Laura Sessions Stepp

Laura Sessions Stepp, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, has written about children and families for more than a decade. Specializing in the coverage of adolescence for the Style section of The Washington Post, she is the author of the recent, critically acclaimed book Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our Children Through Early Adolescence.

Stepp was an invited speaker at the White House Conference on Raising Responsible Teenagers. She also served on the U.S. Surgeon General's Healthy People 2000 panel on adolescence and was a visiting scholar at the National Academy of Sciences (Board on Children, Youth, and Families) from 1996-1998. She chairs the board of advisors of the Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families at the University of Maryland.

Stepp has addressed national conferences of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Sociological Association, the Casey Center, the Knight Center for Specialized Reporting and the National Academy of Sciences. A keynote speaker at numerous seminars and workshops, she has been interviewed on NBC's Today Show, CNN, NPR and local radio and television shows. Her articles have appeared in many magazines including Parents, Child, Working Mother, Reader's Digest, Redbook, Independent School Journal, and Nieman Reports, as well as on the web sites of Salon.com and Oxymom.

Stepp received her B.A. in 1973 from Earlham College in Richmond, IN, which named her alumna of the year 2001. She got her M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1974. She worked at The Charlotte Observer, The (Philadelphia) Evening Bulletin and The Palm Beach Times before coming to the Post in 1982.

She lives in Arlington, Va., with her husband, Carl, and their teenaged son, Jeff.

Adolescence is a time of growth and change rivaling infancy. Teenagers' bodies, hearts and minds begin maturing at a phenomenal rate, and their relationships with adults are redefined. Parents start to feel they're losing control of their kids, and they are.

But they need not lose touch. In her new book, Our Last Best Shot: Guiding Our Children Through Early Adolescence, Laura Sessions Stepp shows how real families helped their children navigate adolescence. After spending a year with the families of 18 boys and girls, she found that the intellectual and emotional needs of young people are similar regardless of the type of family they come from or where they live. She also found that the interventions parents succeed with, as well as the mistakes they make, are similar as well.

"Good parenting looks the same in all neighborhoods and all families," Stepp says. "So does bad parenting."

Stepp's powerful, real-life observations, combined with what she learned from dozens of experts in adolescent development, provide an intimate glimpse into the world of our next generation of leaders. Her expertise is of value to employers, policymakers, health professionals and teachers as well as parents and grandparents.

Adults who ignore young teenagers, she says, do so at their peril, for "adolescence is our last best shot at preparing young people for a successful life."

Stepp speaks frequently on topics relating to teenagers and families. Her audiences have included a conference at The White House, a symposium for state legislators, an annual drug awareness luncheon, a medical school seminar and dozens of school, church and parent groups.

• What Works: Stories From the Front Lines of Families Raising Adolescents
• It's Not Just Raging Hormones: Why Teens Act the Way They Do
• Training Tomorrow's Leaders: Now's The Perfect Time To Start
• Schoolyard Shootings: What The Kids Are Trying To Tell Us
• Middle School: The Make-or-Break Years
• Parents as Guardrails: The Need for Boundaries
• Managing Fear: Teaching Kids To Feel Confident When We Don't
• Parents as Allies: How to Let Go But Stay In Touch
• The Other Three R's: Respect, Responsibility, Relationship
• The Three-Legged Stool: Parents, Friends and Other Adults
• Making Divorce Work For Kids
• Sexy at Six: How Puberty is Changing and What It Means for Girls
• The Fragile Bond: Dads and their Teenaged Daughters
• Boys Will Be Boys and Other Dangerous Myths About Sons
• Stories From The Front Line: What Teens Say They Want and Need
• Raising Trustworthy Teens
• More Fun Than Candyland: Finding New Ways To Stay Involved With Your Teen
• Extraordinary Story: What The Early Teen Years Are Really Like

Here's what people are saying about Stepp's speeches:

"An unqualified success. I cannot imagine a better keynote speaker than you."
---Deborah Fitz, coordinator, Parent Education Conference, The Menlo School, Menlo Park, CA

"Outstanding scholarship, a well-planned and insightful presentation, and an engaging speaking style that included a warm, empathetic sense of humor."
---Amy Lear White, parent association representative, Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C.

