Author Interview - Richard M. Dudum

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

04 Apr 2008 12:10 AM

Yesterday I reviewed a book entitled "What Your Mother Never Told You." Today I am joined by Richard Dudum, author of that book. Richard, thank you for taking time out of your schedule to be here.

Your book is specifically geared toward teenage girls. Have you written or do you plan to write a book for teenage boys?

Many of the issues covered in "What Your Mother Never Told You - A Survival Guide For Teenage Girls" are not gender specific. Both boys and girls can benefit from the book's contents. At the same time, boys may feel a bit reluctant to read the "pink" book directed at teenage girls. For that reason, I am considering a book geared toward boys. While many of the chapters would be similar with boy specific changes, there would be a number of additional chapters aimed specifically at male issues.

In an age where women have more freedom than ever before in history, you would think that girls would also have more self-esteem than ever before, yet it seems that self-esteem in young women is lower than ever before. Have you found this to be true, and why do you think that is?

In chapter 49 I discuss "free will." Although our teens have more freedom, and have the free will to make any decision they want, they need to understand that the consequences of their decisions are not free. Those consequences have been bought and paid for by the choices they make.

With this newfound freedom comes an increase in responsibility and the need to pay more attention to life's details. I discuss this in chapter 13 and throughout the book.

More freedom does not equal more self-esteem. On the contrary, it creates more opportunity to make a mistake, especially if our teens do not know how to handle their newfound freedom.

Although they may not admit it, teens want clear boundaries. We as parents have to provide those boundaries, and we need to teach our teens to set and meet their own expectations and boundaries.

We'll continue our talk with Richard tomorrow. In the meantime, you can learn more about him here.

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Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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