By giving you a copy of What Your Mother Never Told You.

How can you open a dialogue about sensitive issues with your parents without saying a word? By leaving What Your Mother Never Told You on the kitchen table with a bookmark on the chapter you want them to read. They'll get the message.

You are changing every day. Some times you feel you can take on the world. Other times, you feel confused, frustrated, and overwhelmed. During these times, What Your Mother Never Told You is a trusted best friend. It is truthful and honest and always there for you to lean on. At times you may want to tune me out when reading this book, but you are resilient and you won't just give up and disagree! I am confident that you can handle what life is going to throw at you and I have no doubt that you can handle the tough love in my message. At a minimum, use this book to challenge yourself; to be open to the possibility that we are not always right; and as a tool to learn the strategy to agree to disagree. 

What Your Mother Never Told You isn't just about helping you work through troubling issues and relationships; the chapters will improve all your relationships. As you practice communicating in a calm, intelligent, and sensitive way, using strategies from What Your Mother Never Told You, you will take more control of your life.

As mothers, there may be issues you are not comfortable addressing. Perhaps your own teen years bring up unpleasant memories, or you fear being asked questions you don't want to answer.

Fathers, too, risk their daughters' deaf ear when trying to help them prepare for sensitive teen situations. After all, as fathers, how can we fully disclose what goes through the mind of a teenage boy before the conversation becomes awkward and uncomfortable?

What Your Mother Never Told You can have the conversation for you. It provides answers you really want to give to questions your daughters really want to ask. It opens up doors to dialogue between our daughters and us when they are ready to talk. Put a copy by their bedside and another in the family room, and bookmark the chapter you want to discuss. Our daughters are curious and smart; they'll get the message.

Girls may take your advice but forget it the next time they're in the midst of a sticky situation. What Your Mother Never Told You will help girls remember.

What Your Mother Never Told You can also be used to initiate group discussions, and each Chapter can be used as the daily topic of discussion for any syllabus. For example, you can read the short chapter "The Most Important Word in the Dictionary is No," and then have girls role-play, and watch and listen to each other, saying "No" in situations they create. This is one example of the many ways What Your Mother Never Told You can help make your difficult job a little easier.

Let's be real. We both know that my book is certainly not the answer to every issue facing our teens, but it does create the opportunity to discuss sensitive topics whether or not you/they agree or disagree with the message or the approach! The goal is the dialogue that ensues which will teach our teens to problem solve through your discussions. It's a start. It's a tool. It's what You make of it. After all, you are the counselors for teens.