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Staying Connected To Your Teenager, Revised Addition: How to Keep Them Talking to you and How to Hear What They're Really Saying 

About the Book
Nothing in a parent’s life is more trying and confusing than raising a teenager. But few parents know that in every teen there are two very different people; most see only the rebellious child and, if they’re not on the lookout, they’ll miss the more agreeable, increasingly adult thinker in their midst. In this wise and practical guide, family psychologist and head of school Michael Riera offers tools and strategies to strengthen and deepen family connections by:

1. Working with, not against, adolescents’ unique sleep rhythms
2. Using time in the car to invite real conversations
3. Moving from a “managing” to a “consulting” role in a teen’s life ​

This new edition has been fully revised and updated to help parents make the most of today’s technology, engage grandparents, and guide teens on everything from social media to college applications. Staying Connected to Your Teenager demonstrates ways to bring out the best in a teen—and, consequently, in an entire family. 

​New chapters on social media, grandparents, and applying to college. 

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Staying Connected To Your Teenager: How to Keep Them Talking to you and How to Hear What They're Really Saying 

About the Book
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“Connecting to your teenager is a process not unlike building up muscles. As parents, you need to work on your timing and build up strength in your relationship. This book gives you the “machinery” on which to exercise… it will change the way you think about teenagers and transform the way you relate to them.” – Michael Gurian, author, The Wonder of Boys and The Wonder of Girls

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Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers

About the Book
Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers (Celestial Arts, 1995) by Michael Riera, Ph.D., will help parents better understand their teenagers and assist them in strengthening the communication essential to a healthy relationship.

Adolescence is too often misunderstood as a phase to be dreaded instead of enjoyed. Dr. Michael Riera’s appreciation for this special developmental stage of life via his non-patronizing approach to teenagers sets this book far and above the rest. 

​Uncommon Sense means:

1. Communicate indirectly
2. Embrace estrangement
3. Expect inconsistency
4. Finally, relax and don’t take it personally!
5. Forget heart-to-heart talks
6. Give your kid a non-alcoholic “cocktail” hour to decompress after a long, hard day
7. Let your kid do some of the worrying
8. Let your teenager brood
9. Resist giving advice, even when your teenager asks for it

“This book offers a wealth of down-to-earth and practical advice. No detached academic author here! Dr. Riera is in the trenches with lots of hands-on experience to pass on to frustrated parents and teens alike.” - Dr. Dean Edell

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Difficult Conversations In Education

My experience is that, if we are willing to see patterns in how we handle difficult conversations and decisions, we are then able, with courage, to make changes to those patterns when they are ineffective or there are better ways. Say you have a tendency to take something personally and get defensive when having a conversation with a parent, colleague, or student. Changing this pattern requires time, patience, and persistence –– and this happens in three distinct stages: - See more at: http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/Learning-from-Difficult-Conversations.aspx#sthash.NYhLMTxn.dpuf

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Field Guide to the American Teenager

Field Guide to the American Teenager (Perseus Publishing 2000) by Michael Riera, Ph.D. and Joseph DiPrisco, Ph.D., dramatizes events in the lives of teenagers based on the authors’ years of experience talking to adolescents without their parents around. Subjects run the gamut of the often emotionally confusing teen life. In each experience, the authors point out the developmental issues at play and the deeper levels of significance and meaning for the adolescent.

“2000 Editors’ Choice: Top Ten Parenting & Family Book of the Year” - Amazon.com

“Best Parenting and Family Books of 2000” - BarnesandNoble.com

“Smart and Sensitive.” - Time Magazine

“With their refreshingly honest and reassuring approach, the authors take parents inside the teen brain—and heart—for a guided tour.” - Christina Ferrari, Managing Editor, Teen People Magazine

“A highly recommended resource to be consulted again and again.” - Dr. Dean Edell

“The common sense advice keeps you grounded and the psychological and social analysis keeps you fascinated.” - Farai Chideya, host of Pure Oxygen

“A treasure trove of meaningful advice for parents with teenagers... will lead to real understanding and improved relationships with all the teens in our lives.” - Michael Gurian, author of The Good Son

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Right From Wrong

Right From Wrong: Instilling a Sense of Integrity in Your Child (Perseus Books, March 2002) by Michael Riera, Ph.D. and Joseph DiPrisco, Ph.D., is a wise and reassuring guide to fostering integrity in young children.

Does your child have a conscience? Is he remorseful when caught in a lie? Integrity does not happen simply as a result of unconditional love, healthy genes, or good luck. It emerges - if it does - because parents make it a priority to exercise influence in this arena. 

Right From Wrong combines stories of children experiencing the day-to-day struggles of growing up, along with compassionate, in-depth analysis and pragmatic counsel. This book makes nurturing the qualities of integrity tangible to parents and others who are actively involved in guiding a child’s moral life.
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Through the authors’ discerning eyes we witness children as they experience loss or sadness, react to sibling rivalries, schoolyard violence and academic pressures, or even as they interact at the dinner table. The ways in which parents use listening, praise, discipline, honesty and consequences to react to these situations reinforces a child’s sense of right and wrong. From these choices readers will learn valuable lessons about a parent’s power to nurture character and morality in young children.

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Surviving High School

Through the authors’ discerning eyes we witness children as they experience loss or sadness, react to sibling rivalries, schoolyard violence and academic pressures, or even as they interact at the dinner table. The ways in which parents use listening, praise, discipline, honesty and consequences to react to these situations reinforces a child’s sense of right and wrong. From these choices readers will learn valuable lessons about a parent’s power to nurture character and morality in young children.

Surviving High School (Celestial Arts, 1997) by Mike Riera, Ph.D., is the book you can give to teenagers now. Written in a lively dialogue format, with a decidedly hip but responsible tone, Mike Riera strikes the balance between guidance and choice.

Counselor Mike Riera has worked with students for over 19 years. In Surviving High School he speaks directly to students about the situations and changes they will face both during and immediately after high school. Interspersed with Mike’s down-to-earth, practical guidance are the words of teens who offer their own points of view and experiences with the issues facing high school students.

Exercises on each subject aid students in developing their own spirit and instill critical-thinking and decision-making skills. Surviving High School will help teenagers and their parents successfully navigate the crucial years of high school.