Surviving Your Adolescents: How to Manage and Let Go of Your 13-18 Year Olds

In this revised third edition, Phelan (1-2-3 Magic) offers parents a humorous and laid-back approach to dealing with adolescents. He argues that "society has not yet found a way to deal with the fact that prolonged dependence is insulting to young people … [and that the] inevitable result of prolonged adolescence in our culture is that teens will regularly feel irritation toward older folks and a sense of alienation from the society they are a part of." Replete with effective drama-laden cartoons, Phelan fully grasps the struggles parents face, and he does not mince words or sugar coat the issues. He firmly believes "the more hostility and distance there is…between parents and teenagers, the more frequently adolescents will act out their negative feelings in activities involving driving, drugs and alcohol, sex and risks on the internet." To avoid that, parents need to chillax, not take things personally, and put most adolescent behaviors into the MBA category (minor but aggravating).