some books or sites to help me understand my 12 1/2 year old dd better. She seems to be a normal preteen but I would like to know what is normal, accepted, unusual, ways to converse, ways not to converse, when to push, when to give her space, etc.
Any recommendations?
TIA

By Pamt on Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 09:29 pm:

I'll ask my dh when he gets home later tonight. He's a youth minister and reads a lot of books about parenting and communicating with teenagers. He's also VERY good at it--he can get a teenaged boy even to open up about deep emotional stuff pretty easily. It amazes me how he does it. Just a quick look at our bookcase and I see "Five Cries of Parents: New Help for Families on the Issues that Trouble Them Most" by Merton and Irene Strommen and "Real Teens" by George Barna. George Barna is a statistician and his book is a compilation of many survery he has done to detect trends among the things teens do, think, dream, etc. Flipping through "5 Cries" and it outlines the 5 cries as being 5 areas in which parents have strong desires for their teens in the areas of :understanding, close family, moral behavior, shared faith, and outside help. More info later

By Marcia on Sunday, November 16, 2003 - 11:11 pm:

Barbara Coloroso's book is excellent! It deals with kids of all ages. I can't think of the name off hand, but I think it might be Kids are Worth It, or something like that.

By Mommmie on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - 03:06 pm:

I've heard Queen Bees and Wanna Be's is good as is The Wonder of Girls.