Parenting by THE BOOK™ is the natural outgrowth of a Judeo-Christian worldview embraced by family psychologist/author John Rosemond. That worldview - set forth in the Old and New Testaments - has been under unrelenting attack from secular elements of our culture for the last forty years, but it is still alive and well - a testament to the Universal Truth it represents. Because the ideas contained within Parenting by THE BOOK™ are as "old as the hills," the author cannot claim originality. John can only claim to have developed these ideas for a contemporary audience.
John's objectives for Parenting by THE BOOK™:
To show that modern parenting practice, informed as it is by a secular, psychological point of view, is fraught with hazard. The discipline problems many of today's parents are experiencing with their children are a direct consequence of having bought into this very point of view.
To convince parents who have become lost in the maze of "psychological parenting" that they will not be able to solve their parenting problems by turning to psychology, the most powerful secular religion ever invented. The same secular worldview that opened the "Pandora's Box of Childhood" cannot help close the lid. Rather, the lid will begin to close as more and more parents embrace the traditional, Judeo-Christian worldview that is the foundation of Parenting by THE BOOK™.
To help parents, teachers, and other professionals who work with children and families in real, measurable ways; to describe in empirical terms the only parenting attitude that is of lasting benefit to children, families, and the culture; to impart parenting skills that will bring parents the reward of recovery from self-defeating parenting behaviors as well as the greater reward of seeing their children begin to shed "behavioral baggage" and become all that the Creator intended for them to become.
Warning!!! A parent who comes to Parenting by THE BOOK™ seeking techniques and methods with which to solve specific discipline problems - e.g., a method by which to get a 2-year-old to go to bed peacefully and sleep through the night - will not be dissatisfied. John does indeed present a number of practical, down-to-earth methods parents can use to solve behavior and school performance problems of various sorts. However, if acquiring techniques is a parent's sole aim, that parent may never understand that each of the methods presented in PBTB™ grows out of a common soil - the soil of Scriptural truth. Rooting oneself in this soil will be one's salvation as a parent, not simply learning discipline techniques. In fact, once a parent thus roots himself/herself, it will become clear that a particular parenting attitude is what solves child-rearing problems, not techniques. Any technique that works does so only because the attitude in question lies behind it. Specifically: The very best technique will not solve a discipline problem if the child's parents do not first become what John terms Alpha Parents - loving leaders of children. This concept lies at the heart of Parenting by THE BOOK™
