Recent Reads: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Teenage Brains by Mark Oestreicher

What the book's about: A Parent's Guide to Understanding Teenage Brains explores the daunting subject of adolescent brain development in a mere 68 pages. It's extremely practical in nature and targeted at the parents of teenagers. 

Why I read this book: As part of my coursework for my Master's in Youth Ministry Leadership degree from Huntington University, I took Adolescent Development with Steve Gerali. Since then, I've been fascinated by the subject of adolescent brain development and in particular, with its implications for the youth ministry world. Wanting to help parents better understand what's happening with their teens, I picked up this book. 

My favorite quotes from the book:

- "The primary goal of parenting a teenager is to raise an adult."  

- "A teenager who is never given meaningful responsibility can't be expected to be responsible." 

- "Parenting by control is not relational... If you forfeit engagement in an attempt to control certain desirable outcomes, you've squandered both your influence & your relationship." 

- "Adult faith is not concrete and simplistic, but complex and full of paradox." 

- "How can I best steward the opportunity I have to permanently shape my teenagers' brains?"

Thumbs up or thumbs down? Thumbs up.

Who I'd recommend this book for: Anyone who works with teens and, in particular, as this book's title suggests, parents. Because this book is short, it's the perfect book to give busy parents. While it certainly is not a comprehensive guide to the subject, it's a fantastic primer on it.