This is a book which seeks help those going through the process of mid-adolescence - either from the point of view of the adolescent or their families - it attends to the serious strains that may have to be borne if the picture portrayed is to have any realism. 'Youth culture' may idealize the adolescent and vilify parents; but, as we shall see, the paradoxical expectations placed on both adolescents and their parents arise from the creative tension between the desire to progress and the desire to regress as mid-adolescents consolidate the move out of childhood and prepare for adulthood. No easy task for the mid-adolescent and those responsible for them.