But not everyone is as neurotic as I am, thankfully.

If you’re freaked out about your little people becoming teens, you’re not alone. Or maybe your in the midst of teen angst right now. You’re still not alone.

When to Worry: How to Tell if Your Teen Needs Help—and What to Do About It, by Lisa Boesky, Ph.D. is a new book (new-ish, because I’m amazingly behind what with this whole growing and birthing a human experience)

From the press release: For many parents, raising an adolescent can be challenging, stressful and overwhelming. Parents can easily feel helpless when suddenly faced with a moody, defiant, unpredictable, or overly-sensitive teenager. At some point every teen acts out, but how can parents tell if these changes are a normal part of adolescence or if their teen is in need of help?

Lisa Boesky is a clinical psychologist and an expert on troubled teens. See her at drlisab.com and whentoworry.com. In When To Worry she shares warning signs of serious problems, effective solutions for a variety of problems including depression, eating disorders and school issues, the pros and cons of medications for teens, cutting and self-mutilation, substance abuse and so much more.

If it sounds scary, it is. But it becomes much less so with a book like this at hand. Sadly, life is tough for many teens and knowing when they need help is the first step to actually being able to help them effectively. Thank goodness for books that tackle these topics because without them you all might be neurotic freaks like me.

We’ve got a copy of When To Worry to give away! One winner will be randomly selected from all valid entries. To enter, email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with WHEN TO WORRY in the subject line and that it!
You must include your full name and mailing address within your email or your entry will be invalid. (That’s just so we can ship your prize asap after the draw if you win - entries are deleted after the draw is complete and are never shared with anyone - it just makes things much faster for us!) Contest closes at midnight MST on February 15, 2008. Good luck! Congratulations Ryan S.!