How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years

"You never listen to anything I say!"

Yesterday, your child was a sweet, well-adjusted eight-year-old. Today, a moody, disrespectful twelve-year-old. What happened? And more important, how do you handle it? How you respond to these whirlwind changes will not only affect your child's behavior now but will determine how he or she turns out later. Julie A. Ross, executive director of Parenting Horizons, shows you exactly what's going on with your child and provides all the tools you need to correctly handle even the prickliest tween porcupine.

• Find out how other parents survived nightmarish tween behavior--and still raised great kids
• Break the "nagging cycle," give your kids responsibilities, and get results
• Talk about sex, drugs, and alcohol so your kid will listen

• Discover the secret that will help your child to disregard peer pressure and make smart choices--for life "This excellent book lets parents peek into the underlying, confusing thoughts and perplexing decisions that young tweens are constantly facing."
  --Ralph I. López, M.D., Clinical Professor or Pediatrics, Cornell University, and author of The Teen Health Book

Contenu

Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. "You never listen to me anymore. I hate my life!" Middle Schoolers: Hormonal, Disorganized, and Defiant
2. "You have no idea how much stress I'm under!" The Overwhelmed "Slacker"
3. "OKAY I get it! I'm not a baby anymore." How To Break The Nagging Cycle And Turn Responsibility Over To Your Middle Schooler
4. "But everyone in my grade is doing it!" Peer pressure and Changing Values
5. "I'm going in my room and I'm never coming out!!" Dealing with Defiance
6. "Just let me finish this 'level', ok?" The Computer "Addiction"
7. "I can't do it. I want you to help me!" Encouraging Self-Esteem and Independence
8. "I'm going out: see ya later!" The Push for Independence
9. "Why are we talking about this? I mean really, I just ate!" Talking about Sex, Drugs and Alcohol
10. "I hate her. She's the worst sister in the whole world!" Sibling Rivalry: A New Level of Competition
11. "I'm so lucky that you're my mom." How a relationship approach affects life after Middle School
    References
    Index