4/7/2011 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.

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

7 Things Your Teenager Won’t Tell You: And How to Talk About Them Anyway by Jenifer Lippincott, Robin M. Deutsch 

Yes, Your Teen is Crazy!: Loving Your Kid Without Losing Your Mind by Michael J. Bradley

Staying Connected To Your Teenager: How To Keep Them Talking To You And How To Hear What They’re Really Saying by Michael Riera

WHY Do They Act That Way?: A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen by David Walsh, Nat Bennett (Contributor)

No: Why Kids–of All Ages–Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It by David Walsh  

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

Positive Discipline for Teenagers by Jane Nelsen Ed.D. (Author), Lynn Lott

Your Defiant Teen: 10 Steps to Resolve Conflict and Rebuild Your Relationship by Russell A. Barkley PhD ABPP ABCN, Arthur L. Robin PhD 

Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager: 7 Steps to Reestablish Authority and Reclaim Love by Scott P. Sells