Sure Start Speke

Dr. Melody Foxx interviewed Anthony E. Wolf, Ph.D., about his new book, "I'd Listen to My Parents If They Would Just Shut Up!" on L.A. Talk Radio.

The L.A. Talk Radio show talked about how to manage rebellious adolescents.

It went over a spectrum of day-to-day parenting scenes and sketched out a number of methods to smooth out conversations between parents and their pubescent children.

In Dr. Wolf's view, the adolescent years are very hard for parents because their chatty, expressive, and open-minded kids abruptly change into complete strangers.

In his experience, he has found that boys, generally, prefer to spend most of their time at home in the bedroom, listening to music, texting friends, and surfing the Internet.

Adolescent girls, in the interim, make a huge effort to launch their autonomy on the surface by disagreeing with their parents, predominantly their mothers, about whatever constricts their autonomy.

Dr. Wolf also said that those adolescents who were not quarrelsome at home may often resort to lying about their social lives outside the home, deceiving their parents about their acquaintances and social gatherings.

When challenged, they may often be argumentative, talking back and fighting over everything that does not suit them.

Dr. Wolf explained characteristic teen reactions to parental controls and gave tips on how a parent can create a kinder, gentler home in spite of their belligerent teens.

He revealed what hot buttons can enrage teens and how parents in the 21st century shouldn't attempt to follow the strict model some parents themselves were brought up with.

He also talked about how it's a different age now, a time of Internet and electronic devices and this calls for a distinctly different style of parenting because parents have to deal with potential problems around alcohol, drugs, and promiscuity.

A practicing clinical psychologist for children and adolescents, Dr. Wolf is a magazine columnist and author of parenting books.

In his personal practice, he counsels parenting and professional organizations throughout the United States.