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A Teen Girl's Survival Guide
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Boyology 101: You shouldn't have to sacrifice yourself – your identity, other friends, etc., -- to be in a relationship with a guy.
This tenet of “Boyology” is part of advice 28-year-old Sarah O'Leary Burningham gives in her book, How To Raise Your Parents: A Teen Girl's Survival Guide. Boys can gain from reading it, too, she quickly adds. Especially that chapter on “hanging out,” aka dating .
“The thought of you hitting the town with someone who might kiss you (or worse) sends your parents into a state of total panic,” Burningham writes. And why is that? Because parents know all the disastrous things that can happen, from date-rape to STDs. The best angle, then, she says, is to prove you're trustworthy.
Going a big way toward that is to let your parents meet the person you're going to go out with. What would seem like a given in the days of sweet sixteens going steady isn't often part of today's reality.
Burningham’s book has more advice on negotiating dating issues with parents, but it includes much more. Want to get the car? Being not-so-removed from the teen years herself, Burningham knows what it takes to get the keys and keep parents calm.
How about what to do when your parents don’t like your grades? When you want to dye your hair or pierce something? You need an allowance? Everybody else is going?
Burningham helps teens de-code parent-speak, gives clues on how to say the right thing to stop the nagging about your room, your cell phone, "excessive" internet use, etc.
Burningham said she got the idea for this book when she was 16, came in late (again), and faced the wrath of her parents (Dave and Julie, pictured as 17-year-olds on the dedication page).
Burningham has wise insight. The advice she gives is packaged in a cheery, delightfully illustrated book full of side-vignettes like “The Top 12 Funniest High School Movies of All Time.” With great good humor she dissects “parent-types” like The Hippie, The Schoolmarm, The Teen-Wannabe, The Yuppie, The Sibling Activist, and the Total Control Freak.
Parents can get this book for daughters with the confidence that they’ll approve – and perhaps improve – and the girls will be delighted. It’s $12.99 from Chronicle Books.
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