Why Won't My Teenager Talk to Me?

"It’s easier to be a brain surgeon than a really good parent!"

No one finds it easy to be a parent of a teenager. How strict or easy-going should you be? What is the best way to support a teenager who is pushing you away? What do you do if homework is being ignored, or if a young person is up half the night on the phone or internet? How do you communicate with someone who seems not to be listening?

In this book, international expert, Oxford psychologist and father, Dr John Coleman, provides a new approach to parenting adolescents.

Why won’t my teenager talk to me? draws on ground-breaking research relating to brain development, sleep patterns in adolescence, and communication to offer a valuable tool enabling parents and carers to become more effective and resilient during this stage.

Based on the author’s long experience in running workshops for parents of teenagers, the combination of practical advice and research evidence will give readers an invaluable guide to the adolescent stage of life. The book draws on the voices and experiences of a wide range of parents of teenagers.

Talking and listening is at the heart of this book. Based on developing strategies for positive and respectful two-way communication, Dr Coleman’s revolutionary "STAGE" framework for parenting offers new insights and helps parents navigate the teenage years. Its aim is to improve relations between parents and teenagers, as well as to help professionals in their work with families. It will appeal to all parents and carers of teenagers, as well as to those in the fields of social work, counselling, health and education.

John Coleman has an international reputation for his work with parents and young people. He is a trained clinical psychologist and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He is the Founder of a research centre studying adolescents and their families, and during his career he has also run a special school for troubled teenagers and worked as a policy advisor for government. In addition to running workshops for parents of teenagers, he has created two series for TV and written books and developed videos on the adolescent years. John’s pioneering work has been widely recognised and in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2001 he was awarded an OBE for services to young people.