Books on Parenting Teens: My Recommendations

I’m an avid reader, enjoying everything from classic American literature to true crime. But nothing is more interesting to me than understanding my children and improving my parenting skills—and finding out if it’s even possible to change your behaviors in order to help your kids. Parenting teenagers is especially cumbersome because they turn into creatures you don’t even recognize. You have all the proof that they’re your child—stretch marks, baby pictures, bags under your eyes—but you just don’t recognize their unfamiliar, outrageous behaviors. So, I do a lot of reading to get me through.

Besides used book stores, I have a very-much-used account at Amazon.com, where I buy most of my books great and small. Among the parenting volumes I have read, these are some of the standouts, all available in paperback. (P.S. Amazon’s prices are great, which is important when you tend to buy so many books.) There are detailed summaries and reviews on Amazon for all of these books,

Helping Your Troubled Teen: Learn to Recognize, Understand, and Address the Destructive Behavior of Today's Teens and Preteens

Cynthia S Kaplan, Blaise Aguirre, Michael Rater  

Strained Relations: Help for Struggling Parents of Troubled Teens

Marcia Stein

Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall: A Parent's Guide to the New Teenager, Revised and Updated

Anthony E. Wolf Ph.D.

Staying Connected To Your Teenager: How To Keep Them Talking To You And How To Hear What They're Really Saying

Michael Riera


7 Things Your Teenager Won't Tell You: And How to Talk About Them Anyway

Jenifer Lippincott, Robin M. Deutsch  

Yes, Your Teen is Crazy!: Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind

Michael J. Bradley

Staying Connected To Your Teenager: How To Keep Them Talking To You And How To Hear What They're Really Saying

Michael Riera

WHY Do They Act That Way?: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen

David Walsh, Nat Bennett (Contributor)

No: Why Kids--of All Ages--Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It

David Walsh  

Stop Negotiating With Your Teen: Strategies for Parenting Your Angry, Manipulative, Moody, or Depressed Adolescent

Janet Sasson Edgette

Positive Discipline for Teenagers

Jane Nelsen Ed.D. (Author), Lynn Lott

Your Defiant Teen: 10 Steps to Resolve Conflict and Rebuild Your Relationship

Russell A. Barkley PhD ABPP ABCN, Arthur L. Robin PhD 

Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager: 7 Steps to Reestablish Authority and Reclaim Love

Scott P. Sells