Surviving the Teen Years
New parents are the recipients of all kinds of advice, both welcome and unsolicited. Even though hospitals don’t provide parents of newborns with an owner’s manual, there are plenty of good resources for help raising a baby, beginning with Dr. Spock. But people don’t seem to be as forthcoming or knowledgeable in terms of advice for raising a teen. Compared to teenagers, babies are easy to parent: they don’t talk back or ask to borrow the car keys, paint their hair purple or ask about birth control. Fortunately, parents today have an additional resource and one that is confidential too. Parents can find answers for even the most embarrassing questions that concern teens if they just look online. There are forums and support groups for parents on the internet also, offering constructive parenting tips if you have a son or daughter who is considering becoming sexually active, threatening to run away, or even if you suspect your child is experimenting with drugs.
