Parenting With Gumption And Grit

My qualifications for writing a parenting book are not due to all my unprecedented success as a parent. Nor is it attached to a voluminous number of college degrees and dissertations. But rather it is based on our many and varied parenting fails over the years with just enough successes peppered throughout to keep us keepin’ on. I think it has been this kind of transparency in our parenting that has rendered three young women who are both confident, compassionate, and capable. My husband and I have understood that it takes both of us to raise up children who are whole and healthy individuals. Our marriage isn’t by any means the gold standard of qualification for writing a book on parenting, but our parenting has burgeoned from a place of humility in our marriage. Furthermore, my ability to learn from my mistakes has rendered a sense of humility in me that I hope is helpful in sharing pivotal parenting advice to others. Finally, my desire to grow, knowing that I have never “arrived,” to a place of perfection in my spiritual walk, nor in my personal relationships, is part of the DNA of this book. I wanted this to be an easy and fast read, and the information contained therein, achievable. I believe it is. It is simply 52 tips for anyone who has ever loved a child enough to want to influence their future. This is not 52 tips to perfection, or 52 tips to total life success and happiness. There are plenty of books out there which cater to making us better at our jobs and our hobbies; and some to help us better love ourselves. The 52 tips contained in this book are about how to raise compassionate and successful children in a world that is relentlessly vying for their hearts and their souls. I am audacious enough to believe that compassion and confidence can coexist. That generosity and success are both attainable. Love and accountability are not two opposing camps. We have been lied to for long enough parents. This performance driven, narcissistic world in which we live has skillfully trained us to believe that neither we nor our children can be successful in their career and yet still be a giver. We often have believed the lie that for one to be generous and compassionate, he must also be boring and helpless. That in order to be successful, we must have more and more material and world pleasures. And when we believe these lies, so do our children. It becomes our parenting filter. I hope this book with its 52 commonsensical and fun tips offer parents everywher