While I am reading Born to Be Wild, I wanted to share with you one of my all time favorite books about teens: Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood , by Dr. Lisa Damour, director of the internationally renowned Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls. Published in February 2016, this book has it all! It's easy to read, has wonderful and pragmatic advice for parents, and it's based on real science!!! It's a must read for anyone with girls -to anyone with teens!
In the book, Dr. Damour discusses many subjects, but one of my favorite bits is about how parents can help their teenage daughters without saying anything at all. Teens, like everyone else, she says, need a safe space to complain. While it's tempting to step in and try and solve their problems, by doing this you can sometimes make them feel as if they are not being heard, or wind up arguing about the best solution to their problems.
Dr. Damour suggests stopping your daughter before she fully unloads and asking her , "Do you want help or do you need to vent? "
If she takes you up on your offer of help, she'll really listen to your suggestions. If she just wants to vent, you get the satisfaction of knowing that you are giving your child just what she needs. She will also learn that sometimes all you need to feel better is someone to listen and that you can be trusted to be that person!
Have you read this book? What did you think? What piece of advice did you love best?