Teens and tweens today face challenges that parents, grandparents and educators struggle to understand. While many of those problems are the issues faced by nearly everyone, the ramifications of how those challenges are addressed have changed dramatically. The advent of social media, selfies and other forms of electronic communication have, in many ways, increased the dangers kids face. What has not changed is the need for parents to understand and to be involved. Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein addresses these issues head-on in her book for teens, 'The Truth'.
" 'I hate my mother'; 'I'm in love and I can't imagine marrying anyone else when I grow up'; 'How can we move now, I can't leave all my friends behind'; 'I'm miserable and nobody understands'; 'I can't stand it when my parents fight'; 'When I grow up I will do things differently'".
"The list could go on and on," Dr Holstein stated. "Growing up is tough and quite frankly, it always has been. What makes it different now is kids move from telling secrets to their friends and isolating in their bedrooms to the world of social media. That means that any feelings, thoughts, ideas or pictures or videos of themselves that they express on social media can appear on Facebook, or Instagram, selfies and other technologies."
ScreenshotBarbara"That's the part of the angst of growing up that is new. The use of social media can be dangerous as it exposed our kids to strangers and often to their own remarks, pictures or videos that they wish they hadn't shared, perhaps a month or years later."
"Both The Truth, Diary of a Gutsy Tween' and 'Secrets, Diary of a Gutsy Teen', give parents a great place to start communicating about the angst of growing up with their daughters. These coming of age books in the form of written diaries by a girl growing faster than her moods and feelings can keep up with, give parents a perfect opportunity to share their own stories of growing up and to make your daughter more comfortable to come to you with her feelings and problems.
"The surest way to protect your child from excessive and poorly thought out exposure to social media is to make sure the door is always open for her to come to you. After all, most kids just need to be heard and understood. Who better, than you to fill that mission? My suggestion is that after your daughter reads one or both of the books you get together to chat about the thought provoking questions in the back of the books."
"I take the subject of social media so seriously, that recently I've produced a short film, 'The Truth' in which the 'Girl' has many of the usual problems and feelings of growing up. She does keep a written diary, but she has also made the leap to potentially placing her entries on Social Meda, by recording her video diary entries on her cell phone.The Film Festival route is about to start for 'The Truth, a Short Film' so look for more information at www.newshortfilmthetruth.com and of course on social media."
"The Truth, Diary Of A Gutsy Tween" is a revised and expanded edition of her very successful book, 'The Truth: I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know Everything'. The new book is published by Sky Pony Press.
Her second book in The Truth Series is “Secrets: Diary Of A Gutsy Teen”. The book has been awarded a Silver Medal in the 2015 Moonbeam Book Awards in the Pre-Teen Fiction category. In 'Secrets' the girl is 13 years old. She handles many adolescent issues, including a crush, moving, a death in the family, feeling fat and problems with girlfriends. 'Secrets' provides a book kids and parents and grandparents can share and use as a sounding board for needed communication between the generations.
Both “The Truth” and “Secrets” are great for parents, grandparents, older siblings and teachers to establish lines of communication with the tweens and teens in their lives. Both books have been re-released by Sky Pony Press. Both make perfect Christmas books for teens and tweens.
Dr. Holstein is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at drbarbara@enchantedself.com. All of her works are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all other online retailers. More information on 'The Truth' is available at her website at http://www.TheTruthForGirls.com. General information can be found at http://www.drbholstein.com. Information on the film can be found at http://www.NewShortFilmTheTruth.com,
Profile:
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, internationally known Positive Psychologist is the creator of The Enchanted Self ®, a positive psychology method for happiness. She is in private practice in Long Branch, New Jersey with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein.
Dr. Barbara can be found on the web, interviewed, writing articles and posting video 'TED' style talks on Happiness, Positive Psychology, Relationships and Parenting.
She has been a contributor to Heart and Soul, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Redbook, Real Simple, The Wall Street Journal, Time on line, the Today Show and Family Circle Magazine.
Contact:
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein
170 Morris Ave.,
Long Branch, New Jersey 07740
drbarbara@enchantedself.com
732-571-1200
http://www.newshortfilmthetruth.com
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