Print Resources

Here are some great books and pamphlets on adolescence, parenting, and faith.

Raising Happy, Healthy, and Holy Teenagers: A Primer for Parents

By Robert J. McCarty

Raising Happy, Healthy, and Holy Teenagers: A Primer for Parents is a classic book for parents that covers important topics such as, psychological and developmental tasks of young people, self-esteem, youth culture, practical suggestions for improving parent-teen relationships, and fostering faith in adolescents.

Many families are running from one activity to another and parents often worry about spending “quality time” with their teens. With simple suggestions like: waste time with your teen (chapter three), Bob encourages parents to find every-day opportunities to express unconditional love to their child.

Parents of teenagers and “tweens” will find this short volume full of helpful tips and practical recommendations on how to guide and support their son or daughter through their adolescent years. Parents of younger children would also benefit from this book since many of the principles Bob discusses (affirmation, respect, effective communication, and modeling faith) are important at all stages of development. Starting these practices early will help smooth the transition into the teen years.

Revised in 2009, this edition includes updates on dealing with technology and a new forward written by teens.

Strong Catholic Families: Strong Catholic Youth

NFCYM

Parents are charged with the responsibility of passing on the gift of faith to their children. This short booklet, Strong Catholic Families: Strong Catholic Youth, is full of great information and helpful tips for families to grow in faith together.

You will find:

  • An article on five key findings from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) that are essential in understanding what it takes to building strong Catholic families.
  • A Family Faith Inventory that will help families assess their actions and attitudes and how they experience faith within their families.
  • A worksheet for families to develop a plan how they are going to grow in faith in the coming year.
  • A “Suggestions for Living Faith as a Family” article that gives practical tips on how to strengthen the family faith identity. 
  • Family prayers and a list of both online and print resources for developing strong Catholic families.

When Parents Divorce: How to Comfort Teens and Young Adults

By Lynn Cassella

This concise pamphlet, When Parents Divorce: How to Comfort Teens and Young Adults, offers practical suggestions for helping teens and young adults deal with the complicated issues of divorce. According to the back cover, “teens and young adults face challenges that are many ways more serious than those of their younger counterparts because they have a greater understanding of what has gone on in their family and are more fully aware that things will never be the same.”

The author, herself an “older child” of divorce, has additional books and maintains a website dedicated to supporting teens and young adults from separated and divorced families.

Strong Families, Successful Students

By Stephen M. Gavazzi

Ohio State University Professor Stephen Gavazzi is a trained family therapist and father of three teenagers. His new book, Strong Families, Successful Students is based on over twenty-five years of research on how families influence the healthy development of teenagers.

Though written with the hope of offering parents ideas on how to help their teenager succeed in school, this accessible book provides suggestions on how parents can strengthen family relationships. Strong family relationships, the author argues, are the foundation for academic success. Gavazzi encourages parents to recognize that they are the experts in their own families and when it comes to raising their sons and daughters.

The book contains a balance of thinking and doing. The thinking section gives the reader an overview of accepted wisdom about parents and teenagers and focuses on five facts about strong families. The doing section of the book provides exercises parents and children can do to together to strengthen family relationships.