Did it get your attendtion (the title post)? I know you all are so interested in our personal life (not really, that is a sarcastic comment).  But sometimes it is good to hear that others don’t do it right.  Over the last 4 years (starting with my first pregnancy) we have read hundreds of books and tried so hard to structure our lives in a way that would be conducive to raising two (well I have always wanted 8, but that is insane) wonderful children.  So where did we go wrong?

There have been so many wonderful times and even nights where Brian and I lay in bed in complete awe of our beautiful girls.  But there has also been too many volcanic erruptions, harh words, wrong punishments.  So I have been wroking hard on finding ways to correct and raise my girls without yelling or hitting or harsh statements.  It isn’t easy.  I know that when Maddy was only 1.5 years old I could understand correcting a child through spankings or yelling, but I admit she has experienced a spanking and I have raised my voice.   I don’t want to be that kind of parent.  I have searched the scriptures for help too.  Unfortunately there isn’t a lot of “how to” just a lot of raise up your children in obedience!  How do you do that?

Part of my master’s degree is pastoring families and raising Christian children.  I have to observe different methods, structures and the such.  So as I get ready to write papers and put together the “oh-so-fun” presentations how would you like to participate in exploring bibical ways to raise a child?  How would you like to talk about different ways to teach your child about God and what it means to be a child of God? 

I don’t have the answers, but I have a paper to write and children to experient on, do you want to help?  The first think I have to write on is a DVD series which is posted below, let me know if you wouldn’t mind doing these (like a 25 – 30 min commitment on Tuesdays) with me.

Six Video Sessions for small group:
Recently we’ve been working with Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott with some things for the parents of young children. They are best selling authors, who have sold over one million copies of their books. They are a very solid Christian couple that has been featured on Christianity Today, ABC’s Good Morning America, Focus on the Family, The New York Times and they’ve even made their way on to Oprah.
 
What we’ve been finding is that so many parents out there are wondering, “Do I have what it takes to be a good parent?” A lot of times parents need help, but nobody likes to ask for help. 
 
That’s why we’ve teamed up with Les and Leslie Parrott to create a new video-driven study called Parenting: The Early Years. Now, this goes deeper than any technique of just getting kids to eat their broccoli and clean their room. It takes a Biblical approach into the traits parents want their children to have and what traits they want their children to see modeled in them.
 
On this six DVD series our team took their cameras into the homes of 20 families and captured real-life parenting moments. Some of these are funny moments and some are just completely honest moments that every parent can relate to.

•         Session One – Time (19 Minutes)
•         Session Two - Affirming (16 Minutes)
•         Session Three – Defiance (24 Minutes)
•         Session Four – Authenticity(21 Minutes)
•         Session Five – Worry (15 Minutes)
•         Session Six – Legacy (17 Minutes)