Life on the Other Side

As parents, we are often guilty of wishing stages and phases away, constantly looking forward to the next one, which we believe has to be easier than our current reality. But then we discover that the new stage isn't any easier; it's just a different kind of hard. Never is this more true than when parenting teenagers. Yes, they can dress themselves and wipe their own butts, but our teens still need us in many ways, even if they don't want to admit it.

Life on the Other Side, Parenting Teens and Beyond invites readers to explore the sometimes-stressful and often confusing realities of living with teenagers. It gently offers the kind of advice you might expect to find while chatting with a good friend, one who not only has been there, but who has also spent thousands of hours reading academic research papers and interviewing education and health experts. Organized by stage and topic of concern, this book shares tips on having the hard conversations while allowing readers to take small bites of wisdom whenever they can.

Each chapter includes stories from the author's life and actionable advice to help parents improve their relationships with their teens. The author relies not only on her own experiences, but also on interviews with other parents, doctors, educators, and mental health experts, as well as in-depth research on issues such as living with technology; talking about sex, drugs, alcohol, and gambling; and changing family dynamics, particularly as our kids start to grow up and move into adulthood.

Parenting teens is hard. This book aims to help parents build strong relationships by sharing intel on what comes next as well as tips to foster the close relationships we ultimately want to have with our grown kids.