Grow the Tree You've Got: & 99 Other Ideas for Raising Amazing Adolescents and Teenagers

by Sturges, Tom

• ISBN13: 9781585428601
• ISBN10: 1585428604
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-05
• Publisher: Penguin Group USA

Summary

A wise and inspiring guide to parenting through the extraordinary- and at times tumultuous-journey that is the adolescent and teenage years. When Tom Sturges became a father, he decided that he wanted to be one of the greatest father that ever walked the earth. But things became a bit more complicated when his older son turned ten, and the chatty kid he'd known suddenly started locking his bedroom door. Tom realized he needed to find a way to stay on track-he needed crib notes. So, if a parenting idea of technique worked well, he wrote it down. And if he stumbled across something another parent did that was particularly ingenious or exemplary, he wrote that down, too. In Grow the Tree You Got, Tom presents "golden rules" for raising happy, healthy, and compassionate adults. His mantra? It's impossible to show our children too much respect, but it's worth the effort to try.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Getting Started	p. 11
The Paul McCartney Rule
Learning to Let Go, a Little
Five Things Every Adolescent Should Know
Ordinary People-Extraordinary Parents
Coming to Terms with What Might Have Been
Once Said, Never Unsaid
The Power of One Believer
Four Little Philosophies
When It's Time, Throw the Box off the Roof
Grow the tree you Got	p. 65
Rocks in the Roots
Twelve Swing Thoughts
Fathers and Daughters
The Seven Bridges Rule
Worst-Case-Scenario Syndrome
Disappointment and Perspective
Wrong? Be Completely Wrong
Let Them Be Beautiful
Something I Learned on the Today Show
What Rivers Teach About Adolescents
Someday May Already Be Here
The Shaquille O'Neal Rule: Be Nice Every Chance You Get
Compliments
Big Dreams	p. 133
Sometimes a Big Dream Is All You Have
A Big Dream Is Just Transportation
Embrace Her Biggest Dream
Big Dream, Little Dream
Spotting a Big Dream
The Map to the Big Dream
Siblings Complicate Everything	p. 167
The Thomas Bell
On the Privilege of Being the Older Child
Rate Your Sibling (as a Sibling) on a Scale of 1 to 10
Seven Ways to Keep the Peace
The Share Plate
Siblings, Gifts, and Gift Giving
Fun and Games with Sibling
Punishment VS. Understanding	p. 203
Punish with Kindness: Wait Twenty Minutes
The Biggest Tree in the Forest
Delay by Two Weeks Some Important Event
Had We the Chance to Do It Over Again
Just Put the Drawing on the Fridge
No Reason to Ever Hit
No Reason to Ever Yell, Either
Liar, Liar
Rule #5: Call Me, No Questions Asked (You Are Forgiven in Advance)
Coda	p. 253
You Cannot Keep Them
To College or Not to College
The Questionnaire
Alphabetical Index of Ideas	p. 271
Acknowledgments and Thank-Yous	p. 275
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.