"A direct and open approach that engaged our audience."
---Crispina MacDonald, coordinator, parent education, International Monetary Fund

"An outstanding moderator. Your wrap-up at the end of the day was excellent and gave all participants a framework in which to contemplate our topic."
---Linda Kotix, director of policy and program development, National Institute for Health Care Management

"Your insights into today's adolescents and ways in which to best shepherd them were informative and valued by all."
---Kurt Erickson, executive director, Washington Regional Alcohol Program

"Thank you for your wise words at the White House Conference on Teenagers. Your remarks added an important perspective.... Your book is a roadmap for parents."
---First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton

"Our recently-incorporated suburb on the outskirts of Microsoft territory will, thankfully, never be the same. Those who attended left the evening's presentation with renewed hope for the future of our kids, renewed faith in our ability to effectively parent them, and renewed love for that enigma we call 'teenagers.'”
---Cherry Boone O'Neill, PTA coordinator, Sammamish, WA

"We are a college preparatory day school with a total enrollment of 1500, and our parents look at visiting speakers with a critical eye. Parents liked what Laura had to say. With a candid, relaxed speaking style and engaging presentation, she wove a combination of hard research and stories. We found meaning in the conclusions she drew and in the parenting tips she suggested. She did an outstanding job helping our parents understand that they can have a huge positive impact.”
---Anne Nelson Morck, PTA chair and Sally Chambers, middle school guidance counselor, The Collegiate School, Richmond, Va.

"Your speech was our most well-attended PTA function all year (and perhaps ever)! I have received lots of very positive feedback. It was not only entertaining and extremely interesting, but filled with insights and very useful and practical advice for parents of teens."
---Robin Stutman, PTA coordinator, Hoover Middle School Cluster, Bethesda, Md.

"What a wonderful experience it was to have you serve as the closing speaker to the VAME Annual conference. Your remarks had just the right tone and content for our teachers as they resume their classroom activities. VAME could not have asked for more.”
---Pat Edwards, president, Virginia Association of Marketing Educators

"We couldn't have hoped for a more positive experience. Your presentation was enlightening, encouraging and entertaining."
---Marianne Kopech, executive director, The Prevention Institute, Columbus, Ohio

"We certainly had a grand week. Your presentation added the "kid" perspective which was just what we needed to set the tone."
---Nancy Schultze, Director of Middle School Instruction, Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Md.

"I have received so much great feedback. A stunning platform."
---Susan Saidman, Washington Ethical Society

Here's how critics have reviewed Stepp's book:

"First-rate, observant, compassionate, yet free of cant and sentimentality." - Kay Hymowitz, The Washington Post Book World

"This book isn't just well-researched and insightful, it's a page-turner....No-nonsense and sympathetic at the same time....She offers us hope....There were many places where I saw myself, my husband, or my son, many pages I marked in the margin with exclamation points so I could return to a particularly elucidating thought."
--Barbara F. Meltz, The Boston Sunday Globe

"Painfully effective chronicling of 12 adolescents and their struggles, failures and survival...It's impossible to finish one chapter without finding something that applies to you or a child you love-the frustration, denial, shortcomings, helplessness, unrequited trust and always, hope."
--Jane Elizabeth, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"If you are involved in the life of a 10-to 15-year-old, purchasing this may be the most enlightening $25 you can spend."
--Pam Thomas, Providence Journal

"Teenagers need more champions like Stepp."
--Marilyn Gardner, The Christian Science Monitor

"Must reading for adults trying to make sense of a difficult, often misunderstood, passage in a child's life."
--Doug Carroll, The Arizona Republic