Having a Heart to Heart with your Teenagers

By Susan Sitton

Teen years are some of the most turbulent between a parent and a child.  Often, you want to impart wisdom to them, but they don’t want to hear what you have to say.  After all, you “don’t know what it’s like to be a kid today.”  Wouldn’t you love to have a book that could help bridge the communication gap? 

Bill O’Reilly, anchor of Fox’s The O’Reilly Factor, has co-authored a book, The O’Reilly Factor for Kids, that does just that.

Subtitled A Survival Guide for America’s  Families, the book is written to teenagers addressing a variety of topics.

The first section addresses people in your teenager’s life – including friends, or “so called” friends, as the case may be, who should be there when they need them and let them be themselves.  There’s how your child can get along with his/her siblings and the benefits of helping others.  And, they can find out how to disagree with you in a responsible way.

Next, O’Reilly tackles your teen’s private life – why it really is “uncool” to do any kind of drug, why they should wait to have intercourse, why hours upon hours of TV isn’t a good idea, and why listening to music with explicit language isn’t really enjoyable.  He talks about the importance of earning and managing money and why and how to have fun.  All the things you’ve been trying to say for the last 5 – 10 years.  The difference is that it isn’t coming out of your mouth.

The third section focuses on school and addresses these issues:  dressing  provocatively,  playing a sport, cheating, reading for pleasure, and respecting teachers.

Finally, the last section deals with things to think about – health, work, helping others, death…He also brings up religion and the importance God has played in his life.

O’Reilly comes out and tells the readers that “Life Isn’t Fair.”  He just tells it like it is – and in a way they can understand.  He uses a format that intertwines Bill’s Story with “IMings” (“Instant Messages for those of us less ‘with it’ ”).

When all is said and done, he has covered the important topics in a way that many parents would agree with.  Like it or not, teenagers tune us out and we become a talking head.  Take advantage of this resource to present another person’s point of view.

Founders:  Susan & Brent Sitton

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