Disarming the Teenage Heart
 Jeff Leeland
 (Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
 2003 LifeJourney^™
 ISBN: 0781438705

Helping teens navigate today's cultural minefields.

That having been said, Jeff Leeland has an agenda & it is to introduce everyone to The Sparrows Clubs^™: Changing lives, Saving Lives -- out of Redmond, Oregon. www.sparrowsclubs.org

Jeff Leeland has been involved with kids & teens for most of his adult life, by way of being a parent & a teacher in public schools. In this his second book, he sets out to tell us how our teens' hearts become armored, & how to disarm them so they may get on with healthy & happy lives. Happiness always means emotional adventures -- we pigeon-hole them as “good” or “bad”, although they are all part of a fully lived life.

In the beginning Jeff Leeland tells us of the first sparrow in his life, his son Michael, who, diagnosed with leukemia, needed a bone marrow transplant, & how the teenagers in Jeff's life came to the rescue. From this grew the processes which Jeff Leeland wishes us to know about in Disarming the Teenage Heart.

As an aside, let's not forget that once upon a time, we too passed through those years -- I get really uncomfortable when I listen to adults talk about our teens, even our children, as if they are a separate species from us. Our “youth” is when our bodies have minds of their own, the things of childhood arouse nostalgia & contempt, & the company of our own “kind” is preferred. Only in the last hundred years in our species' long story have we called that phase: teenhood, teenage, young adult. As far as I'm concerned just about everything that goes “wrong” during those few, short years can be traced back to when we adults decided to keep our children in an extended childhood, hampering & pampering them, even as they strive to flourish into maturity. Whether we like to admit it or not, every teenager should leave home at least once a year for an extended length of time. They have to learn how to fly on their own -- that's what camps are for & teachers like Jeff Leeland.

So back to his book, Disarming the Teenage Heart, in which Jeff Leeland writes that he has learnt two things about kids, with which I heartily agree!
1. “Everything that matters most to kids is rooted in relationship.
2. Every kid is naturally bent to be idealistic, passionate, and cause-oriented. At the heart of every child is an atrophying hero who dreams of a call to honorable action.” (page 12)

With this in mind, here are the chapters to Disarming the Teenage Heart,
• Surface Living, Deep Needs, and the Four Bs
• Disarming the Heart: The Four Cs
• Compassion: The Romance of Inner Beauty
• Courage: The Heroism of Inner Brawn
• Character: The Wealth of an Inner Bank Account
• Conscience: The Wisdom of an Inner Brain
• Teaching Kids to Do Heroic Things
• Four C Stories for the Literate Soul
• The Fifth C: Communities of Sanctuary

Read the stories of Jeff Leeland's life & the heroism of the children he has known, they are heart breaking & heart warming.

I recommend every parent & teacher read Disarming the Teenage Heart -- if for no other reason than to remember how magnificent our youngsters can be, if we encourage them.

More from Jeff Leeland: One Small Sparrow
(10/05/03)

Rebecca