The Approximate Parent: Discovering the Strategies That Work With Your Teenager is a wise, friendly companion on the voyage of parenting and supporting the adolescents in your life-whether you're a parent, educator or mental health professional. Written by Michael Y. Simon-a psychotherapist, educator, high school counselor, and parent-The Approximate Parent helps you translate what your teen thinks, feels, and does-to give you practical ways of supporting your teen from adolescence into adulthood. Learn how to strategize wisely, by taking into account both the current American culture of adolescents and your particular teen's biology, temperament and developmental challenges. This highly accessible book draws on work in such diverse fields as clinical psychology, cognitive neuroscience, epigenetics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and religious studies to provide a unique context for understanding the issues facing American teens. Chapters include an overview of adolescent development based on the latest research on neuroimaging; relationships and role played by mass digital media in identity development, parenting in the digital age; drugs, alcohol and parties and understanding when and how to intervene; the current sexual culture of adolescents; a new way of understanding the meaning of a teen's behavior in the family; protecting the wish and will towards learning/creativity in your teen; how to tell if your teen has good mental health and finally, a meditation on the ethical dimension of parenting, or why parenting is always about teaching values and responsibility. The book is a must for anyone who works with and supports teens daily.