In You Don't Know Anything…!: A Manual for Parenting Your Teenagers, we will take into consideration those ages between twelve and eighteen, ending at the general time at which most teens matriculate to college or independent living, although twenty years of age is more commonly thought of as the demarcation into adulthood. The teen years are filled with many intellectual and physiological changes involving growth spurts, developmental achievements, the appearance of secondary sex characteristics and questions of sexual identity. Equally as important, but less often mentioned, is the recognition that adolescence is also a time of "feeling" unparalleled in any other stage. Your son or daughter is feeling the possibilities that exist in a world just opening up to him or her and suffering the fears that come with breaking away from the warm dependency of the core family to venture into the un- known. Your child's adolescence will be marked by the longing to turn back to simpler times without responsibility, together with the urge to march forward, armed with little more than dreams of what might be. This book is designed to encourage in you a deeper appreciation of their challenges.
