Better Parenting Summer Book Club

Parents!  Here's your own summer reading list.  This month I will be starting a Better Parenting Summer Book Club in which I'll host an informal discussion on the book of the month at my office.  These discussions are free and the only requirements are that (a) you read the book before you come so we can have some lively conversation and (b) you need to RSVP your place because I literally only have x number of chairs.  

June - "Unplugging Power Struggles: Resolving Emotional Battles with Your Kids, Ages 2 to 10" by Jan Faull.  This book, loaded with examples, will help you sidestep and stop the insanity of going 12 rounds with your kid over homework, vegetables, and ratty t-shirts they insist on wearing everyday. 

Book Club Meeting - Thursday, June 30 @ 7:00pm

July - "Raising Children You Can Live With" by Jaime Raser (read review in previous journal entry).  This is one of the best parenting books out there and very helpful for children in later grade school through high school.

Book Club Meeting - Wednesday, July 27 @ 7:00pm

August - "How to Listen so Kids Will Talk and Talk so Kids Will Listen" by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish  This classic parenting book teaches listening and communication skills so that we parents can create a safe and fun environment of conversation in our homes.

Book Club Meeting - TBA 

Generous Love

Bishop of London Richard Chartres

Did you watch the Royal Wedding?  I finally did and was inspired by the sermon given by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres.  The Bishop gave one of the best and most concise theologies on the purpose of marriage I have heard.  Many books in the Christian field have been written explaining this, but he did an overview in 7 minutes.  

What is the mission of marriage?  

"In marriage we are seeking to bring one another into fuller life", Bishop Chartres charged.

"A spiritual life grows as love find its center beyond ourselves.  Faithful and committed relationships offer a door into the mystery of spiritual life in which we discover this; the more we give of self, the richer we become in soul; the more we go beyond ourselves in love, the more we become our true selves and our spiritual beauty is more fully revealed."

How is this accomplished?  

Through bestowing on each other "generous love" that goes beyond the situations, circumstances, and busyness of our days.  Steven Covey of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People said it this way, "Act on your values, not on your circumstances."  Life and humans present all kinds of difficulties that makes loving one another HARD, but it's your commitment to love generously that makes the difference.

The Bishop continued, "It is of course, very hard to warn ourselves away from self-centeredness."

"Marriage should transform as husband and wife make one other their work of art.  It is possible to transform so long as we don't harm our ambitions to REFORM our partners.  There must be no coercion if the spirit is to flow.  Each must give the other space and freedom.  Then quoting Chaucer he continued "when mastery cometh, the god of love anon beateth his wings and farewell he is gone."

My challenge to you is to get together with your partner and watch this nugget of gold together.  

Enjoy!

"Throw me a bone!"

For frustrated parents out there - here's a bone for you.  Jamie Raser's Raising Kids You Can Live With is my all time favorite parenting book.  It's short, practical and relationship focused.  The brilliance of this gem is that it contains actual scripts of how to talk to your kid as to communicate boundaries, consequences, and respect that keeps the volume and pitch down.  This book is great for parenting preteens to teenagers.  Click on the book to purchase your copy from Amazon today.

To hear an interview of the author by Michael of thepsychfiles.com - click here.

Back to School

Another round of Dave is starting and I cannot gush about him and Financial Peace University enough.  I regularly recommend him to friends, clients, and anyone who even sounds like they could use some money help.  I'm an unashamed Dave proselytizer.  My husband and I attended FPU this past Spring and consider it $100 well spent.  We weren't having major money issues, but we were definately not operating with the same ideas, plans, and assumptions about money, and it showed.  We decided to do FPU to have a common experience around finances and hoped that it would spark some more constructive conversations on the topic.  The course gave us a financial vision for our family and a program that we could both commit to - he served as our middleman.  

All the kids are going back to school, so get your rear in gear and find a FPU class near you.  Go to www.daveramsey.com, click on Financial Peace University, enter your zip code to find a class near you.  

Parenting Summer Course

As I found out a couple of years ago when I had my first, kids don't come with manuals.  (They should)  Hope is found in wise family members, people with older kids, your friendly therapist :), good books, and an occasional class.  If you are at your wits end, a parenting class might be a nice godsend.  Here is one beginning in June that I got wind of from the San Antonio Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.