Peterson treats adolescence as a gift to middle aged parents. He disagrees with the notion that adolescence is a problem period. Infants, born to young parents, are gifts that remind the parents that they themselves are children of God. Adolescents, ‘born’ to middle aged parents, arrive at a time when we are prone to stagnation and depression, we have frustrations and experience an inner dryness and shriveling of hope. The ideals and expectations of earlier years are experienced as fatigue. Through the adolescent God brings in our lives a challenge to grow, testing our love, chastening our hope, pushing our faith to the edge.
Peterson’s central focus is that the most significant growing up a person does is growing up in Christ. All other growing up is in assistance to this growing up. Biological, social, mental, emotional growth is all meant to be put in service to growing in Christ. This counts for the growing adolescent as well as his middle-aged parent. The physical growth of the adolescent brings on a spiritual growth in the parent. It is an opportunity for the parent to mature into ‘wisdom and favor with men and God.’ This continued growth at middle age symbolizes our need for continual growth in faith. The very nature of relationship with Christ has growth at its centre. Parents have to realize that they are at their best when they plunge into the process of growth, just as their adolescent children do, be it at different level. Such parents are in vigorous Christian growth on their own and permit their children to look over their shoulder while they do it. They do their growing in Christ openly so that the adolescent children can observe, imitate, and make mistakes in the context of care and faith. The parent’ s main job is not to be a parent but to be a person.
Peterson formulates some generalizations about the character of the adolescent. He discusses the search for identity; the rejection of the impersonal and institutional in the search for personal faith; the challenge to parental authority; the frequency of misunderstandings; the need for trust and being trusted; the need for love and being loved in a new a different way; the need to develop their own moral standards and the habit to try them out on their parents; the unpreparedness to make choices in a confusing complicated life; the symbolic value of independence and entry into adulthood which is embodied in driving a car; the high risk for substance abuse brought on by pressures from peers and environment; and the trouble adolescents can bring upon themselves and their parents along with the parental response to such a situation.
Peterson’s approach to adolescent growth is refreshingly unique. He places both parent and child on the same level of growing together before God. His emphasis on parental growth creates great empathy for the struggles of adolescent growth. It is decisively human, without reliance on psychological solutions to spiritual struggles.