Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139465 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 172 pages

Customer Reviews

Surprise! A helpful parenting book!
A few things I need to mention at the beginning of this review:

1) I typically hate parenting advice book. Usually they seem to be written by people with no kids but lots of degrees, and either state what is plain common sense (i.e. waste of time) or go against what is plain common sense (i.e. poor or even dangerous advice).

2) I really hate parenting advice books by psychologists. They often reject the common wisdom handed down from generation to generation in favor of the latest fads in academia - fads created by those with no real connection to the realities of raising kids in the real world. If you want to raise your kids in a test tube, their advice may work, but for the rest of us, they are useless and possibly counter-productive.

So I never read books like "Good Discipline, Great Teens", but my wife was able to get me to read this one after she had heard Dr. Guarendi speak at a conference. She promised it would be engaging, funny, and full of practical advice. Boy, was she right! Dr. Guarendi writes in a style that is down-to-earth and quite hilarious at times. Even better, the advice he gives, while backed by his own work as a clinical psychologist, supports the common wisdom of generations of parents. Nothing he writes is necessarily "new", but by reading this book, one is given the support to be a confident parent in face of a culture that undermines strong parenting at every opportunity.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has teens or children about to become teens. These years, contrary to popular thought, can be wonderful years for the parent-child relationship, and Dr. Guarendi gives plenty of help to make sure that this happens!

Great support for raising great teens
Dr. Ray Guarendi uses his trademark humor sprinkled with a little sarcasm to give those of us who are barely treading water trying to raise our teens good, sound, logical advice. The book is in question and answer format and this reader found many questions in the book to be those on the very tip of my tongue. My teens, when they saw me reading the book, said "Oh no! Dr. Ray! We're going down!" all in good fun because even they respect Dr. Ray and have never had any luck in refuting any of his reasoning (though they have tried and tried). The best part about this book is Dr. Ray's reinforcement of the necessity of discipline throughout the teen years and his consistent reminder that parents should not feel guilty maintaining authority in the home during these years even when doing so feels like a continuous struggle. He is also the master of helping us keep our senses of humor throughout the entire process. The only thing better than reading Dr. Ray's book would be to have him move in and raise my teens for me.

Dr. Ray is great!
I love Dr. Ray! He gives practical advice and injects a lot of humor into his writing so is also very entertaining. Respect and consistency are key in raising kids, whether they're toddlers or teens, and Dr. Ray gives great examples for how to sensibly handle many situations parents of teens are likely to encounter.