Life Strategies For Teens (Life Strategies Series)
"Are you as tired as I am of books constantly telling you the same oldBrady Bunch, Beaver Cleaver, goody-two-shoes BS about doing your best to  understand your parents, doing your homework, making curfew, getting a haircut,  dropping that hemline, and blah blah blah?" So inquires Jay McGraw, son of  bestselling author Phillip C. McGraw, in the introduction to the younger, hipper  version of his father'sLife  Strategies. This funny, straightforward guide helps teenssteerrather than drift in life, dealing honestly with topics from peer pressure to TV  addiction with the underlying mantra, "Don't like it? Change it." Divided into  the same 10 "Life Laws" that are in his father's book (from "We teach people how  to treat us" to "There is power in forgiveness"), McGraw urges teens to take  control of their lives at every turn. That said, he doesn't expect any young  person to respond to the way his father's book is written, so he translates  "People do what works" to "The truth about why you can act so weird" and "Life  rewards action" to "What are you waiting for? Get it in gear!" He demands that  his readers ask themselves hard questions about missed opportunities,  perceptions, self-sabotage, and personal shortcomings so they can figure out  what's not working and fix it. Why? So that they can turn dreams into  goals--with specific timelines and strategies. There's no doubt that the book  has the enthusiastic pounding zeal of an aerobics instructor. But it makes a lot  of sense, and if a teen took even a few of these lessons to heart, he or she  would be more in control than most adults. (Ages 13 and older)