A review by leontyna
The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist's Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults by Frances E. Jensen, Frances E. Jensen, Frances E. Jensen, Amy Ellis Nutt, Amy Ellis Nutt, Amy Ellis Nutt

informative slow-paced

2.0

I disliked this book, though I was sure I would love it. It says a bit about teenage brain but it's a tiny portion in comparison to the scary stories about adolescents (brain damage from sports, descriptions of suicides, stories about drug and alcohol abuse and horrific crimes) and weird parenting advice. I don't think that treating correlations and stats as causation and a reason to micromanage your kids is a good or scientific approach. Examples of such advice include forcing your teens to give over all their passwords. The author also took part in some criminal proceedings of teenagers guilty of serious crimes and basically testified "it's their brains your honour, they can't forsee the consequences". It was mentioned just after her retelling of a story of a teen who robbed an old lady and then threw her off a bridge to drown. I don't see how this can be explained by immature brain, it's ridiculous. Also using your kids attending Harvard as proof of your methods is just delusional.

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