Oh Yeah. A Guide to the Good Life: An Initiation into Adulthood: A Tool for Discussion

There are three different groups of people who are interested in this book: 1. Teenagers who are seeking honest encouragement and straight talking. 2. Parents thinking about their approach to adolescence and to life. 3. Students of English as a foreign language. Over the years, my students have frequently asked about my writing. My other works have required high level English skills in order to read them so this is the first book which can be honestly recommended to even my lower level students. This now serves as a teaching tool with classes both online and in person. This book was written for the occasion of my eldest daughter’s thirteenth birthday. It was intended as a condensed record of the most important things I felt I had learned about life and hoped to share with her. Surely, the greatest legacy we can ever leave someone is the benefit of our own experience. Ultimately, there’s no doubting how much we need to make our own mistakes… but I have been saved from countless mishaps by listening to the wisdom of people whose insight I valued. As a parent of two growing girls, soon to be three, there are many stages where I have had to fight battles and stand my ground. A parent needs to place clear boundaries in order for harmony to exist in the family. Failing to be honest leads to a nightmare of disconnection. As I look at the nature of many parent/child relationships around me, it’s clear that some resemble incessant battles or even wars where no-one can triumph. Everyone becomes a victim in these fruitless, argumentative onslaughts. As my daughter was fast approaching the age of 13, I was becoming aware of some serious and unavoidable issues. With legal adulthood fast approaching, no more than five years away, there were a whole host of subtle trends that loomed dangerously in my periphery vision. Although a lovely girl, whose presence is always welcomed by teachers and other families, certain tendencies towards selfishness, probably quite normal for adolescence, were revealing themselves. These trends most noticeably manifested in an unwillingness to contribute around the house and in family chores, perhaps no great thing in itself. Nonetheless, I couldn’t resist asking what underlies this resistance to participating in the shared responsibility of living as part of a group. Other things that started to concern me included: not making her bed, not completing her homework, not participating in sports clubs as much… and the modern classic… an excessive interest in social media. Some days she would spend as much as 8 hours with her gadget. I decided to buy her a small gift, I found a beautiful hardback notebook with plain pages and the words “Oh Yeah” on the front cover. I thought I would give it to her for use as a journal. Soon after, I thought of all the empty notebooks she had lying around in drawers and so the thought occurred to me that I could write something with her on our trip. Very soon, it became clear quite how much I wanted to say. Over the next few months I wrote on the pages of this book, noting my thoughts as they occurred to me. Do they have value? I pray that they do. Only time can be the test of that. No book is enough to initiate anyone in the ways of the world. This book is humbly offered as a simple tool to be used on the journey towards maturation. Only by discussing these topics can the words here come alive and be able to inform the individual. It would be very easy to read this book in the space of one hour and for there to be no discernible effect. Without reflection, consideration and debate, there is little here but a long string of abstract symbols and potentially empty wisdom. Periodically, there are online courses to accompany this book, if you are interested, please sign up to this mailing list: http://eepurl.com/do5SYr