The Grown Ups Guide to Teenage Humans by Josh Shipp - TLC Book Tour

 About The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans

• Hardcover: 336 pages

• Publisher: Harper Wave (September 19, 2017)

A practical guide to understanding teens from bestselling author and global youth advocate Josh Shipp.

In 2015, Harvard researchers found that every child who does well in the face of adversity has had at least one stable and committed relationship with a supportive adult. But Josh Shipp didn’t need Harvard to know that. Once an at-risk foster kid, he was headed straight for trouble until he met the man who changed his life: Rodney, the foster parent who refused to quit on Shipp and got him to believe in himself.

Now, in The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans, Shipp shows all of us how to be that caring adult in a teenager’s life. Stressing the need for compassion, trust, and encouragement, he breaks down the phases of a teenage human from sixth to twelfth grade, examining the changes, goals, and mentality of teenagers at each stage.

Shipp offers revelatory stories that take us inside the teen brain, and shares wisdom from top professionals and the most expert grown-ups. He also includes practice scripts that address tough issues, including:

• FORGIVENESS: What do I do when a teen has been really hurt by someone and it’s not their fault?
• COMMUNICATION: How do I get a teen to talk to me? They just grunt.
• TRUST: My teen blew it. My trust is gone. Where do we go from here?
• BULLYING: Help! A teen (or their friend) is being harassed.
• DIFFICULT AND AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS: Drugs. Death. Sex. Oh my.

Written in Shipp’s playfully authoritative, no-nonsense voice, The Grown-Up’s Guide to Teenage Humans tells his story and unpacks practical strategies that can make a difference. Ultimately, it's not about shortcuts or magic words—as Shipp reminds us, it’s about investing in kids and giving them the love, time, and support they need to thrive.

And that means every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 

About Josh Shipp

Josh Shipp helps adults understand teens and teens understand themselves. He is a global youth empowerment expert and an acclaimed speaker. He has appeared on MTV, Lifetime, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, FOX, 20/20, Good Morning America, and in the New York Times and other media. A former at-risk foster kid turned youth advocate, he is renowned for his documentary TV series that followed his groundbreaking work with teens. His organization, One Caring Adult, produces resources and training events for parents, educators, and caring adults.

Visit OneCaringAdult.com to learn more and for free resources.

Find out more about Josh at his website, and connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

My Thoughts:

When I agreed to do this review, it was with a mixed sense of emotion.  On the one side I was absolutely ecstatic, because as the mother of an 18 year old daughter and a 14 year old son, navigating the teenage years has been full of emotions and tears.

I knew I wanted to read the book, after all, we certainly could use all the help we can when it comes to understanding or at least beginning to understand, the teenage mind.

On the other hand, I wondered just how good this book could be, because it's quite hard to generalize all teenagers.  Yes they are for the most part quite predictable, but they are also intricate, exquisite and unique individuals, each with their own thoughts and opinions (oh those opinions huh? hahah).

I got the book in the mail, opened the first page as I was busily chattering away to my husband and only realized that I had completely gotten immersed in the book, when I heard him say twice "are you listening?  Sandra????".

The book is written by Josh Shipp, and he is not just a book author per say, he speaks from experience and talks about his own struggles as a teenager in the foster system.  This isn't a "oh look all teens are like me and therefore the magic words to get them to comply, isssss........".

Not at all, but what Josh does is delve a bit into the intricacy of the teenage mind and try to help us start to understand how to better reach them, how to talk to them, what they really want.

One of the first pages in the book touches on the fact that the main concern for teenagers, is the amount of time they spend with their parents, or, lack of.  Now I know it's hard to understand, I found it a bit hard myself because when I look around my own home and my children, they are more likely to be hiding out in their bedrooms and trying their best to avoid spending time with my husband and I, so how could this be?

And when explaining this in the book, this stuck out for me:

"They (teenagers) know they need something from their parents.  They might not be able to articulate what it is, but they know they need it."

Part 2 of the book deals with the Phases of the Teenage Human and boy was that fascinating to read.

I don't want to give much away because I think that this is a book that every parent needs to read, and I'm not talking just to the parents of teenagers like I am, I'm talking to parents of any age group because eventually you WILL be parenting a teen, and that is not easy at all.

This book is phenomenal, it takes you through the mindset of the teenager, touches on important achievements and developments at different ages, from 11 to 18, helps you troubleshoot some of the common challenges and offers some insightful and informative help.

I am never letting go of this book, matter of fact, it has found a permanent spot on my bedside table and I've gone back to it a couple times over the past two weeks when dealing with certain situations surrounding my teens.

Do yourself a favor, and get a copy for yourself, you certainly won't regret it.