Your Defiant Teen, First Edition: 10 Steps to Resolve Conflict and Rebuild Your Relationship

When your teen’s rebellious behavior “crosses the line,” how can you reestablish your authority without getting caught in a power struggle? Bestselling authors and distinguished psychologists Russell Barkley and Arthur Robin have each spent decades helping parents and kids resolve standoffs and repair their relationships. Now they’ve distilled their approach into a clinically proven self-help program that can help you break through to your teen and rebuild trust. Centered around 10 simple steps that lead to better behavior, Your Defiant Teen provides practical guidelines for putting an end to the hostilities. You’ll learn realistic ways to foster mutual respect, introduce cooperative problem solving, and strengthen family relationships--while giving your teen vital skills for becoming a mature, independent adult. Publishers Weekly Barkley, research professor of psychiatry at SUNY-Syracuse Medical University and author (with Benton) of Your Defiant Child , and Robin (director of psychology training at Children's Hospital of Michigan) share between them 60 years of clinical and research experience studying the defiant behavior of children and adolescents. The first part of their comprehensive defiance-busting system helps parents define and assess the problem. The authors provide a chart to help readers gauge their child's behavior, then outline four factors that contribute to defiance: the teen's and parents' characteristics (which are unchanging), stress (which can be alleviated somewhat) and parenting style (which can be substantially modified). Part Two delves into the principles for reversing or preventing defiance, with sections on "one-on-one" time (including how to accomplish this with an uninterested teen), managing behavior and choosing appropriate punishments and rewards, to name a few. Without placing blame, the authors reveal that parents often unwittingly make a bad situation worse; the text gives solid tips on how to work toward a positive outcome and offers a variety of scenarios, demonstrating precisely how a parent's words and actions can be the source of a teen's compliant or defiant response. In the end, the authors offer a useful and detailed approach that respects the rights and expectations of parents and teens. (Feb.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information When teen behavior crosses the line, frazzled parents need a reliable source of expert advice to help them take the situation in hand. Now they have one. Russell A. Barkley and Arthur L. Robin--award-winning researchers and coauthors of a leading book on defiant teens for therapists--have created a clinically proven self-help program that parents can use to restore order and rebuild trust. Describing 10 simple steps that lead to better behavior, Your Defiant Teen demonstrates how to establish common ground, encourage mutual respect, and introduce cooperative problem solving--all without escalating the struggle for control. Much more than just a way to keep the peace, Drs. Barkley and Robin offer parents a means to teach their teenagers skills that will serve them well for a lifetime. Includes helpful reproducible checklists and forms