Most parents are worried about their daughter's teenage years: the emotional roller coaster, unpredictable behavior, tantrums and door-slamming, and of course the thousands of dangerous teenage parties. But it doesn't necessarily have to be this way! Adolescence is not an unexpected natural disaster: girls' development follows predictable patterns. If we understand what stations they have to go through, we immediately fall from the terrifying confusion into a much friendlier and more livable world - not only for us, parents, but also for our children.
Psychologist Lisa Damour maps the complicated world of adolescence and untangles the seemingly Gordian knot before our eyes: why is everything that happens to our daughter healthy and necessary, and when should we really start worrying? With real-life examples and the presentation of the latest research results, Tangles helps us understand how an adolescent says goodbye to childhood - and also offers clear, sane and useful advice for solving quite a few practical problems.
What should we do if our teenage daughter makes faces when we want to talk to her? How can we help him if he is madly nervous before a paper or an exam? Should we intervene if we find out that his girlfriend is cutting herself? How can we bring up issues like drugs or sex without being thought of as ironclad? Where is the line between healthy eating and an eating disorder?
Let's help her untangle the tangles, put order in our lives, and develop a good relationship with our daughter so that we can accompany her as happy, proud parents along the bumpy, challenging path of growing up!