One of the most important "jobs" the church has is that of equipping and encouraging parents as they teach and train their children as they pass on a legacy of faith.  However in far too many churches, we have usurped the parents and tried to take on the job of  "teacher" - while there are some situations where the church should fill this role, such as when the parents are not believers, if the church would focus on it's role as equipper and encourager we would find both parents and church would be significantly more effective in passing on a legacy of faith to our children.  When this happens, the family will be stronger and this makes the church stronger as well.

    The church needs to take a serious look at how it is equipping and encouraging parents - if it isn't doing so, it needs to begin.  One place to do so, is in offering parenting classes covering the topics parents are looking for answers for.  Most parents in the church are looking for help with things like how to teach their child about God, prayer and giving.  Parents in and out of the church are looking for help with issues like discipline, how to help their teens make healthy choices in areas like friends, drinking, drugs and sex.  We in the church have a very important and necessary "job" to provide opportunities for parents to come together to find answers and to help build strong families.  Providing these type of classes for the parents in our church will equip them to teach their children.  Providing these classes - as well as classes on divorce recovery, marriage, finance, new parent classes - for parents from our community who do not go to church will enable us to truly impact their lives by showing how much we care about them and their children and may open the door to present Christ to them as well.

    There are a number of excellent resources the church may utilize to offer classes to parents in and out of the church - we will look at a number of them.

Author - Dr. James Dobson
Publisher - Gospel Light/Regal Books

Preparing for Adolescence	Preparing for Adolescence Growth Guide	Preparing for Adolescence Family Guide and Workbook	Preparing for Adolescence Family Tape Pack

• Favorite Features:
• complete resource for parents to utilize in teaching their children about growing up
• book is ideal for parents and teens to read through and talk about together
• resources cover
• self esteem
• peer pressure
• changes in their bodies
• love & sex
• emotions
• growth guide is for teens to work through in class or while listening to tapes/read the book or with their parents
• Growth Guide becomes a journal for teens to record their thoughts and questions
• Growth Guide includes Parent/Teacher Instructions and Scripture
• Family Guide and Workbook includes excellent, helpful information in the introduction
• Family Guide "walks" parents and teens through the book/tapes and provides discussion information and activities/questions for them to work through together
• Your Identity in Christ statements - Excellent!
• Family Tape Pack has two tapes for parents and six tapes with information on topics teens want to know about
• Tapes cover the same topics as the book

Serendipity Felt Needs Course

Parenting Adolescents - Easing the Way to Adulthood	12 Steps - the Path to Wholeness	Marriage Enrichment - Making a Good Marriage Better	Healthy Relationships - Living Within Defined Boundaries
Divorce Recovery - Picking up the Pieces	Stress Management - Finding Balance	Dealing with Grief & Loss - Hope in the Midst of Pain	Blended Families - Yours, Mine, Ours

• Favorite Features:
• seven session courses
• flexible for a number of settings
• questions & answers
• agenda for sessions
• each session includes:
• objectives
• ice breakers
• introduction to the issue
• leader tips in the margin
• closing comment
• session handout
• discussion questions
• Bible study
• reference notes
• caring time

