Parenting 101 Book Group

After being a mother for 27 years, I decided to go back to college and learn how to become a good parent!  I am enrolled to the Online Degree Program from BYU-Idaho.  One of my classes is a religion class studying "The Family:  A Proclamation to the World,"¹ and the other is a basic parenting class.  Both classes have been so extraordinary I want to share what I have learned.Parenting is the most serious business any of us can be involved in, yet we receive little guidance before hand.  Good parenting requires a lot of attention, a huge number of skills and complete selflessness.  President David O. McKay's statement,  "No success can compensate for failure in the home" ² is timeless.  As the values of society are weakened, we need to be even more vigilant in our homes to rear our children with purpose and care, and teach them values that will bring them happiness and direction.   

Don’t be shocked, but the text for one of my classes is one of the best books I have ever read; probably because it was not written as a textbook but as a book to help all parents who cared enough to read it.  The author is Laurence Steinberg, PhD., a well respected professor of Psychology, an expert of adolescence and an author of research based books that are written to be accessible and easily understood.  The very title of this book excited me as much as anything.  It is called The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting³.  This book is based on principles, not on methods.  These principles apply in many ways to all of our relationships.

As the title suggests, there are ten principles. Within this Blog, I would like to create a “virtual book group” where we read about a principle each week, then share our ideas and experiences to help teach and support each other.  You can easily order the book on line.  To prepare for our first session, read the introduction and the first Principle, which  is “What You Do Matters.”   Each post will be in an outline form.  I will make the first post on Monday, January 19, 2015.  During the week feel free to add your comments. Each Monday we will address a new chapter. Your comments and experiences will make this a meaningful adventure.  They only thing I ask is that all comments are positive and constructive.  Depending on interest and time, we may schedule an internet (Skype) discussion group.   If reading isn’t on your agenda right now, tune into the Blog each week anyway, and learn what we have learned.  I’m looking forward to the fun!

¹ “THE FAMILY: A Proclamation To The World,” General Relief Society Meeting, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, September 23, 1996, Salt Lake City, UT.
² “David O. McKay, Conference Report, April 1964, p. 5)
³ Laurence Steinberg, The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting, 2004, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.
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