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Friendship Smart: A Parent's Guide
  • Published: 21 July 2026
  • ISBN: 9781761345333
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304
Categories:

Friendship Smart: A Parent's Guide

Twelve principles to help tweens and teens build strong, secure relationships




Following on from her groundbreaking Tweens, educator and bestselling author Michelle Mitchell’s new, wide-ranging research-backed book is the essential friendship guide for parents with tweens and teenage children.

For more than 30 years, Michelle has interacted with tweens and teens after tricky friendship days. Over that time, she has developed a set of twelve friendship principles that have helped thousands of parents and their children through the most complex areas of growing up.

This book is not just about your child’s friendship challenges today; they change daily. This book is about friendship principles that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

In these pages, Michelle has put what she has learnt about friendships into clear, accessible and helpful language that you can transfer to your tween or teen in moments that matter the most.

The twelve principles are:
- Principle 1: Worthiness
- Principle 2: Belonging
- Principle 3: Reciprocity
- Principle 4: Trust
- Principle 5: Placement
- Principle 6: Constructive Conflict
- Principle 7: Protection
- Principle 8: Steadiness
- Principle 9: Boundaries
- Principle 10: Reconciliation
- Principle 11: Perspective
- Principle 12: Growth

With these 12 principles, Michelle has seen young people voice their needs, stand strong and experience more meaningful connections. Most importantly, she has seen these principles give kids options in life.

  • Published: 21 July 2026
  • ISBN: 9781761345333
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304
Categories:

About the author

Michelle Mitchell

Michelle Mitchell is an educator, author and award-winning speaker. She has been termed ‘the teenage expert’ by the media and is sought after for her compassionate and grounded advice about parenting tweens and teens. Michelle started her career as a teacher, but soon discovered a special interest in wellbeing. She left teaching in 2000 and founded Youth Excel, a ‘boutique’ health promotion charity that delivered tailor-made life skills programs and psychological services to thousands of young people and their families each year. Today she uses her experience to champion parents of tweens and teens.

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