Recommended Reading for Parents of Teens

There are lots of helpful resources on parenting adolescent girls!

Below is a list of the books I most commonly recommend on various topics, from making sure our own negative “stuff” doesn’t impact our kids, to dealing with technology, to addressing uncomfortable topics like sex, to understanding what is considered “normal” behavior and expectations for teens developmentally.

Let me know in the comments which ones you’ve read and recommend yourself!

General Parenting:

  • The Awakened Family:  How to Raise Empowered, Resilient, and Conscious Children by Dr. Shefali Tsabary

  • The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Wendy Mogel, Ph.D.

  • The Conscious Parent:  Transforming Ourselves, Empowering Our Children by Dr. Shefali Tsabary

  • Grit by Angela Duckworth

  • How to Raise an Adult:  Break Free of the Overparenting Trap & Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims

  • Overloaded and Underprepared, Strategies for Stronger Schools and Healthy, Successful Kids by Denise Pope, Maureen Brown, and Sarah Miles

  • Parenting from the Inside Out, How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive by Daniel Siegel, MD and Mary Hartzell, M. Ed.  

  • Permission to Parent, How to Raise Your Child with Love and Limits by Robin Berman, MD

  • The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine, PhD

  • Punished by Rewards, The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, As, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn

  • Triumphs and Tragedies, A True Story of Wealth and Addiction, the Life Story of Karl B. McMillian, Jr.  by Bill Hayes and Jennifer Thomas

  • UnSelfie, Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About Me World by Michele Borba, Ed. D.

Mindset, Forgiveness, Perfectionism:

  • Daring Greatly, How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brene Brown, Ph.D, LMSW

  • The Gifts of Imperfection, Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brene Brown, Ph.D., LMSW

  • Mindest, the New Psychology of Success, How we Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.

  • Mindfulness for Beginners by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Eating/Body Image Issues:

  • The Golden Cage, the Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa by Hilde Bruch, M.D.

Sexuality:

  • Will Puberty Last my Whole Life? REAL answers to REAL questions from Preteens About Body Changes, Sex, and Other Growing-Up Stuff by Julie Metzger, RN, MN, and Robert Lehman, MD

  • s.e.x.  the all-you-need-to-know sexuality guide to get you through your teens and twenties by Heather Corinna

  • Girls & Sex, Navigating the New Landscape by Peggy Orenstein (also good for parents of sons)

Digital Citizenship:

  • Media Moms & Digital Dads,  A Fact-not-fear Approach to Parenting in the Digital Age by Yalda T. Uhls, Ph.D.

Finances

  • Raising Financially Fit Kids by Joline Godfrey

Adolescent Development:

  • Brainstorm:  The Power & Purpose of the Teenage Brain by Daniel Siegel, MD

  • The Teenage Brain:  A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising an Adolescents & Young Adults by Frances E. Jensen & Amy Ellis Nutt

Girl Specific:

  • American Girls:  Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales

  • Under Pressure:  Confronting the Epidemic of Stress & Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour, PhD

  • Untangled:  Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions Into Adulthood by Lisa Damour, PhD

Teens/Adolescents, Parenting, Mental Health ResourcesLeah NiehausComment