An essential guide to parenting today's teenagers.
We live in an age of anxiety - for both parents and teenagers. The straightforward years of childhood can seem a breeze compared to what teens have thrown at them today. Parents worry about how to help their teenagers deal with sex, porn, gender identity, sexting, slut-shaming, social media, bullying, alcohol and drugs, and about their teenagers' high levels of anxiety. Teens worry about how to measure up in a world where their social currency is explicitly measured by likes and followers; they worry about their bodies and their looks, sex, cancel culture and their future.
Life is genuinely different for today's teens and pre-teens than it was even a decade ago, yet New Zealand parents lack access to a comprehensive book with up-to-date, evidence-based and sensible advice on how to help their teens get through the physical, mental and social challenges of adolescence.
The Kids Will Be All Right includes strategies to suggest to your teen to deal with common tricky situations, and covers friendships (and frenemies); bullying; technology use and screen time; drinking, vaping and risk-taking behaviour; self esteem and body image; personal and sexual health; sexual and gender identity; consent; safe relationships; and pornography.
Written by parenting expert Robyn Fausett and with contributions from her daughter, Molly Fausett, The Kids Will Be All Right is an empathetic, insightful guide to navigating the teenage years.
Broken into digestible parts, with numerous examples and anecdotes to help parents know what to do - and say - when, this is an essential guide for today's parents of adolescents.
About the Authors
Robyn Fausett is a registered nurse and the CEO of Nest Consulting, which provides services dedicated to health and wellbeing, including education programmes throughout schools and communities in New Zealand that cover body image, cyber safety, sexuality, puberty and respectful relationships. Robyn is the researcher and writer of the majority of these programmes.
Nest's programmes are evidence-based, utilising the WHO-recognised Hauora approach, and they integrate holistic age-appropriate information for a whole sense of valuing self, others and our environment. Launched in 2010, these popular programmes are now delivered by Nest Consulting's educators and facilitators NZ-wide.
Robyn is also a speaker, regularly providing events for parents about topics relevant to tweens and teens, for health care providers on the subject of fertility and for communities and corporates on various topics including women's health and menopause.
In addition, Robyn has been instrumental as a Board member within various community-focused charities and organisations (most recently the 'Healing Through Arts Trust' Board and the 'WALSH Trust' Board (supporting people with mental health and social, illness or disability challenges). She is accredited as a 'Nourish' body image/media awareness programme facilitator through what was formerly EDEN (Eating Disorders Education Network), as a period education facilitator with 'A Celebration Day for Girls' and 'Days for Girls', and as an educator and trainer with Natural Fertility NZ. Robyn also works within the disability sector providing specific sexuality and healthy relationship education to young people and their whanau.
Molly Fausett has a degree in cultural anthropology and sociology, with a focus on gender studies and sexuality. She has worked at Nest Consulting in various roles, including assisting in the development of its youth programmes. Molly now works for the Ministry of Health within the mental health and addictions directorate.
Industry Reviews
'The Kids Will Be All Right is a timely and important read for parents in Aotearoa. Specifically,?Robyn's?chapter?on porn and youth?offers refreshing, shame-free and relevant tools for parents to help educate, equip and encourage young people as they navigate the rapidly changing online landscape.'
Nikki Denholm, Director of The Light Project
'Robyn and Molly have taken on the unique quest of supporting parents and caregivers through the many tough conversations they need to have with their teens. It is so important for us to have books like these based in the New Zealand context. Thank you to you both.'
Miriam?Gioia?Sessa, Sexual Violence Prevention Specialist
'This book offers parents of today an insight into their teens' world, providing a platform to empower parents in communicating with their teens.?The easy-to-read style allows you to focus on the chapters that are pertinent to you or read it from cover to cover.?There are links to research and more resources if you want to delve further into a particular topic.?A big plus is the involvement of teens in the development and writing of this book.?It's a great resource for parents who want to keep the channels of communication open with their teen and it offers real-life examples of how to do this.'
Cassandra?Woollett?- National Clinical Supervisor at Natural Fertility NZ, Fertility Educator and Registered Nurse