Kids Don't Come With Manuals

HELP! This parenting gig is tougher than I ever imagined it to be! It would really help if we got some instructions that came with the baby. After all, when we buy a product that requires some assembly they always send a set of instructions. When we want to get our driver's license we have to study a manual before taking the test. When we want to fix our car we look at the manual that came with it so we know what we're doing. Just last night I looked up how to change the in-cabin air filter on my car. When I took it in for its 30,000 mile check they found that a mouse had made its home in the filter and I need to check it again.

So many times I've heard parents say, "I wish our kids came with a manual!" I could have done with one in my earlier parenting days. I did find very useful information in books written by Dr. James Dobson, 'Dare to Discipline' and 'The Strong Willed Child'. However, I kept hearing, "If only they came with manuals!" So I decided one day, to write a book to share the expertise I had gained through study and working with troubled kids and their families most of my career. Guess what I called it. Yes, 'Kids Don't Come With Manuals'.

I was wary in writing it because Dr. Benjamin Spock had written what he deemed to be THE manual for raising kids back in the 1950s and he helped screw up a couple of generations of families with his super liberal message. It was all about having a child-centered family structure where basically the tail wagged the dog!

In my book I never set out to create a manual, but I do address many of the important issues facing parents today. I give parents information that will help them raise extraordinary kids. I address the subject of establishing a set of values that becomes the framework on which you build your family.