My friend, Lauren Kessler, is not only an incredibly prolific published writer, she is also a ridiculously trusting mother. I say this with great affection for her but I simply can't ignore her insanely risky choice to co-write a blog with her teenage daughter.
Lauren -- an occasional presence here at FWIW -- offers the DL on her latest adventure:
"Yes...it's true. Lizzie and I have launched a mother-daughter blog. We're writing our way through the sturm und drang of teenagehood... about the things that divide and unite us... offering our distinct teen girl/ midlife mother slant on such subjects as: hot guys, junk food and what we want to be when we grow up."
You can visit it now and watch and read about Lauren's high-wire act of parenthood "live," as it's happening. Or maybe LIzzie is the brave one here; I'm not so sure.
As I understand it, though, Lauren and Lizzie will be blogging about the regular stuff --movies, music, Facebook surveys -- as well as those other things that cause moms and daughters to, well, yell at each other, often loudly. I take Lauren at her word that her relationship with Lizzie has been "sometimes stormy." This means, to me, that there'll be some juicy conflict ginned up from time-to-time about everything from homework, to online overdosing to school night bedtimes -- and even the challenging stuff like boys & sex.
But back to the Two-L's and the method to their madness. There's also a book coming out on August 5 which -- surprise -- can be pre-ordered now from Amazon. Here's the blurb on that.
My only regret as the father of a daughter who just survived teenhood and is about to graduate spectacularly from UCSB and make her father very proud is that I didn't have Lauren's book as a reference. My wife and I had to do this flying blind!A bestselling journalist navigates the stormy seas of the mother-daughter relationship as she strives to understand her charming, alarming almost-teen daughter.
The book that tries to answer the question plaguing every mother-of-a-teen: What is the worst time in a woman’s life – when she was 13… or when her daughter is?
With the keen eye of a reporter, the deep curiosity of an anthropologist and the open – and sometimes wounded – heart of a mother, award-winning author Lauren Kessler embeds herself in her about-to-be-teenage daughter’s life. In seventh and eighth grade classrooms, at home, online, at the mall, and at summer camp, Kessler observes, investigates, chronicles – and sometimes participates in – the life of a 21st century teen.
As she begins to better understand and appreciate her mercurial daughter, their often troubled relationship – at first a mirror of the author’s difficult relationship with her own mother – slowly, bumpily moves in new directions. With the help of a resident teen expert (her daughter), teachers, doctors, therapists and other mothers, Kessler illuminates the age-old mother-daughter struggle from both sides, gracefully interweaving personal experience with journalistic inquiry. Funny, harrowing, poignant and invariably insightful, My Teenage Werewolf explores the fascinating and scary world of today’s teen as it comes to grips with the single most important relationship in a woman’s life.
