be a time of great stress and turmoil-not only for kids going through it, but for their parents as well. It's normal for teens to explore a new sense of freedom and to redefine the ways in which they relate to their parents, and that process can sometimes leave parents feeling powerless, alienated, or excluded from their children's lives. These effects can be magnified even further in this modern age of social networks, cell phones, and constant digital distraction.

This newly revised and updated edition of Positive Discipline for Teenagers shows parents how to build stronger bridges of communication with their children, break the destructive cycles of guilt and blame that occur in parent-teen power struggles, and work toward greater mutual respect with their adolescents. At the core of the Positive Discipline approach is the understanding that teens still need their parents, just in different ways-and by better understanding who their teens really are, parents can learn to encourage both their teens and themselves, and instill good judgment without being judgmental. The methods in this book work to build vital social and life skills through encouragement and empowerment-not punishment. Truly effective parenting is about connection before correction.

Over the years, millions of parents have come to trust Jane Nelsen's classic Positive Discipline series for its consistent, commonsense approach to raising happy, responsible kids. This new edition is filled with proven, effective methods for coping with such parenting challenges as:

• Fostering truly honest discussions with your teen
• Helping your teen handle the online world
• Turning mistakes into opportunities
• Keeping your sanity while raising your teen-and making sure your own teenage issues aren't weighing you down
• Teaching your teen how to pursue the goal that make them happy...and a few that make you happy too (like chores)
• Making sure you're on your teen's side, and that they know that
• Avoiding the pitfalls of excessive control and excessive permissiveness

*Includes a downloadable PDF of charts from the book