Contact: Audra Jennings, The B&B Media Group, 800-927-0517 ext 104, ajennings@tbbmedia.com

DALLAS, March 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- If news stories and some high-profile Christian leaders are to be believed, the task of parenting--particularly of parenting a teenager--has never been more difficult or terrifying. Pharmacy parties, oral sex, and apostasy...oh my! Many parents live in constant fear that they will fail, that their children will be devoured by the world. But what if parents are only hearing part of the story? What if the real world isn't so scary, after all?

In his new book Real World Parents: Christian Parenting for Families Living in the Real World, popular author and speaker Mark Matlock offers a perspective that directly contrasts the usual fear and guilt-based parenting programs that focus on shielding kids from the evils of the world and producing good behavior. Parents, he says, become fearful and controlling because they are listening to the wrong story--the world's story. Real World Parents is about a fundamental shift in focus towards God's epic, timeless story and His understanding of reality, which is unchanging, regardless of the world's traps and trends.

What readers won't find in the pages of Matlock's book is a rigid program or magic formula for churning out good kids because Real World Parenting is not about what parents do. It's about who they are.

Matlock teaches a wisdom-based approach to passing God's story on to young people and teaching them by example how to navigate the real world. Along the way, Real World Parents will discover:

• Why God likes us and is already happy with our families

• Surprising statistics about teen sex, drugs, and smoking that raise the question: are things really getting worse?

• The three most common parental responses to a scary world--and why they don't work

• Why parents should teach their children how to "fail productively"

• What kids really need to become spiritually healthy--and how parents can provide those things

• How to evaluate media through the lens of God's story

Just like the Real World Parents seminars, the book guides parents through the seven marks of a wise person, encouraging them to examine their definitions of success, their management of resources, the sources they turn to for wise counsel, and the health of their relationships.

Real World Parents is, at the heart, a message of hope for families.

www.RealWorldParents.com