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The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans

How to Decode Their Behavior, Develop Unshakable Trust, and Raise a Respectable Adult

Audiobook
0 of 2 copies available
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0 of 2 copies available
Wait time: Available soon

A practical guide to understanding teens from bestselling author and global youth advocate Josh Shipp.

In 2015, Harvard researchers found that every child who does well in the face of adversity has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult. But Josh Shipp didn't need Harvard to know that. Once an at-risk foster kid, he was headed straight for trouble until he met the man who changed his life: Rodney, the foster parent who refused to quit on Shipp and got him to believe in himself.

Now, in The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans, Shipp shows all of us how to be that caring adult in a teenager's life. Stressing the need for compassion, trust, and encouragement, he breaks down the phases of a teenage human from sixth to twelfth grade, examining the changes, goals, and mentality of teenagers at each stage.

Shipp offers revelatory stories that take us inside the teen brain, and shares wisdom from top professionals and the most expert grown-ups. He also includes practice scripts that address tough issues, including:

  • FORGIVENESS: What do I do when a teen has been really hurt by someone and it's not their fault?
  • COMMUNICATION: How do I get a teen to talk to me? They just grunt.
  • TRUST: My teen blew it. My trust is gone. Where do we go from here?
  • BULLYING: Help! A teen (or their friend) is being harassed.
  • DIFFICULT AND AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS: Drugs. Death. Sex. Oh my.
  • Written in Shipp's playfully authoritative, no-nonsense voice, The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans tells his story and unpacks practical strategies that can make a difference. Ultimately, it's not about shortcuts or magic words—as Shipp reminds us, it's about investing in kids and giving them the love, time, and support they need to thrive.

    And that means every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.

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    • Reviews

      • AudioFile Magazine
        Drawing on substantial research to validate his advice, Shipp maps out the many challenging aspects of parenting teenagers--from negotiating responsibilities to addressing disrespect and sexual activity. Roger Wayne's narration has a dynamism to it that is equal parts wise sage and cool adult The only way Wayne falls short is in his delivery of Shipp's jokes, which sometimes lack the zing one expects. It's usually because Wayne's delivery is too straight or moves on too quickly for the listener to realize a joke was delivered. Overall, though, Wayne captures Shipp's prose with good emphasis and energy, suggesting an earnest desire to understand teens' lived experience. L.E. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
      • Publisher's Weekly

        August 21, 2017
        Youth advocate Shipp (Jump Ship) provides an accessible but superficial primer for helping parents understand and guide their kids through the often confounding adolescent years. With a colloquial and straightforward style, Shipp discusses major developmental phases and challenges common to young adults ages 12–18. He says this account is backed up by the work of “an incredible team of researchers, psychologists, and scientists,” few of whom are actually mentioned in the text. Shipp addresses an array of typical problems faced by adolescents, including issues with communication, drugs, trust, dangerous behavior, screen time, school, and sex, each one accompanied by simple and logical action steps. A former at-risk foster child himself, Shipp seems to orient this book to parents of “problem” kids, declaring that no matter how troubled, “every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.” Full of sound bites (“What you don’t talk out, you act out”), lists (“The Seven Things Every Teen Needs to Hear”), and other refrigerator-magnet-like reminders, this book reads like a transcript from one of Shipp’s public-speaking gigs. Parents will find more substantive info in Frances Jensen’s The Teenage Brain on why teens act the way they do, as well as better advice and less hype. Agent: Erin Niumata, Folio Literary.

    Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

    Languages

    • English

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