Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex: What Parents Don't Know and Teens Aren't Telling

I have purchased all kinds of books on parenting,most recently on the teen years. This is the first book that I am having a hard time putting down. It is surprising how young kids are today when they are getting into alcohol, sex, drugs, etc. I thought that I was pretty on top of these things - boy was this book an eye opener. It has been helpful in facilitating some good dialogue with my teenage son and preteen son.

Reality Gap gives the parents of teens important information and insight. Foremost, Reality Gap provides a window into what teens are up to these days. Wallace delivers compelling research data from the field combined with personal accounts. The resulting landscape of behavior described in Reality Gap will be of great interest to any parent, regardless of their individual views on drinking or sex. Few parents will fail to pause when reading about personal cases of teens who wished that they had talked with their parents before making choices they now regret. Peer pressure to drink early, to become sexually active - the list goes on. Without lecturing, Wallace's accounts remind us of the associated consequences whether it is the onset of lifelong battles with addiction or the regrettable occurrences of sexual diseases such as herpes. Wallace's message is that parents can help their children through the teen years. Reality Gap provides parents with tools for approaching these issues and Wallace's encouraging message is that parents can help their children make better, and safer, decisions if they talk with them - and do so early.

This book offers a critical insight into the discrepencies between what parents think their teens are doing and what they are, in actuality, doing. Teens speak freely to Wallace, revealing what are the most pressing issues facing teens today. The book offers helpful strategies and tips for parents, coaches, educators and anyone who works with teens on a regular basis.