The Available Parent
Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Teenagers are left feeling unheard and misunderstood, and parents are left feeling bewildered by the changes in their child at adolescence and their sudden lack of effectiveness as parents. The parent has become unavailable, the teen responds in kind, and a negative, often destructive cycle of communication begins. Well, the truth of the matter is, you can physically be right next to someone and still not really be available to them. If you need them to be something they’re not, if you are harsh, criticizing and judging, if your anxiety is center stage, then you are not truly available. The available parent of a teenager is open to discussion, offering advice and problem-solving, but not insisting on it. He allows his child to make some mistakes, setting limits, primarily where health and safety are concerned. He never lectures – he is available but not controlling. The available parent is self-aware, and keeps his own emotions in check when dealing with his teen. He is unconditionally loving and accepting, and open to new and different ways of thinking. As such, he is neither cruel nor dismissive, ever. The available parent is fun and funny, and can bring levity to the most stressful situation. All of that is to say, there are no conditions to his availability – it is absolute. The available parent fosters an extraordinary teenager. We have a tendency today to over-parent, micro-manage, and under-appreciate our adolescents. Imagine for a moment shifting the dynamic in your relationship. If you can get there as a parent, you can begin to enjoy a healthy, satisfying, exciting new kind of relationship with your teenager, a relationship with a foundation not of fear, but of radical optimism. Dr. John Duffy's The Available Parent is a revolutionary approach to taking care of teens and tweens. And we can all breathe easier as a thirteenth birthday approaches.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Duffy's advice for parenting adolescents springs from radical optimism, a form of practical spirituality that recommends being open and available to the possibility of change, essentially exchanging fear and the need to control for hope and positive results. Duffy challenges parents to stop micromanaging and judging their kids and instead acknowledge and accept them the way they are, respect their boundaries and abilities, and let them know they have the power to master their own world. Only then can parents be truly available to provide discipline, direction, understanding, and love in an environment that fosters competence and resilience. Rather than focusing on the child's behavior, parents must look to their own, check their egos, and "be the change" that familiar self-help axiom. Part Two is especially straightforward because it explicitly lists what never works and why parents ought to stop lecturing, snooping, underestimating, judging, smothering, coddling, overindulging, bribing, playing good cop/bad cop, and waiting. This short book has plenty of sidebars, tips, dialogue, and anecdotes about difficult situations and how unconditional love and an "I'm here for you" message may help some adults help their teens, and, at the same time, ease their anxiety about being good parents. Although there really is nothing new, this book will show some overwhelmed parents how to calm down, let go somewhat, and maybe even enjoy being with their teens and tweens.
