The Agony and the Agony

“A recommended read for parents . . . packed with hilarious stories, tips from former teens, parental traps to avoid, and so much more.” —About Families Magazine

There comes a time in every parent’s life when they realize their daughter has become possessed and their son has turned into a zombie, or vice versa. Welcome to adolescence, in all its debilitating glory. When Betty Londergan—author of the pregnancy and early motherhood book I’m Too Sexy for My Volvo—reached that stage, she realized that since there’s nothing funny about raising a teenager, it’s time for a book that is.

The Agony and the Agony breaks the teenage years down into the five stages of grief—denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance—putting a humorous spin on each one. You’ll learn:

• The classic signs of adolescence, from physical changes and mood swings to crushing shifts in communication
• How to prevent your unwitting descent into teen pop culture while controlling how much of it your child ingests
• Sex talk strategies and how to juggle teens of different sexual orientations
• Methods to stop the nasal assault wafting from teens simmering in a soup of hormones
• Reasons why to not obsess over college applications
• How to weather the perfect storm: when puberty and menopause collide under one roof
• Creative ways to reinvent yourself as an empty nester
• And more!

“Readers seeking savvy practical advice as well as sympathy for their plight during the teen years won’t be disappointed,” though their wine budgets may never recover (Publishers Weekly).