Family Therapy: Parenting Teens with Love and Logic

Schools will be re-opening from summer vacation by the end of August.  This past weekend, I returned from a visit to Washington DC sitting next to a father of four on the plane.  He clearly is happily married and so appreciative of his spouse's parenting style with their kids, focusing on how to foster autonomy and smart decision making as each grows older (their eldest begins high school this Fall).  

The conversation was a wonderful reminder to encourage any of the parents of the youth with whom I work to ensure reading Foster Cline and Jim Fay's book Parenting Teens with Love and Logic.  The themes focus on building critical thinking skills for adolescents combined with the reinforcement of loving, supporting boundaries that will require enforcing consequences.  Vignettes clarify many of the principles reviewed in the book.

I greatly appreciate any parent or set of co-parents that commit to supportive and engaging participation in family consultation sessions when working with teenage clients.  This text is an absolute must read for any parent raising a child who attends middle school or high school.  Enjoy the last few weeks of summer vacation - and find a little time (even on the beach or in a hammock) for reading Parenting Teens with Love and Logic.