Book Review - Mom, I'm Not a Kid Anymore: Navigating 25 Inevitable Conversations That Arrive Before You Know It

About the Book

Raising a preteen can often sneak up on parents—one day boys are gross, and the next their names are written into hearts. Suddenly everything mom and dad do is so embarrassing, best friends can turn into bullies overnight, and everybody has Facebook. Connecting with someone who not so long ago used to be your baby and now only responds in shrugs and eye-rolls is difficult, but connection is exactly what a preteen just figuring out who he or she is needs.

Guiding by example, Sue Sanders sheds a little light on how parents can handle the mood swings, the slammed doors and the “you’re-not-the-boss-of-me’s,” and talk to their emerging teenager with mutual respect. In MOM, I’M NOT A KID ANYMORE: Navigating 25 Inevitable Conversations That Arrive Before You Know It, Sanders, equipped with a self-aware sense of humor, takes on her daughter Lizzie’s toughest questions, from the ones a parent can see coming to the ones that come out of nowhere. Everything is fair game: Religion, puberty, the word “like” (as in, “That is, like, so awesome”), divorce, drugs, technology and privacy, HPV vaccines, and mean girls—a topic on which Lizzie’s experience prompts Sanders to contact the mean girl who tormented her in seventh grade. The conversations are sometimes unexpected, sometimes awkward, but always honest.

Mom, I’m Not a Kid Anymore is the ideal book for those who might be dreading the day their teen asks them if they’ve ever smoked marijuana, or those who don’t quite know how to broach difficult subjects. With refreshing wit and startling candor, Sanders and her daughter help other families prepare for handling modern situations, reminding them to trust their intuition in order to build a solid foundation for genuine communication.

About the Author
Sue Sanders’ writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Oregonian, Parents, Family Circle, and on Salon and Babble, among others. Her stories have been included in the anthologies Ask Me About My Divorce and Women Reinvented. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter. 

My Take on the Book
This was a well written book that provides any parent with an uncensored, honest approach to talking to their child about issues that will definitely come up in middle school and beyond. While I still have a few years until I hit this point, for me I know that I will need as much help as I can get. What I loved was that the book is not only from the mom's point of view, but also brings in her daughter so you can see the conversations from both perspectives. This makes the book that much stronger and so much more of a resource for me as a father that I think it would have been if it was only one-sided. Reading this will open your eyes towards the things that are to come, and how best you can stay connected through these changing times with your own child!


All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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