The Parent Fix

Have you ever tried to change another person? If you have, you probably know it is next to impossible. Most parenting books teach parents how to change the child. The Parent Fix focuses on the parents, emphasizing a parent’s need to change to inspire family improvement. If our greatest joys and sorrows come from family relationships, are we truly happy when we are in control of our loved ones? That deep joy we are searching for comes as we watch those we love learn lessons that change their own lives. To have this change it is the parent who must change. In today’s age of troubled youth, broken families, and mixed messages from the media, our families are fighting a tough battle to succeed. With the increase in drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders, gang violence, and teenage suicide, many of our families are failing. Parents need help. There is power in parenting—correct parenting. Rather than focusing on the kids, as so many other self-help books do,The Parent Fix stresses that when parents change, kids change. Focusing on key principles like correct judgement, taking time, education and more, Stevens provides concrete ways parents can change their own behavior to improve the behavior of their children. As a mother, Maggie spent years researching and found the answers needed to successfully raise five children. With over thirty years of practical experience, Maggie knows the answers that make a difference. When parents change . . . kids change.

Have you ever tried to change another person? If you have, you probably know it is next to impossible. Most parenting books teach parents how to change the child. The Parent Fix focuses on the parents, emphasizing a parent’s need to change to inspire family improvement. If our greatest joys and sorrows come from family relationships, are we truly happy when we are in control of our loved ones? That deep joy we are searching for comes as we watch those we love learn lessons that change their own lives. To have this change it is the parent who must change. In today’s age of troubled youth, broken families, and mixed messages from the media, our families are fighting a tough battle to succeed. With the increase in drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders, gang violence, and teenage suicide, many of our families are failing. Parents need help. There is power in parenting—correct parenting. Rather than focusing on the kids, as so many other self-help books do,The Parent Fix stresses that when parents change, kids change. Focusing on key principles like correct judgement, taking time, education and more, Stevens provides concrete ways parents can change their own behavior to improve the behavior of their children. As a mother, Maggie spent years researching and found the answers needed to successfully raise five children. With over thirty years of practical experience, Maggie knows the answers that make a difference. When parents change . . . kids change.

How parents have been set up to fail, and why helping them succeed is the key to achieving a fair and prosperous society. A next Big Idea Club nominee. Few people realize that raising children is the single largest industry in the United States. Yet this vital work receives little political support, and its primary workers—parents—labor in isolation. If they ask for help, they are made to feel inadequate; there is no centralized organization to represent their interests; and there is virtually nothing spent on research and development to help them achieve their goals. It’s almost as if parents are set up to fail—and the result is lost opportunities that limit children’s success and make us all worse off. In The Parent Trap, Nate Hilger combines cutting-edge social science research, revealing historical case studies, and on-the-ground investigation to recast parenting as the hidden crucible of inequality. Parents are expected not only to care for their children but to help them develop the skills they will need to thrive in today’s socioeconomic reality—but most parents, including even the most caring parents on the planet, are not trained in skill development and lack the resources to get help. How do we fix this? The solution, Hilger argues, is to ask less of parents, not more. America should consider child development a public investment with a monumental payoff. We need a program like Medicare—call it Familycare—to drive this investment. To make it happen, parents need to organize to wield their political power on behalf of children—who will always be the largest bloc of disenfranchised people in this country. The Parent Trap exposes the true costs of our society’s unrealistic expectations around parenting and lays out a profoundly hopeful blueprint for reform.

10 WAYS TO BE AN EXCEPTIONAL PARENT IN A QUICK-FIX WORLD No matter how good their intentions, all parents at times resort to quick-fix parenting: things we do to stop a kid's negative or annoying behavior. Quick-fix parenting may temporarily ease a parent's stress level, but it does little to positively impact a child's future. Quick-fix parenting is a terrible long-term strategy for parenting. Intentional parenting is the opposite of quick-fix parenting. Intentional parenting is a way to raise children to become healthy, independent young adults. It's based on solid principles which, applied over time, actually result in less-stressed parents and happier, better-adjusted, and more successful kids. Intentional parenting means you've got more than good intentions; you've got a plan. (And it's always better to have a plan for dealing with the stuff that inevitably crops up between parents and their kids than it is to wing it.) In Intentional Parenting: 10 Ways to be an Exceptional Parent in a Quick-Fix World, Doug and Cathy Fields draw on their own extended experience with young people and as parents to guide you through 10 specific actions that will help you become a more effective parent. A great resource for individuals, couples, and small groups, this interactive workbook comes with a free code to stream 10 video sessions, plus a small group discussion guide. To find out more, visit IntentionalParenting.com. See more resources like this at OrangeBooks.com and ThinkOrange.com

Clover is way too rigid and often plays it safe. She must learn to be more flexible and spontaneous and take more risks. Clover's Wishworld mission involved a girl who is an only child whose parents completely baby her. Clover tries some very subtle, safe maneuvers to prove that the girl is ready for some independence, but needs to make a bold move to help the girl's parents realize their little girl isn't a toddler anymore.

