The ultimate guide to raising teens and tweens Strategies for unlocking your child's full potential

Former middle-school teacher Haddad reveals the secret strategies to raising successful, smart, and self-disciplined future adults. Using anecdotes from his years of teaching, his own childhood, and experience raising children, Haddad lays out ways to motivate, effectively discipline, and intervene in problematic behaviors exhibited by tweens and teens. The book is laid out in two parts: tools to encourage positive behaviors, and how to handle challenges that youths today may face in their journey toward adulthood. Haddad is clearly a proponent of authoritative parenting, where clear boundaries are set and maintained. A major repeating motif of the book also addresses nurturing acceptance and diversity in tweens and teens, so that they are able to interact with others in an empathetic and tolerant way. Haddad also does an excellent job of dissecting the unspoken problematic societal messages that youths receive, and helps readers understand how to strategically intervene to prevent these from limiting kids' full potential. A sensitive and thorough parenting manual that will help families navigate the muddy waters of adolescence with confidence.--Howerton, Erin Downey Copyright 2017 Booklist

Haddad, a middle school teacher, shares insightful strategies for parenting teens and tweens. Many children don't openly talk with their parents, so Haddad has designed his book to equip parents to be "supportive facilitators" who guide their children through life's various challenges. Haddad addresses such difficult situations as a child overtaking parental power, talking back, or failing to follow rules. The book is divided into two main parts: "Child Unlimited" and "Child Limiting." In part one, Haddad positively shares 10 strategies to help parents to raise "smart, successful, and self-disciplined" children, such as empathy and reflective listening, sharing power with one's child, choosing the right parenting style for each individual child, and motivation. By contrast, part two focuses on 10 troublesome topics, such as bullying, sex, substance abuse, and depression. Each chapter includes practical exercises for parents to follow, as well as personal stories that poignantly illustrate key points. This is a crucial, thoughtful guide that will aid any adults with responsibility for mentoring children between 10 and 19. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.