Every parent I know has regrets. Including me.
One of my main goals as a mom is to have as few regrets as possible - to wake up each morning and pray for guidance to be true to the faith that God placed in me when he placed those precious babies in my arms so many years ago.
And I want to help you too. That's why I took four years to listen to parents hearts, their questions and their dreams and then look for ways to help strengthen your families. The result is my new book, 30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family. I hope you will take a few minutes to check it out through my brand new, website. I hope you will also order it right away. It is filled with personal victory stories and tips from regular readers of my column, a list or organizations that can help you through your struggles, and my own personal experiences and lessons learned along the way. Thanks to all of you who submitted your stories. They are going to make a real difference in the lives of families around the nation.
I've spoken to thousand of parents and grandparents around the nation through addresses at school functions, church events and civic meetings. And each time I share what I know about the dangers and pressures of the modern toxic culture on our kids, I always open it up to questions from attendees. Parents feel overwhelmed - they quickly understand that we are in a battle for the hearts, souls and futures or our kids and our nation, and they want practical help. I've compiled the most common challenges parents face and provide the concrete actions and answers in 30 Ways in 30 Days. Actions that can be taken today. My goal is to help parents touch the hearts of their sons and daughters in meaningful, lasting ways; and to build within them the courage to rise above the pop culture.
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Sean Hannity wrote the foreword for 30 Ways in 30 Days, and I'm so honored he did. Sean truly "walks the walk" in his own life. He is an advocate of the family, of faith and lives out his commitment to his wife and kids every day. He also knows that challenges abound at every age our kids reach, and that's why he decided to help spread the word about my book. 30 Ways offers something for every parent, every grandparent, no matter the age of the child. My hope is that parents will skim through the table of contents and go right to the chapter they need most - maybe for you, that's the chapter about how to keep your kids safe online; maybe it's about teaching your son respect; maybe it's about how to stop fighting with your daughter about her clothing choices. Or maybe it's the chapter that shows you, step-by-step, how to write a love letter to your teen.
My heart's desire was to do more than just write another helpful parenting book, I wanted to challenge parents to embrace a whole new way of thinking about how they spend their time, energy and talents. If we as a nation poured as much time and effort into building our families as we do into building our careers, we could end up solving most of the problems we now face as a society and as individuals. There's an old saying, "As the family goes, so goes the nation." If that's true - and I believe it is - then shouldn't we be very deliberate about teaching our kids specific values, about figuring out how to increase the amount of time we spend with them, and how we help them find their true calling in life? In this day of uncertainty and economic trouble, it is more important than ever for us to concentrate on building the next generation of adults who understand the importance of personal responsibility and the critical role that the family unit plays in the stability of our nation. And the only real way to do that is to start by strengthening our own families. We must be very deliberate about how we interact with, show our love for, and teach our children. They aren't going to learn about commitment, love, courage and fidelity by accident or from the mass media. They must learn these virtues from us - and we need to work every day to make sure they do. On my website where you can sign-up to receive free weekly e-mails containing parenting tips and news about the latest challenges of the toxic culture. I want to start a national dialogue so we parents can stand side-by-side and help each other through this most privileged and important role of our lives - parenting.
30 Ways in 30 Days to Save Your Family provides specific, concrete actions parents can take to strengthen their relationship with their children, grow their faith in God, and help build within them the character they need to tower above the pop culture. I've broken the 30 Ways down into easy to read chapters that contain a place where parents can actually sign a pledge to themselves that they will follow through on each step. I also point parents to practical tools - like effective internet filters, resources that teach your kids free market principles, and where to go for help if your teen suffers from a spirit of brokenness. Two of my favorite chapters show parents the importance of writing a life vision statement for your sons and daughters, and how to write a letter to your teen that will open up the communication channels like never before. The book covers 30 of the most common challenges families face today - and gives solutions that you can apply now. Will your family be perfect in 30 days after following the 30 ways? Ummm...that would be a "No". But if you commit to even a few of the 30 ways, you will form a stronger bond with your children, learn how to teach them your values instead of Hollywood's, and start finding the joy in parenting you always longed for. You may not be able to save the entire nation from all the problems we now face, but you can save your family. And I believe that if we each work hard to save our families, then we might just be able to save the nation too.
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