THE PARENT-TEEN CONNECTION

Raising teens can be tough, but counselor Caso’s practical guide aims to help.

The author, a family counselor with 20 years of experience, offers a helpful manual to help parents, stepparents, and other caregivers forge stronger bonds with teenage kids. She draws on illustrative stories from her practice and from her own life as a parent to explore the changes that emerge in adolescence: “Many teens who come to my office tell me, ‘We don’t talk about how we feel at home. I would like to feel closer to both of my parents,’” she reveals. The book also addresses LGBTQ+ issues, communication styles, common barriers to a feeling of belonging, and how to break cycles of negative interaction: “Often parents come into family therapy to discuss rules and what a teen isn’t doing well,” Caso writes. “Teens come to therapy wanting to discuss the relationship. I see this dichotomy over and over again in sessions.” If caregivers work to listen without judgment and empathize, this book asserts, they can foster closeness, trust, and transparency. Ideally, teens  will feel safe sharing their emotions and learn lessons they can carry into future relationships. Caso notes that it’s up to adults to lead the way with conscious, continual effort, but that it’s well worth it. The book packs a lot of material into fewer than 200 pages; as a result, it can feel disjointed at times, with some passages, such as the one addressing gender expression, only skimming the surface of its topic. That said, the guide provides readers with concrete steps to take, backed by solid, cited research, and it does so in a conversational manner that’s consistently positive and uplifting. Readers will be encouraged by the insightful questions that close each chapter, which are designed to help readers implement the lessons. However, the author might have considered using boxes and bullet points to break up the text, as solid, unbroken walls of words can be intimidating in a self-help format.

A wide-ranging guide to understanding and cultivating better relationships with teenagers.