Patty Frey Nelson

The Cultural Tsunami Patty Frey Nelson

Using the visual image of a tsunami as a powerful metaphor, Patty Nelson examines the overwhelming wave of pressure that adolescents experience regarding their identity and core belief system beginning around age 12 and continuing through the teenage years. She describes this peer and cultural pressure as a Cultural Tsunami that is engulfing this generation. As Nelson describes it, "This destructive wave of pressure comes through the school environment, television, movies, the internet, music, peers, older siblings and sometimes parents themselves. Often adolescents and their parents don't know what hit them. Their entire perspective on their own identity and their relationship to the world around them is shaken to the core. Behavior that was once praised as good is now ridiculed. Beliefs about "good" and "bad" are turned upside down. Good is no longer good and bad is no longer bad. Clothing choices, hairstyles and body type that went largely unchallenged in elementary school are now looked down upon and harshly critiqued by peers." Patty Nelson has tremendous insight into the youth culture and offers sound biblical solutions. A must-read for parents, youth workers, pastors and for those who love our youth! Patty Nelson is a wife, mother of four and grandmother. She currently works as a Family Therapist specializing in adolescents and teens and their families. She also brings the perspective of a stay-at-home mom for 17 years, a Sunday School teacher and a Youth Worker.