Surviving Your Child's Adolescence: How to Understand, and Even Enjoy, the Rocky Road to Independence

Five Parental Adjustments to Their Child s Adolescence

1. The parent will be less fully informed: "I must get by on less information than I would ideally like to know."
2. The parent will find the relationship less compatible: "We do not share as much in common as we once did."
3. The parent will be left more alone: "I am no longer my child's favored company."
4. The parent will be less in charge: "I have less influence to get my way."
5. The parent will be in more opposition: "We have more frequent disagreements between us now."

Surviving Your Child's Adolescence is a parent playbook that helps turn adjustments like these into opportunities for staying connected as the push toward independence is causing teenager and parent to grow apart, which is what adolescence is meant to do.

Cartoon Visuals from author Carl Pickhardt

"If you want me to be more independent, just give me more support.""I already told you! I'm leaving. I'll be with friends. We're going to hang out. And I'll be back later. What more do you need to know?" "What do you mean 'inconsistent'? All I'm asking is for you to act grown up and remember you're still a child!"