Growing Great Kids

Catholic priests don't generally have children but Australian legend Father Chris Riley from Youth Off the Streets has brought up nearly 100,000 - and they're some of the toughest kids around. He regularly encounters kids who steal, take drugs, self-harm, see themselves as irredeemable failures, hate everyone and everything. But he's nearly always managed to find a way through to them, and to help them.

While the vast majority of Australian kids don't have the magnitude of problems he sees in his work every day, the lessons he's learnt from them are invaluable to all parents. How can most parents relate to the kind of problems and pressures their children face today? How can they cope when things come off the rails? How can they really talk to their children in a meaningful way when it seems that their kids just don't want to listen?

Growing Great Kids is the one book all parents - and their kids - should read. A priceless guide through the maze of childhood and adolescence for both parents and their children, with so many real life stories to tug on the heart-strings, it's a gripping read no one will be able to put down.

'The book contains a remarkable combination of experience and wisdom that every Australian parent needs.' Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

About the Authors

Sue Williams is a high-profile journalist who writes for The Australian, The Melbourne Age and The Sunday Age as well as several magazines. Sue is the author of the bestselling Peter Ryan biography, Peter Ryan: The Inside Story, and co-author of a motivational women's health guide, Powering Up.

Father Chris Riley is the founder of Youth Off The Streets and has worked with disadvantaged young people for more than 30 years. He was nominated NSW Australian of the Year in 2012.