• How to Hug a Porcupine

  • Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years
  • By: Julie A. Ross MA
  • Narrated by: Pam Ward
  • Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (119 ratings)

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How to Hug a Porcupine

By: Julie A. Ross MA
Narrated by: Pam Ward
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Publisher's summary

Yesterday, your child was a sweet, well-adjusted eight-year-old. Today, a moody, disrespectful 12-year-old. What happened? And more important, how do you handle it? How you respond to these whirlwind changes will not only affect your child's behavior now but will determine how he or she turns out later. Julie A. Ross, executive director of Parenting Horizons, shows you exactly what's going on with your child and provides all the tools you need to correctly handle even the prickliest tween porcupine.

  • Find out how other parents survived nightmarish tween behavior - and still raised great kids
  • Break the "nagging cycle", give your kids responsibilities and get results
  • Talk about sex, drugs, and alcohol so your kid will listen
  • Discover the secret that will help your child to disregard peer pressure and make smart choices - for life

©2008 Julie Ross (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Ross's central metaphor, 'tweens' as prickly-but-loveable porcupines, is funny and effective, and her writing style is easy-going, making this an accessible and practical primer." ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about How to Hug a Porcupine

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Great Book

This is a great book with awesome principles and techniques to use when raising your kids.

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Mother of a 12 year old girl¡

I really enjoyed listening to this book and will listen again and again. I have a fairly open relationship with my daughter now, but she is getting stranger and stranger as hormones hit. I have faith that these tools will be just the extra help I needed to maintain a solid respectful relationship with my girl. Thanks.

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great for parents of middle schoolers

this is a great resource for parents of middle schoolers. giving plenty of real liife examples and techniques to deal with those situations. the author focuses on building relationships rather than control. as the parent of a VERY spiny Porcupine myself, I found many if the exams relatable and encouraging. some references are a bit dated "like MySpace, etc" but the tools and advice involved can still be applied with more modern technology and social media.

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Good info but need different narrator!

The information in this book is great. I also bought the hardcopy so I could go back and reference it. I’m glad I did because the woman who narrates this book is so painful to listen to that sometimes I completely tune her out! It sounds like grandma reading you a bedtime story. The author really needs to find someone else with a more serious, educated tone and re-record this. I just can’t take her seriously. 

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Super useful

I wish I had found this book before, but it is never too late to build a relationship!

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3 people found this helpful

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Helpful advice

Enjoyed the entire book for helping with my kiddos but also more understanding of myself. Easy listen and definitely recommend.

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Brilliant!

This helped me so much. I can't wait to implement these techniques with my middle schoolers!

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Great for tween moms

Enjoyed this book, might not have any huge earth shattering advice but was well put together gave concrete examples of how to talk to your tween, and a lot of reassurance

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Amazing!

Great tips for better communication and relationship building. I wish I would have read this sooner!

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Great advice, so timely.

We have two boys - 11 going on 12 this month and 9 going to be 10 in dec. the 11 is asserting his independence more and more. At times we struggle to communicate effectively with him. He can no longer be expected to comply like his younger brother. This book offers great methods and mindsets for us to approach him more effectively.. and we’re making progress already!

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4 people found this helpful