Teenage years are a time of growth, new found independence, and stress for both teens and parents alike. The new books at the FCO library can help you and your family navigate through the teen years and support you in your journey with your teen.
Lisa Damour’s Untangled works to literally untangle the process of teenage girls as they manouver through the seven transitions into adulthood. Through the stages of Parting with Childhood, Joining a New Tribe, Harnessing Emotions, Contending with Adult Authority, Planning for the Future, Entering the Romantic World, and Caring for Herself. While the tendency of books about teenage girls tend to “tilt toward the dark side of adolescence” (Damour, i) and focus on the suffering done by and to teenage girls, this book works to untangle those ideas and provide a blueprint to her development making it easier to communicate and relate to her.
Nancy Jo Sales provides another look and map into the world of teenage girls in her book American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers. Social media is a driving force in most of our lives, and growing up in its world is something worth exploring. Sales criss-crosses the American nation to speak with girls about coming of age in a time of technology driven communication, a hyper-sexualized culture, and a confusing at best notion of feminist empowerment and in doing so captures what it means to be a girl in 2016. For families with sons and daughters, this is an informative read to help you support your teens negotiate unprecedented new challenges.
Finally, Barbara Coloroso’s the bully, the bullied and the not-so-innocent bystander leads readers on a journey “from Preschool to High School and Beyond: Breaking the Cycle of Violence and Creating More Deeply Caring Communities”. In doing so, Coloroso highlights the dangerous phenomenon of bullying in the present day and sets out to understand. Important for parents and teachers, most teens will be in one of the three outlined positions and it is important to be able to communicate with them effectively about their experiences.