Author Mark Matlock has been working with youth and their families for two decades. The vice president of event content at Youth Specialties and the founder of WisdomWorks Ministries and PlanetWisdom, Matlock comes well qualified to write on issues pertaining to parenting and sharing matters of faith with the next generation. He opens this winsome text with a story from his own childhood. His father would make an earnest attempt at leading daily devotionals with him and his three brothers every four or five months. Warmly, he tells of his deep love and respect for his father, but somehow, this typical "daily devotional model" didn't fit for his family. So begins the premise for this book on equipping moms and dads of faith to effectively pass on their beliefs in real ways.

Matlock shares that what mattered most in his childhood home was that he watched his parents live out their faith day by day: "We were convinced of the worldview contained in the pages of Scripture because we saw our parents openly endorsing it, talking about it, learning from it, and living it out day after day, year after year. That was enough for us --- despite the failed attempts at family devotions." Interestingly, Matlock also shares what readers won't find in this book: tips, tricks or techniques to fix children's bad behavior. He explains that while this type of self-help resource might make parents feel better for a while because they are actively doing something, it does nothing to address the core issues that lie beneath the surface of outward behaviors.

In a visual model, Matlock goes on to relate children's inner ideologies as similar to icebergs. What you see above the surface (behaviors) is likely only about 20 percent of what's really there. The other 80 percent is under the visible waterline, so to speak, and it makes up their understanding of the way the world works and what they believe to be true and false about the universe. So communicating effectively with kids means getting to God's worldview ourselves and then living out that reality in front of our families so they can see, hear, touch and taste God's goodness over the long haul.

Throughout this 10-chapter text, Matlock offers many personal stories of his own family (his childhood and later that of parenting his children), so readers can easily identify and see the principles he's espousing work themselves out in real-life scenarios. Readers will be challenged to see some frequently "taken for granted" subject areas readdressed from a fresh angle. These topics include understanding the story God wants parents to tell about Jesus and faith, competing with the world's story persuasively, making your home an embassy, demonstrating daily wisdom, teaching good decision making, and seeing entertainment through the lens of God's story.

Resourceful and enlightening, REAL WORLD PARENTS will be a helpful addition to parents' libraries of current and relevant reads.