The Bottom Line
Why Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids: What Parents Need to Know, What Parents Need to Do is an excellent book by Linda and Alvin Silbert for parents of all teens who want to help them achieve their best in school. Perfect for those parents whose teen’s grades may be slipping and you want to see what you can do about it. It is not the first book to grab if your teen is in crisis and failing his/her classes. Although, it would be a recommended read the next time you are not in crisis mode.
Pros
- Many well thought out parenting strategies.
- Places education in the correct perspective.
- Author’s writing style makes the book an easy read.
- Book includes real life examples.
Cons
- Title implies quick fix for troubled teens, not so.
Description
- The book is written for all age groups, but teens are not just an add-on.
- The book goes into specific help for meeting your teen’s basic needs that in turn helps with school.
- Devoted a whole chapter to the trust issue, one that parents and teens really need.
Guide Review - Why Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids
Book Description: This easy-to-read guide will help parents help their children succeed in all stages of their educations. The Silberts work with parents to help figure out and address the root of a child's problems in school, instead of just treating the symptom: the bad grades. The book provides examples and techniques, and contains many real-life anecdotes about the students and parents the Silberts have worked with. The chapters are organized using S+T+R+O+N+G, an acronym that stands for Self-esteem + Trust + Responsibility + Options + Needs + Goals, the six interconnected areas central to the development of emotionally, socially, and intellectually strong kids. This is a great book for educators as well as for parents.Denise's Thoughts: I liked this book and found much of the information very valuable to parents of teens that want to get a handle of how school fits into their teen’s life and what they can do to help their teen achieve. I had a hard time with some of the examples, as I didn’t see how these teens in crisis fit with the overall theme of the book, which spoke to me as a preventative rather than a fix-it type of book.
