What Are You Doing in There?
Balancing Your Need to Know With Your Adolsecent's Need to Grow
-
- $4.99
-
- $4.99
Publisher Description
The "middler years," ages ten through fifteen, have always been characterized by an urge for independence and secrecy from parents. But these days, that secrecy can lead to more danger than ever before. Tackling the frustrations and fears of parenting in a world where cyber predators make headlines every day and "normal" adolescents act out in ways that beg the question "Where were the parents?", What Are You Doing in There? presents a new way of approaching a child's private life.
In their inimitable, candid style, Charlene Giannetti and Margaret Sagarese offer a variety of strategies for staying informed without resorting to snooping, eavesdropping, or other embarrassing KGB-like tactics. Within each of a child's six privacy zones—bedroom, friends, romance, school, body, and the Internet—Giannetti and Sagarese educate parents about common cover-ups and how to establish limits that enhance a spirit of mutual respect within the household. Exploring not just whether to worry, but how to go about getting honest answers, What Are You Doing in There? charts a course designed to instill maturity that will last well beyond the middler years.
The media constantly exhort parents to find out what the kids are really up to. Now there's finally a common-sense guidebook for addressing suspicions—without doing more harm than good.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Giannetti, a journalist, and Sagarese, a former teacher, explain how to strike a balance between giving adolescents privacy and knowing what's going on in their lives in this smart guide to parenting. Identifying"privacy zones" (bedroom, friends, romance, school and the Internet), they offer advice on many specific aspects of raising teenagers. The authors, who have written four previous parenting books together, are thorough in their coverage and reassuring, too ("Calm down. Most of the adolescent population is not destined for terror or plotting secret lives. Choosing a parenting style that smacks of constant surveillance is overreacting"). They suggest parents treat their kids' bedrooms with an anthropological eye--"think of it as an archaeological dig"--and express interest in items around the room, such as movie ticket stubs. They also tell parents to learn their children's screen names (for chatting online) and limit him or her to one. The book's savvy advice and heartening tone make it a valuable resource.
