OVERALL - Youth Culture 101 by Walt Mueller, 480 pages, 2007 Zondervan - This has been sitting on my shelf for a while and I keep meaning to review it. An overview of the world our young people are growing up in from the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding founder and president Walt Mueller.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT? The book takes an in-depth look at the major influences on the lives of our youth. It takes a long look at the media and marketing but also offers a way to help our kids become more discerning about the media in their lives. There are also chapters on Peer Pressure, Sex, Materialism, Substance Abuse, Depression and Suicide plus a chapter just for parents. In addition there's a web page that offers supplemental resources and information (Here) This is the resource for when you're ready to dig a little deeper in the whys and hows plus get some good ideas about how to react to it.
RESERVATIONS In less than two years some of the sections on media and how youth use it are getting out of date already. That's hardly surprising. I think the overall concepts still hold water. Needless to say everyone will not agree on everything Walt says in the Sex section. Again the basic underlying concepts are solid that we need to help out kids find a much healthier approach to sex than the one their being peddled in the media. Other than that the sheer bulk of the book will intimidate some.
RECOMMENDATION Again when you're ready for a deeper look into youth culture this is a great place to start. Mueller's writing style is an easy read while still covering the material more than competently. This is a solid resource on what is admittedly a moving target. Not a bad idea to have sitting on your shelf.
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