Imagine that there is a medication you could administer to your teens that would help regulate their moods, increase their sense of trust, and improve their overall brain function. Imagine, moreover, that it’s free, has no negative side effects, and helps to boost the immune system. And it’s available in an unlimited supply.

It sounds too good to be true, but in You’re Ruining My Life! Jennifer Kolari shows how her unique approach to parenting can have all these effects and more. Kolari’s CALM technique is based on the therapeutic strategy of mirroring . Used regularly, it can strengthen the parent–child bond and build emotional independence.

Kolari provides information, advice, sample conversations, and anecdotal examples to show how parents can turn what they have learned into everyday practices that help them to reconnect with their teens so they can spend more time enjoying each other—and less time at war.

Jennifer Kolari, MSW, RSW, is a child and family therapist who has been based in Toronto for twenty years. In addition to coaching parents on how to develop and use Connected Parenting skills, she teaches children's social skills groups and parenting workshops. A sought-after speaker, Kolari has offered useful and practical strategies, delivered with warmth and humour, to schools, organizations, Canada and the United States. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their three children.

Jennifer Kolari's profile page