Having A Heart To Heart With Your Teenagers

Teen years are some of the most turbulent between a parent and a child. Often, you want to impart wisdom to them, but they don’t want to hear what you have to say. After all, you “don’t know what it’s like to be a kid today”. Wouldn’t you love to have a book that could help bridge the communication gap?

Bill O’Reilly, anchor of Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor, has co-authored a book, The O’Reilly Factor for Kids, that does just that.

Subtitled A Survival Guide for America’s Families, the book is written to teenagers addressing a variety of topics.

The first section addresses people in your life – including friends, or “so called” friends, as the case may be, who should be there when you need them and let you be yourself. There’s getting along with your siblings and the benefits of helping each other out. And, finding out how to disagree with your parents in a responsible way.

Next, O’Reilly tackles your private life – why it really IS uncool to do any kind of drug, why you should wait to have intercourse, why hours upon hours of TV isn’t a good idea, and why listening to music with explicit language isn’t really enjoyable. He talks about the importance of earning and managing your money and why and how to have fun. All the things you’ve been trying for the last 5 – 10 years to say. The difference is that it isn’t coming out of your mouth.

The third section focuses on school. Ladies, do you want to dress provocatively at school and if so, what does that say about you? Men, playing a sport in school is stupid, right? Is cheating worth the risk? If you read a book that isn’t required, is it a waste of your time? Is it a good idea to make a bad teacher’s life miserable? You’ll be glad to know O’Reilly answers no to all of these questions and explains why it is NOT so.

Finally, the last section deals with things to think about – health, work, helping others, death…He even brings up religion and the importance God has played in his life.

O’Reilly comes out and tells the readers that “Life Isn’t Fair”. Just telling it like it is – and in a way they can understand. With a format that intertwines Bill’s Story with “IMings” (“Instant Messages for those of us less ‘with it’ ”.)

When all is said and done, he has covered the important topics in a way that most parents would agree with. Like it or not, teenagers tune us out and we become a talking head. Take advantage of this resource to present another person’s point of view.

Susan Sitton is the founder of http://www.DiscoveryJourney.com helping parents build character and promote a reading culture. Children's book reviews identify character trait and behavior issues, allowing parents to select books.

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