Book Review: The Teenage Brain by Frances E. Jensen, MD with A.E. Nutt

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Richard H. McBee Jr.

The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults by Frances E. Jensen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Here is an book that should be required reading for all Parents at the point their children are reaching the age of about 12 and certainly before they really hit their teens! Author Jensen who is a single mother as well as a neuroscientist tells it like it is, worldwide with the development of the teenage brain, key information to know about how your child’s learning, emotiions, sleep habits and risk taking will change as that childhood brain which you thought you had so well trained, clicks into a new growth spurt of neuron growth and connections that in a period of approximately 6 years will change you adolescent into a largely functional adult – OR NOT! The temptations that arrive with sexual development and awareness, peer group emotional stresses, the pressures of society and the internet world of Facebook, Twitter, TicTok and online gaming, to name a few are mind boggling. Parents need to be aware of how the developing brain picks up on stimuli, how parents can best inform or share their own concerns and worries, how best to approach giving advice and when to seek help with a behavior that might be antisocial, violent, depressive, etc. I’m a retired biologist, teacher, secondary school principal and career educator. How I wish we had had, all of this knowledge over 40 years ago when I began my career and being married and having children of my own was raising them in my world of ignorance. Right to the final pages on sports, crime and punishment and movinginto adulthood, this book will keep you absorbed. It’s my pick for the best book I’ve read this year.

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