Family Financial Books from Larry Burkett

Your Child and Money - A Family Activity Book Authors -      Larry Burkett      Rick Osborne      Marnie Wooding Illustrator -      Ken Save Publisher -      Moody Press	Favorite Features: Strong focus on "teaching our children in the middle of life" - excellent!  Teaching and training includes help for teaching character - based issues of stewardship, trust, generosity, contentment and honesty as well as practical issues of saving, budgeting, spending credit/debt and employment doesn't just impart the facts, but also includes ideas for activities to help children experience and understand the principles taught so they will live them - excellent! helpful information to get the most out of the book and to utilize it effectively each topic covered begins with clearly explaining the topic, including ideas on how to model it and tips to teach the topic with a key verse & Bible story "teachable moments" - ideas to help you live it in life - excellent! "tools to do it" - more activities to help children experience and live the topic motto to help family learn and remember each point trivia, quotes and jokes for fun reproducible resources     This resource is a must have for every family as it is brilliantly designed to provide opportunities for families to learn by experiencing together how to put these important principles to practice in their lives.
Money Matters for Teens Workbook - Ages 11 - 14 & Age 15 - 18 Authors -      Larry Burkett      Todd Temple Illustrator -      Chris Kielesinski Publisher -       Moody Press	Favorite Features: books cover important topics like the basics, banks, checking, saving, budgeting, giving, earning money, making major purchases, jobs, loans, credit - important topics for teens to understand as teens so they will know how to manage their money as adults each chapter covers the basics explaining what the topic is all about provides steps to understand and live "rewind" at the end of each chapter reviews points covered worksheets to help better understand     It is crucial for our teens to have a firm grasp on how to manage their money - if they learn it now they may avoid serious difficulties later in life.  These resources are excellent, must have tools for every teen to work through.
A Family Budgeting Guide - Family Financial Workbook Author Larry Burkett Publisher - Moody Press	Favorite Features: excellent tool to help families develop a budget and learn to manage their money living proof testimonies throughout - interesting and encouraging includes forms and charts to help you plan and k a budget includes CD to help increase understanding of budgets     All families need to be committed to a budget - this resource is an excellent tool anyone can utilize to plan a budget before they experience financial difficulty as well as to help them get back on track.
Financial Parenting - Showing Your Kids That Money Matters Authors -      Larry Burkett      Rick Osborne Publisher -      Moody Press	Favorite Features: explains why families often struggle with finances each chapter ends with questions for kids and families to answer strong emphasis on how according to the Bible it is 100% of the time the responsibility of the parents to train and instruct their children to follow God and His principles - excellent! emphasis on teaching our children to do things God's way, to know and follow the loving God Who created them and to teach them to obey God important truth of "if we teach our children to follow God's principles in finances, it will literally cause their hearts to be focused on God" covers topics like tithing and giving, generosity, contentment, honesty, budgeting, debts and loans, saving and investing emphasis on teaching God's principles in every area of life - love God and love others emphasis on hands-on teaching and training and demonstrating our love for our children and activities to help think through and experience the point emphasizes always thanking and celebrating when you give to God     I review many books on parenting every year - this book surprised and impressed me as it taught why and how parents should teach financial concepts to their children, as I expected, but went on to teach how to teach character and judgment and every aspect of parenting for a complete and balanced - as well as strongly Biblical - approach to parenting.  This is a must have resource for families and churches.  All of these resources are extremely well done!

Authors - Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend
Publisher - Zondervan Publishing

Raising Great Kids Workbook for Parents of School-aged Children

Raising Great Kids Workbook for Parents of Teenagers

• Favorite Features:
• emphasizes intentional parenting - excellent
• focuses on helping parents teach and develop character in their kids
• parenting principles at the start of each chapter
• questions to help you think through issues - where you are, where you want to be and a plan to get there
• each chapter ends with hands-on exercise - something to do to apply and folded-hands exercise - prayer to apply point.
• helpful information for single parents

Authors - Foster Cline & Jim Fay
Publisher - Pinon Press

Parenting Teens with Love & Logic

• Favorite Features:
• Part one focuses on the basics of raising teens to be responsible adults
• part two focuses on specific challenges to understanding teens
• part three provides 33 specific challenges for parenting teens
• real stories - great examples
• explains three types of parents:
• helicopters
• drill sergeants
• consultants
• clearly explains the Love and Logic way
• identifies problems teens have with self concept and how to build healthy self concept
• focus on giving control - choices to teens to help them learn responsibility nd how to solve their problems
• emphasis on listening to teens
• looks at changes teens go through
• I like the emphasis on teens continued need for affection
• information on how to prepare teens for the real world
• 3 Messages for teens:
• I love you
• if you have any questions, ask
• good luck in life
• 4 steps to responsibility
• give teens a responsibility
• trust them to carry it out while hoping they blow it so they can learn from it
• when they blow it, stand back, allow the consequences while expressing empathy
• give same responsibility again
• no lectures - choices, empathy, consequences and choices again
• focus on asking questions to help teens think through to the answer

Authors - Jim Fay and Charles Fay
Publisher - Love and Logic Press

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood - Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years

• Favorite Features:
• emphasis throughout to build self-concept, share control-decisions, empathy then consequences and sharing thinking and problem solving
• formula for low self-concept
• faults/criticize
• doing everything for kids
• do not allow kids to experience joy of independent success
• formula for high self-concept
• offer empathy, understanding and unconditional love
• allow kids to struggle and solve own problems
• children learn to succeed by thinking and learning
• each chapter ends with one love and logic experiment to help parents put to work what they are learning:
• sharing control
• ending whining
• strengthen the bond
• no temper tantrums
• hassle free mornings
• the power of empathy
• have an energy drain
• looks like bedroom time
• end to arguing
• build responsibility and self-esteem with chores
• building trust with children
• setting limits - once NO warnings
• enforceable statements
• guidelines for giving choices
• empathy instead of anger
• parenting style
• pot holes to avoid
• real life stories for examples

Team Up Table of Contents

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