Helping Teens Define Their Futures

Looking for work is never easy, but the last few years have been especially challenging. You can't blame our kids for feeling a little leery about their job prospects. Almost everyone knows someone who has lost work in this recession. If it's not you, it's your neighbor or your in-laws.

So how do we keep our kids positive in the light of all the discouraging news they hear around them? The newly published second edition of What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens has some good suggestions. The book is the younger sibling of what is probably the bestselling job-hunting book ever: What Color Is Your Parachute. Richard Bolles, the author of that classic, is one of three co-authors on the teen version, along with Carol Christen and Jean Blomquist.

The Parachute series is successful for a reason: the books help you hone in on your particular strengths and give you a guide to using your strengths to overcome your weaknesses. The idea is that we are all unique and when you can figure out what makes you special, you can move ahead on your own terms.

The advice here is very up-to-date. For example, there's lots of guidance on how to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to reach your goals. The tone is serious but realistic. Here's a sample "parachute tip" that shows how different our kids' lives will be from ours:

It's impossible for you to pick a single job for the rest of your life – whether you want to or not. The world of work is changing too much for you to possibly choose a job that will last your entire life…The Occupational Outlook Quarterly reported that you will probably have ten different jobs between the ages of eighteen and thirty-eight. And at thirty-eight you will likely be in the work force at least another thirty to thirty-five years.

Makes you tired just to think about it, but that's what probably lies ahead for our kids. This book can help them get started – one step at a time.