Parents worry they don't have the understanding or training to be able to care for their kids in a world that is increasingly superficial, politicized, and performance driven. Disconnected makes the concepts and strategies described in the bestselling Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers accessible to parents. After the overwhelming response to Hurt, authors Chap and Dee Clark here equip parents with an up-to-date, realistic parenting book that doesn't ignore the harsh realities of adolescent life. It builds a foundation for parents by describing exactly how things have changed, takes them through the various developmental stages their children go through, and gives them workable paradigms for parenting. EXCERPT FROM CATALOG It is an obvious fact that parents and children see life differently. Parents and children often assume that the way they view and experience the world is the only way to see and experience the world. This presents a series of relational challenges on its own, but even more important for the parent to consider is that, irregardless of how they see the life and world of their kid, the way the child sees their life and world, in all aspects--relational, social, ethical--is what matters most as they grow up. It is your child's perspective of their own world that ultimately has the greatest influence over them as they grow up. Even in homes where parents work hard to try and understand their children, today's teenagers believe that life is hard, antagonistic, and dismissively impersonal. According to our research, by the time they reach high school, kids feel an almost overwhelming sense of isolation and loneliness. Even the brightest and best kids revealed to our team how damaged they feel under the pressure of what they see as constant evaluation and critique. This feeling fosters a profound insecurity in nearly every adolescent, an inner disquiet that few can verbally pin down but all seem to experience. In order to parent well in today's image- and performance-driven society, where everything from body contour to SAT scores is scrutinized and put down, it is vitally important to recognize that the inside of your adolescent child is a stew of conflicting thoughts and emotions. Your teens live in another world. They encounter different sorts of challenges than you did. But you can learn how to help them navigate our increasingly superficial, politicized, and performance-driven world. Authors Chap and Dee Clark are not only youth and family experts, they're also parents. In Disconnected, they put their years of research and experience to work to help you understand your teen. This up-to-date, realistic book doesn't ignore the harsh realities of adolescent life. It describes how things have changed since you were a teen and gives you ways to build your relationship with your teens while instilling in them the values they need to thrive in a MySpace world. "Chap and Dee Clark are two of the world's experts on parenting teens. This will be the book I will pass out to parents of teens this year to give them insight and hope."--Jim Burns, president, HomeWord; author, Creating an Intimate Marriage and Confident Parenting "The Clarks have written a compassionate and very practical resource that twenty-first-century parents will find both enlightening and encouraging."--Wayne Rice, cofounder, Youth Specialties; founder, Understanding Your Teenager Seminars "As a youth worker, I'm thrilled to have this for my parents, but as a father of three teenagers, I'm more excited to have it for myself."--Doug Fields, pastor to students, Saddleback Church; author, Purpose Driven Youth Ministry "This book not only answers [life] questions but does so in practical, challenging, readable terms for parents--the most important 'youth workers' in the world."--Marv Penner, professor of youth and family studies, Briercrest College and Seminary Chap Clark is professor of youth, family, and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the president of ParenTeen™ Seminars, senior editor of Youthworker Journal, and the author of over fifteen books, including Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers. Dee Clark is a family therapist and the coauthor of Let Me Ask You This and Daughters and Dads. Chap Clark is professor of youth, family, and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the president of ParenTeen™ Seminars, senior editor of Youthworker Journal, and the author of over fifteen books, including Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers. Dee Clark is a family therapist and the coauthor of Let Me Ask You This and Daughters and Dads.