Product Description

THE KEY TO PARENTING ADOLESCENTS IS NOT USING THE RIGHT FORMULAS, BUT ACHIEVING THE RIGHT FOCUS.

There's more to parenting adolescents than laying down God-honoring rules, trying to enforce them fairly, and doing your best to keep the lines of communication open.

The task of shaping a young person's life is a very personal and painstaking one. It goes beyond what you say or do to draw upon who you are inside: how well you deal with the things he or she is facing; how closely you rely on God to strengthen, protect, and guide you each day. That's why learning how to become a better parent is impossible without first considering who you are as a person.

In Parenting Adolescents, Kevin Huggins examines the many ties between rearing mature, Christlike kids, and developing maturity, wisdom, and Christlikeness in your own life. Rather than offering a series of formulas designed to generate better behavior in your kids, he shows how the normal ups and downs of family life can be used to build true love and godly character in you and your teens at the same time.

"Few books will make you think more profitably about dealing with adolescents than this one. It's practical, biblical, clear, and challenging. I recommend it with unqualified excitement."-Dr. Larry Crabb

"I'm much better prepared to deal with my kids thanks to Kevin's excellent material. I heartily recommend it both for your sake as parents, and for the sake of your children."-Dr. Dan B. Allender

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #470795 in Books
• Published on: 1989-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback

About the Author
KEVIN HUGGINS received his M.Div. and M.A. degrees from Grace Theological Seminary and has spent twenty years in youth work as a youth pastor, college chaplain, Youth for Christ director, and writer of youth curriculum. He currently serves as professor of Christian counseling at Philadelphia College of Bible.

Customer Reviews

Great Insights into an era we might have forgotten...
We all forget what it is like to be a teen... especially when raising our own. Huggins brings insight & balance into this difficult task... more importantly, he asks poignant questions about us, and how much we may be actually growing in this process. I suppose the greatest lesson I extracted from this read, was simply... what is being worked out in me through the process of raising my teens. Be blessed in your work with your children, and may this book find you in a place of recieving truths for your self as well.

Useful Knowledge of Adolescents
I was very satisfied with the knowledge I attained from this book. The author helps explain the undesired actions of adolescents and the motives. As a parent it will take humility to learn from this book because it speak much about the faults parents have. It shows that-- when parents have ulterior motives it can affect their child's actions. The child in return acts out in a way to counteract the parents unjust actions or requirments of the child. Huggins is very effective in giving real life occurences in which he had to deal with as a counselor. It is likely to help any parent realize their faulty method of parenting and their childs reasoning behind his or her actions. It is written with a Christian perspective but I believe anybody (Christian or not) can learn much from this book. I don't believe Huggin's use of the Bible for references were the best for the most part. That is because the Bible mostly wasn't written to talk about what Huggins does. Somehow he get's the biblical references to work though. Also, his use of diagrams were basically pointless. The diagrams didn't help at all because he explained it through words just as effectively as the diagrams did. Despite the over-attempted use of biblical references and ineffectual use of diagrams this book is very insightful. I recommend it to any parent who wished to be more effective in parenting.

For you, not for your teen
As others have said, this is not how to change your teen. This book is for how you need to change for your teen. Kevin starts with the common ground - painful experiences and the good ones - between you and your teenager. From there, he draws out a deliberate route to keep contact with them and to encourage them in the way they should go. Using scriptural principles, he helps to turn the pain into empathy and action.