The Secret Lives of Teen Girls

She's wearing mini skirts, rebelling against your rules and is sexually active. Raising a teenage girl is not easy, but according to sexuality counselor and author Evelyn Resh, by taking an understanding and nonjudgmental approach, you not only build a healthy relationship, but allow her to become a fully developed adult woman capable of making good, sound, safe and independent decisions throughout life.

Do - Talk honestly and opening about their sexual activity without judgment. Gaining their opinions and feelings about sex and combining them with mentoring about infection prevention and contraception will establish your role as a responsible parent.

Do - refer to the changes in your daughter as normal: finding important relationships outside of the home, building networks and honing relationships skills is part of being a teenager and are vital experiences that will sustain her in her adult life.

Do - set an example of a healthy lifestyle. Actively living a life that takes pleasure in sensual experiences enhances your daughter's understating of and appreciation for her own body.

Do - remember that the forbidden fruit is always the sweetest and most tempting. Saying no to sex unequivocally often drifts your daughter away from you. Parents who have the belief that having sex is a completely bad idea are working against the forces of nature that are always stronger than we are.

In this insightful book, Evelyn Resh confronts the major issues of adolescence, other than sex, including eating disorders, substance abuse, clothing choices and curfews, the importance of being 'cool', and the complexity of friendships.

In The Secret Lives of Teen Girls, Evelyn Resh, the mother of a teenage daughter and a certified nurse-midwife specializing in the treatment of teenage girls, explores the mysterious world of female, adolescent sexuality and how parents, especially mothers, can help their daughters through this tumultuous time.

Secrets divulged by teenage girls during consultation have made Resh realize that, with rare exception, most adolescents are left to develop a sexual identity without any adult guidance and often without the most basic knowledge of what is happening to them physically and emotionally. She also realized that many girls are frequently subject to criticism and shaming about their normal, adolescent behavior. Resh believes these issues are what underlie many of the problems teens face during this crucial step into becoming a fully developed adult woman capable of making good, sound, safe, and independent decisions throughout life.

Through compelling, frank, and sometimes humorous stories from both Resh and her patients, The Secret Lives of Teenage Girls explains to parents just what is going on with their teenage daughters during this essential phase of their development. She discusses many of the complicated problems shes seen in practice, including not just sexual activity but also eating disorders, substance abuse, mental illness, unplanned pregnancies, violence, and STDs. She also looks at less serious but still troubling issues like under-achievement, battles with parents, and lack of emotional and social support.

In this insightful book, Resh provides parents with the tools to help their teen daughters negotiate the waters of their sexual development and emerge with their strength, their sexuality, and their self image intact.

Evelyn Resh, MPH, CNM, is the Director of Sexual Health Services for Canyon Ranch Health Resorts. In addition to her twice-weekly lectures on womens health and sexuality at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts; and/or Tucson, Arizona, Evelyn travels the country and the world giving lectures and presentations on womens health and sexuality for a variety of groups and conferences. She appears regularly on the Joan Hamburg radio show

Review: Every parent should equip themselves with a copy of 'The Secret Lives of Teen Girls' to help them through these confusing years. Learn how to deal with your teenage daughter so they keep you in the loop.

The Secret Lives of Teen Girls
Hay House
Author: Evelyn Resh
ISBN: 9781401922788