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This little book, the last of the series, concerns young people of fourteen, fifteen and over in their last years at school, and those proceeding to work or to further education. They are continuing that long adolescent process of emotional upheaval and reorganization which is necessary before they come to a more mature realization of their identities.
The uncertainty in these young persons about what kind of individuals they are turning out to be, and in what kind of a world they have to find their way, is often shared by parents. We have to get used to the idea of seeing the child whom we have reared becoming more of an equal and a challenge to our authority. We are driven to question the way in which we are exercising our authority and experience, and to ask how we can still protect without stifling.
How has the teenager whom we see passing from our care grown out of the child he was just yesterday? What part did we have in that growth? Do we still need the child, or is our life complete without him?
These questions are not answered here; they cannot be answered simply, or by prescriptions by some “expert”. But it is possible to suggest some ways of considering these, and other,