Parenting teens and tweens is H-A-R-D. Even if you have a fairly easy going teen, the complexity of the issues this age group faces today with school, peers, technology, relationships, getting into college and so much more can leave you feeling totally unprepared.

There are dozens of books for parenting teenagers, but let’s be real, you’re already overwhelmed and you don’t have time to conduct a full-scale research project on the subject. Plus, we all know after dealing with all the books on raising babies, toddlers, etc, most of them are unrealistic and ridiculous. Like come on, did these people even have kids?!?!

What you need is a book or a couple of books that can get to the heart of the matter quickly, realistically and with advice and tools that you can apply immediately for some kind of results. So, this list is small, on purpose. These are the best of the best when it comes to books on raising teens. If you need answers fast, this is your go to library for parenting teens and tweens.

(don’t forget about audiobook versions, you may feel like you don’t have enough time to read, but you probably spend a ton of time in your car! You can learn more and sign-up for audible just by clicking HERE.)

The 5 Best Books To Help You Successfully Raise Teens and Tweens

Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood

Raising girls today is tough. Once they hit the teenage years, it feels almost impossible. Their emotions are all over the place and they are struggling to deal with a world that constantly bombards them with mixed messages and unhealthy norms.   This New York Times BestSeller is what every parent needs to understand, connect, and grow with their daughters. Raising teen and tween girls can be a challenge, but they are just waiting for us to see how amazing they are and help them see it too!

How to Raise an Adult

Entitled, incompetent, immature, lacking problem solving abilities. These are just a few labels attached to today’s younger generations. It started with helicopter parenting and has transformed into an epidemic of kids who are struggling to function and completely lacking essential life skills as they enter into adulthood.  If you’re ready to raise competent, healthy, self-sufficient teens this is the book that will get you there. It’s time to turn the tide and transform modern parenting.

Parenting Teens with Love and Logic

The original love and logic book saved me from selling my first born on eBay during our early years together. When every other parenting book failed me, this approach was the first one that made sense and actually provided practical advice that wasn’t one sized fits all. When you need real tools for real life situations and kids who don’t always fit the mold, this is the help you’ve been waiting for. And let’s be honest, we might have been able to unload our adorable toddlers on eBay, but nobody is going to take our moody, pimply faced tweens and teens. So, we better figure out how to live with them, because we’re stuck with them. 

How to Talk So Teens Will Listen and Listen So Teens Will Talk

This is a book that parents will often say totally changed the game when it came to their relationships with their teens. Most parents are familiar with how hard it can be to get tweens and teens to actually talk to us. Our questions are often me with one word answers, eye rolls or zombie like stares. Getting them to listen to us can be an even more daunting task, because you know, they know everything…..(insert parental eye roll). Believe it or not, there really are some secrets to unlocking their lips and their ears and some are so incredibly simple you’ll feel like there most be some kind of catch, but nope! If you’re wanting to connect with your teen, this is the book you need.

The Teenage Brain

If you sometimes feel like your tweens and teens wiring must be screwed up, you are not entirely wrong. As our children enter into the tween and teen years, they may look more and more like adults, and so we often expect them to act more and more like adults. But during this period, their brains are continuing to go through vital development stages. The lack of a fully developed frontal lobe can explain some of their crazy and often frustrating behaviors and this book will help you better understand the mysterious operating system that is the teenage brain. There is a reason that the world leaves them in our care until they are at least 18.

Parenting teens and tweens is challenging, but these popular posts that other parents found helpful might just make it a little easier.

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