Read Larry Winget's posts on the Penguin Blog. Straight-talking, bestselling Pitbull of Parenting Larry Winget says "This is not a fix your kid book. It's a fix the way you parent book. You owe it to your kids to parent with a plan!" Being a parent is the toughest job in the world, especially with the increasing number of negative influences and pitfalls facing our kids today, from childhood obesity and out-of-control celebrity culture to the dangers of the internet and credit card debt. Larry Winget has never been one to shy away from tough truths, and what he says here may well be difficult for some parents to swallow: we are in the midst of a crisis with our kids. Kids today are over-indulged, over-entertained, under-achieving, and under-disciplined, with a sense of entitlement that is crippling society. And the real problem is that parents aren't paying attention to what's going on. If they were they would realize that most kids today barely read and write, except with their thumbs on their cell phones! Well-behaved, respectful kids are the exception, not the rule, and for the most part, parents are to blame. Responsible parenting is about beginning with the end in mind and parenting with a plan. But most parents have never stopped to consider what kind of adult they want to raise. They have all this fun creating a baby, but they don't have a plan for the end product. Larry's message to parents: Teach your kids to become the best adults they can be. But don't expect your kids to improve until you improve. Your Kids Are Your Own Fault covers familiar lessons and principles that have led Larry's readers to greater success with money, career, and goal setting, this time at a level where they can be taught to children. This book shows parents how to design the adult they want their kid to become and work backwards to make sure it happens. Kids don't come with an instruction manual, but finally being a parent does! Watch a Video

Superfudge meets The Lemonade War in this funny, heartwarming series debut about change, adventure, family, and of course, doughnuts Tristan isn't Gifted or Talented like his sister Jeanine, and he's always been okay with that because he can make a perfect chocolate chip cookie and he lives in the greatest city in the world. But his life takes a turn for the worse when his parents decide to move to middle-of-nowhere Petersville—a town with one street and no restaurants. It's like suddenly they're supposed to be this other family, one that can survive without bagels and movie theaters. His suspicions about his new town are confirmed when he's tricked into believing the local general store has life-changing chocolate cream doughnuts, when in fact the owner hasn't made them in years. And so begins the only thing that could make life in Petersville worth living: getting the recipe, making the doughnuts, and bringing them back to the town through his very own doughnut stand. But Tristan will soon discover that when starting a business, it helps to be both Gifted and Talented, and It's possible he's bitten off more than he can chew... A perfect book for: Children with the entrepreneurial spirit! Parents and teachers looking to inspire a growth mindset! Young foodies looking for fun recipes!

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It’s handy having a dad who can fix just about anything. A young girl believes her father is the king of fixing things. But following the death of her mother, she discovers that broken hearts are not as easy to repair as damaged toys and cracked teapots. Together, she and her father find a way to glue back the pieces of her lives. The Fix-It Man is a poignant picture book that explores how a child can cope with the loss of a parent (in this case, the young girl’s mother). Repairing damaged emotions is not as straightforward as gluing a broken kite back together or sewing up a torn toy. And grief affects all members of a family, with each responding in their own way to the loss. By sticking with her father, the young girl is able to strengthen her resilience and ability to cope with one of life’s harshest experiences. The author was encouraged to seek publication for this story after receiving the endorsement of several grief counsellors who work with children and who recognised the need for a book such as this.

This book combines wit and wisdom to challenge parents to take back every parenting moment with purpose. Parents of teens are facing a busy and tumultuous season of life. Leneita Fix shares great insight from the perspective of a parent in the middle of it, and as an experienced ministry leader. She writes like a friend, reminding parents to never give up or pass off parenting to the so-called experts. This book offers parents practical ways to understand each child, communicate more effectively, and maintain a solid heart connection. The end goal is to keep teenagers headed toward a life in Christ.