Surviving Adolescents

With special guest:

• Elly Robinson
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

All parents realise on leaving the maternity ward that there is no manual that comes from the hospital with instructions for a new baby. The parents just strap themselves in for the rapid growth and development of this new and totally dependent child.

Ten years later with the coming of adolescence there is another period of risky growth and development. The age group from 10 to 19 calls upon a whole new skill set to deal with challenges some of which are familiar and some that are new to this century.

The book Surviving Adolescents 2.0 is addressed to parents of adolescents in particular. But if you are likely to have any interaction with an adolescent then you will also benefit from the wisdom of our guest today Elly Robinson and her co-author well known child and adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg. Elly does not shy away from the tough questions such as how do we control the excessive use of social media and electronic games, how do we deal with bullying, how should we help an adolescent deal with schoolyard trauma generally?

In today’s program we get the benefit of hearing practical strategies for everyday survival and find out from an expert what the latest research on topics affecting adolescents is. By hearing the down to earth advice not only will our adolescents be able to thrive as they stretch their wings but parents may even be able to enjoy the ride and keep the stress of parenting at bay.

It is so important for all of us that our young men in particular do not divert their great strength and abilities to a destructive path and Elly tells us of the importance of fathers to young men for modelling. All the research from around the world continues to tell us that one of the most protective factors in the lives of young people is a close relationship with a supportive adult. So parents should not lose confidence.

If you are time poor or feel you don’t have the energy to attend information sessions, this essential manual provides the tools to generate the psychological sinew for your adolescents to thrive and for you to survive.

Elly Robinson

Elly Robinson is a researcher, writer and mother from Melbourne. She began her career as a youth worker in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the inner-north housing estates of Melbourne. Since then she has worked in various roles that promote the use of evidence in practice with children, young people and families. Elly has a Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and a Master of Public Health from the University of Melbourne. The co-author of Surviving Adolescents 2.0 is Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, a child and adolescent psychologist, broadcaster and one of Australia’s leading authorities on teenage behaviour and parenting. In 1985 he founded CanTeen, the cancer patients’ support group for teenagers in Australia and New Zealand. He has written twelve books on parenting adolescents.

Song selections by our guest: Traffic In the Sky by Jack Johnson & Saturday Sun by Vance Joy

Listen Now (mp3)