#70 -Your Teenager is Not Crazy - Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark

Title:   Your Teenager is Not Crazy

Author:  Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark

Genre:   Non-Fiction

Read by:  the authors

Publisher/Date:  Baker Publishing Group/2016

Dates listened to:   10/25/17 – 11/12/17

Downloadable Audio Book/Time:  10:30 hours

I like what the library review has to offer about this book – “As God allows us to understand the mystery and marvel of brain science, we have the exciting opportunity to reexamine our assumptions about human behavior.  Perhaps nowhere does this impact our lives more profoundly than when we think about raising children, especially teenagers.  Where parents often see a sweet boy or girl who has morphed into an incomprehensible bundle of hormones and angst, what we really ought to be seeing is an amazing young adult whose brain is under heavy construction.  And changing the way we see our teens will revolutionize our relationships with them.  Organized by what we hear teens say things like I'm bored , You just don't understand , Why are you freaking out?, I hate my life! , or Hold on . . . I just have to send this.  This book helps parents develop compassion for their teens and discernment in parenting them as their brains are progressively remodeled. Rather than seeing the teen years as a time to simply hold on for dear life, Dr. Jeramy and Jerusha Clark show that they can be an amazing season of cultivating creativity, self-awareness, and passion for the things that really matter.”

These two authors take you through many aspects of a teen’s life – from puberty to dating to health issues like sleep, drugs, self-harm.  Each chapter is divided into three subjects – Biology 101, Faith 101 and Psychology 101.  The information the authors provide is based upon their own experiences, studies and other works they cite relative to the chapter.  Faith may include Biblical citations, since these authors are Christian.

While the book is geared to parents of teenagers, I found myself thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to begin checking this book out before your kid(s) turn 13.  I’m thinking of recommending it to our daughter and son-in-law who are quite competently parenting our 9 and a half year old granddaughter who is going on 16!