To help you along the activity filled and sometimes stressful experience of parenting a teenager we’ve compiled a short list of three books to tackle raising daughters in a highly influential society, navigating your teenagers tantrums and behaviour and understanding why maintaining a safe online identity is essential to your teen’s safety and future.

Swimming Upstream: Parenting Girls for Resilience in a Toxic Culture by Laura Choate

Covering tweens to teens, Choate is a licensed educator, counsellor and professor from the Louisiana State University. Her book deals with how to raise girls in a culture which heavily and sometimes negatively influences and dictates how they should dress, behave and what they should do with their spare time. The consequences are that we find our teenage girls struggling to ascertain who they are and struggling with low self-esteem, stress and mental health problems. Some of the topics that Choate covers, which are based on her research as a professor and counsellor include having a positive body image, relationships, friendships and acing school. This book is highly recommended because it offers educational insight and combines Choate’s own parenting experience with realistic and helpful tools on raising teen daughters.

Get Out of My Life…But First Take Me & Alex into Town by Tony Wolf and Suzanne Franks

If you’ve spent sleepless nights stressing about why your teen won’t talk to you or reach out like how they used to, then this book will put you out of your misery. Authors Wolf and Franks have written a teen guide on parenting adolescents, understanding their mindset and living through what some have termed a hellish experience of raising teenagers. Topics that are covered range from sex, drugs and behaviour. Written in a funny tone, it will also resonate with your teen who will be relieved to find out that you don’t take yourself too seriously as the book’s title so aptly implies.

Sex, Likes and Social Media by Alison Havey and Deana Puccio

Social media has not only become a platform for teenagers to share images but also falls under the category of hobbies and activities that teens indulge in. This is where they interact, arrange dates and communicate on a daily basis. This book fills in the gap for parents who are concerned about their teens online safety and would like to understand how teens are influenced through social media. The books gives practical advice on how parents can collaborate with their children in maintaining a safe online identity.