I wouldn't have bought this book if I wasn't dealing with a VERY defiant, and manipulative teenage daughter--so when this book assumes that I can just say the right thing and everything will be fine, is an absolute joke! This advice would be great if it worked as simply as the book says. But if you already have a tough kid, these tips are NOT going to suddenly make her see the logic in my rules. Kids don't care about the explaination of why it's wrong to dress trashy or wear too much makeup...they want what they want. This book assumes that your kid obeys you in the first place! The title really drew me in--I thought that I had finally found a book that understood what I am going through. But it's just another below-average parenting book with a catchy title!

I thought I going was nuts, not knowing how to parent my pre-teen. At last, a book to let me know I was not going crazy by myself, that it is perfectly normal what we are going through, why I as the mom am the target and spring board for her growing up. It also gives ideas on how to rethink parenting, your responses to issues. It shows why "I" the mom am the only one, cuz I'm the closest one to her, that she is 'experimenting with life' off of. I don't feel so alone, I'm okay, and can see why I get the backwash, and the testing. I highly recommend this book to other moms and also dads too, so they can understand the battle while they watch from the sidelines.

At a time when I was ready to give up on being a mother till my teen "grew up", this book was a godsend. My feelings of desperation, confusion, loss, and wondering where I went wrong were all validated. I have already started trying techniques recommended. Even if it doesn't change my daughter, my perception has changed so that I'm better able to cope. Very readable (not a bunch of jargon) I'd recommend it to any mother of a teenage girl. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because there were no illustrations. Of course, as an adult I don't have to have them, but I like them. Sometimes a well-placed cartoon helps to illustrate a point. It may be the authors thought illustrations are inappropriate for their book.

This work is an interesting and practical guide on how to maange the highs and lows of mother/daughter relationships. Cohen-Sandler and Silver not only offer valuable insights into the sensitive realtionship between mothers and teenage daughters, but they also present specific how-to's for building and maintaining a healthy relationship. This book begins by asking mothers to examine their own strengths and weaknesses in their role as parent and mentor. Next, the reader journeys through the characteristics of the teenage girl in today's society. Mothers are then given specific advice on how to handle numerous crises. The authors reassure us that conflict does not have to be a bad thing, as long as it is managed in a postive way. Although the book is very readable, the early chapters challenge the readers patience. The authors relate stories of several mothers and their daughters. However, they separate the stories in two different chapters. Although I understood their reasoning for focusing on the mothers and daughters in individual chapters, I found it tiresome to flip back and forth between the chapters to remind myself which mother was connected to which daughter. This book is a valuable read and I recommend it to both mothers and daughters who wish to remain actively engaged in one of the most influential relationships of their lives.

It's comforting to know I'm not the only mom who has tumbled off her pedestal.Intuitively I may have known my daughter's adolescence would cause bumps in the road, but I had not anticipated many of her (and my!!) insensitive reactions. The book greatly helps to keep things in perspective.