A field guide for parents about the secret lives of 21st century teenagers - from relationships to self-harm, from drugs to sexting - and how you can help them and yourself through these turbulent years. Written from a teenagers perspective, this is a unique field guide for parents about the secret lives of 21st century adolescents - from mental health to self-harm, from drugs to sexting - and how you can help them and yourself through these turbulent years without losing their trust. This book is a look at modern life through the eyes of a teenager, by someone who recently graduated from that club. Along the way, Brooks takes readers on a tour of the websites that most parenting manuals would rather pretend dont exist. Yet this is the stuff your kids are all over, on a daily basis. There is porn, there are hallucinogens, there is cyberbullying and suicidal ideation. Brooks point is that to remain completely unaware of their existence can mean that as a parent, you end up getting blindsided. And being blindsided means you wont know what to say and how to say it when things go wrong.

"When I turned into a teenager, I watched my parents panic with questions they were unprepared for: is the computer killing his brain? is he watching porn? are those cuts on his arms? what the hell do we do now? The child-rearing tactics theyd read about in parenting manuals or learned from their own parents were useless. Anyway, how do you punish someone whos already so miserable? This is a field guide for confused parents who are currently custodians of any teenager whos feeling lost, alone, depressed or horny. Im not an expert, a psychologist, or even a particularly good person, but I do understand the unique kinds of troubles that come with trying to grow up in the current climate, and I wanted to share what would have helped me, my friends, and everyone else I spoke to while writing this book. It might be hard to read what I write about self-harming, body piercings, gender confusion, drugs and social media angst. It might involve unpleasant surprises and be occasionally disgusting, but it could also help you to understand and support your kids.