The 7 Best Things Smart Teens Do

by John C. Friel, Linda D. Friel

A followup guide to The Seven Worst Things Good Parents Do identifies the healthy habits and attitudes successful teens adopt along the way. Original. 200,000 first printing.

Genres: Nonfiction, Parenting

302 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

Reviews

[SB]

An intriguing insight to teenage development, including reference to psychology and sociology.

[esh]

It was pretty meh-
1) Like it was for teenagers but it does not do anything to do any change
2) That's not how you convince a teenager
3) Just read the index and you are good to go
4) Filled with too many unnecessary anecdotes
5) It told what to do and even though it says it tells "how" - I didn't feel this book did

I read it because I owned the book. Idk where I got it- maybe it was from the lot I got from when my cousin sis left.
So there- I had, I read.

2.5/5

[Zuha]

2/5 stars.
Anything above a 3 means that I didn't regret reading the book.

Some thoughts I jotted down while reading:

> Probably has a lot of wisdom, but I didn't enjoy reading it.
> Lot of stuff I've heard and read before.
>Good insight into emotions.

I would recommend reading The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make: A Guide for Teens by Sean Covey. It is much more interesting with all the cartoons, and doesn't drone on and on in a monotone.

Only reason this didn't get a 1/5 star is because it had some information about neuroscience, something which I am very passionate about.

[Eva]

This is actually a pretty interesting book, just a little....cheesy, to say the least. Clearly, the authors have forgotten what it's like to be a teenager. They've forgotten that teenagers as a general rule, don't like hearing "inspiring" stories about dogs that become authors interjected throughout the otherwise fascinating book. However, the lessons taught in here, if applied the right way, would actually help someone succeed in life. But it's basically stuff taught in Health class backed by rat experiments.

[Ela]

I managed to finish this book though at first I was a bit challenged for I might not grasp what this book is all about, furthermore, what it tries to say due to the nature of its writers, who are both medical doctors.

Psychological in nature, this book left me thoughts basically revolving on certain range of emotions—that feeling certain feelings aren't necessarily innately bad. Therefore, all emotions, including sadness, fear and anger are just as important as feeling happy, ecstatic and indifferent. Though of course there are abnormalities regarding emotions—such as states of experiencing hormonal imbalance of either which—we can have complete control over them, especially if we knew more about them.

[Camille]

This book has some good information in it, but it is so poorly written that I couldn't get more than halfway through it. I'm absolutely sure there are other psychology books out there that do a much better job of presenting this material. I will NOT be giving this to my teen to read.

[Darsha18]

One should definitely read it if they have teenagers at home or is a young adult who have just come out of his/her teen phase and his/her college phase. And ofcourse, therapist for there few excellent methods and concepts given by John and Linda.

[Janani]

This book is a guide to a teens success!! It teaches the wisdom of maturity very genuinely. This is a very classic and simple book. Each one of us should surely read this book.

[Ashley]

I only wish I had read this sooner. It includes information on emotional intelligence, healthy power, and more. It is handy for anyone, not just teens.

[Christy]

The Seven Best Things Smart Teens Do by John C. Friel Ph.D. (2000)

[SMZ]

Great resource for parents of teens, individuals who work with teens and teens themselves.

[Kadi]

I couldn't even finish this book it was boring and confusing. I have no idea which "smart idea" we were on. Not the book I was looking for to share w my teens.

[Aj]

It was ok. There were definitely some interesting parts, but it got REALLY slow in the end.