Parents of preteens and teens can move from scared to prepared with a new approach to parenting their adolescents.

Parents of preteens intuitively know that no matter how good their kids are, there is turbulence ahead. Many feel lost and unprepared as they watch the damaging effects of culture collide with their child's growing pains and raging hormones.

For the past 35 years Mark Gregston has lived and worked with struggling teens and knows what it takes to reach them. He says, "A parent's success has little to do with either the validity of their words or their intent as messengers; it's more about how they approach their child and engage with them."

This series will explore what's so different about today's culture, why traditional parenting no longer works, and a new model for parenting teens.

Foundational and practical, Tough Guys and Drama Queens answers the questions that parents are asking, helping them become the parents their children need them to be.  
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Learn to Confidently Teach Your Kids About God

Who is shaping what your kids believe?

In these busy, hectic days we take our kids to sports practices, games, music lessons, school tutoring and other activities to give our children the best opportunities for success. But what if we're missing the chance to teach them what matters most?

Our children can grow up smart, athletic, popular and polite but lack a vibrant relationship with Christ. The few hours they spend in church each week can be helpful, but it cannot nurture a faith in our kids that will withstand the trials that are on the horizon. Church alone cannot teach them, we must start at home. But many parents feel ill equipped to develop the faith of their children.

In these six sessions, we will explore biblical and tangible ways that parents—couples, single parents, blended families and grandparents—can build a legacy of faith for their children.

Each Bible study session includes interviews with everyday parents talking about their own doubts, fears and desires. Gary Thomas, Matt Chandler, and Kurt and Olivia Bruner provide powerful teaching that will help you give your kids what they need to build a solid framework for lifelong faith.

Six video-driven sessions:
Session 1 - Faith: It Starts At Home (38 min.)
Session 2 - Marriage: Your Children Are Watching (27 min.)
Session 3 - Relationships: Your First Priority (31 min.)
Session 4 - Truth: What Are Your Kids Learning? (26 min.)
Session 5 - Communication: Each Child is Unique (26 min.)
Session 6 - Character: Preparing Your Kids For the Real World (26 min.)

This series includes 8 real-life stories, 6 filmed Family Night Activity examples, and 6 original illustrations including:

    •    Trials Build Deeper Trust - Matt Chandler, Lead Pastor of The Village Church near Dallas, and his wife, Lauren, share how the Lord has expanded their faith and caused them to live more intentionally with the discovery of Matt’s malignant brain tumor.
    •    Upstairs/Downstairs - This family night activity helps children understand that God did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
    •    Viewmaster - In this moving illustration, a boy’s magic viewfinder helps him see pivotal moments in his family’s past. This clip will encourage parents to be intentional about raising their children.

A downloadable Leader's Guide will be available for purchase. Group handouts are available online for free.

Also visit www.ItStartsatHome.org for more parenting resources and tools
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Most parents would give anything to anchor their children with a vibrant faith that “sticks” and continues to mature into adulthood. Yet, despite this deep desire, research indicates that approximately 40-50% of high school seniors drift from their faith after graduation.

The Sticky Faith Parent Curriculum is a video-based study that came from Kara Powell’s desire to see her own kids emerge from adolescence with their faith intact. Through personal, real-world experiences of research and sharing, the Sticky Faith Parent Curriculum enables parents to instill a deep and lasting faith in their adolescents. This video curriculum presents powerful strategies and practical ideas to help parents encourage their children’s spiritual growth, enabling them to develop a faith that sticks.
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Awaken the Families in Your Church

It's hard enough to train kids to behave, but good behavior isn't what Jesus calls for in the Bible. He wants hearts and souls that are shaped in vibrant faith and love toward God and others. How can parents cultivate this in their children?


Spiritual Parenting is a six-part video series that empowers parents to be the primary nurturers of their children's faith and teaches them how to create a home environment God can use to work in their children's lives. Families will be transformed as they learn how to create space for God-encounters in everyday life.
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Aim your children at more than just success—aim them at True Greatness.

Most parents want their kids to be successful. But what if there was something even better than success?
There is! In this riveting study, Aiming Your Child at True Greatness,Dr. Tim Kimmel turns the definition of success on its head and takes a look at God’s plan for raising kids who grow up to live meaningful lives that make a genuine difference? When you raise those kinds of kids, your house will be a place everyone wants to come home to.

This study on True Greatness will help you:

• Build a life long connection to your child’s heart
• Focus on the things that really matter to your child’s future
• Keep sibling rivalry to a minimum
• Raise a grateful, generous child
• Prioritize all of the forces vying for your child’s time and attention
• Help your child answer the three most important questions in life

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Protect your children from destructive thoughts today and for a lifetime of tomorrows.

Most people have 20,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. And for Americans, more than half of those thoughts are negative. So how do you teach your children to guard their minds and hearts in today’s society?

This 12-session series from respected relationship expert Dr. Gary Smalley shows parents how they can teach their children to meditate and memorize key Scriptures that will build a foundation for leading a positive life.
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Family Works is an exciting new series that profiles the stories of family businesses and the joys and challenges that come as families work together.  These stirring stories of self-sacrifice and service to others will encourage, inspire and entertain viewers, while teaching valuable life and business knowledge.   The Family Works Series is a captivating blend of entertainment, inspiration and practical business instruction that features business profiles from a variety of family enterprises.  The series features families that are working together for the glory of God as they order their lives of faith, family and business.

Volume 2 features family profiles of Compass Advisors, Seraphim Energy and Agstrong.
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Everybody Needs The Essentials! That's what you get in this powerful entertaining series from Focus on the Family. Essentials of Parenting brings top childrearing experts into your home or church-with practical wisdom, honest confessions, and decades of experience.

Essentials of Parenting: The Power of Love shows you to enrich and enjoy the bond between your child and yourself. You'll also discover that when it comes to passing along your faith and values, a good relationship with your son or daughter is the sharpest tool in every parent's toolbox.
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Everybody needs the essentials! That's what you get in this powerful, entertaining series from Focus on the Family. Essentials of Parenting ™ brings top childrearing experts into your home or church - with practical wisdom, honest confessions, and decades of experience.

Essentials of Parenting: Be Prepared presents practical plans for dealing with dangers including internet porn, alcohol, drugs, eating disorders, and premarital sex. You'll see how to resist the impulse to overprotect your child - and gain insights to help you prepare him or her for the world of today and tomorrow.
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Don't let your students face college unprepared. Be ready. College Ready.

Incoming college students need to feel confident about the new experience that awaits them. You can equip them with this fast-paced, informative resource designed to help high school seniors and college freshmen think clearly, wisely, and strategically about the college years ahead.

College Ready is a video-guided experience that addresses six important topics:

• Dating Right
• Having Fun
• Growing Spiritually
• College Starts Best with Vision
• Empowering Friendships
• Excelling Academically

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What would happen if churches and families worked together to teach the next generation about God? Orange! It's a color that represents the dynamic partnership between two separate influences-the light of the church (yellow) and the heart of the family (red)-combining with one strategy.

The Orange movement is changing the way churches across the nation approach children's, student, and family ministry. Now you can jump-start your own program with this three-hour series featuring reThink founder Reggie Joiner-and reach your entire staff in one session!

Let Reggie cast the vision and excite your staff with the very essence of the Orange philosophy. Filmed in the historic Holly Theater in Dahlonega, Georgia-a classic venue with an influential story of its own-The Essence of Orange is the tool you need right now.
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Bring the best out of those you love the most by creating an atmosphere of grace.

Too much of today's Christian parenting is based on fear: fear of the world . . . fear of America's liberal culture . . . fear of other parents' and the church's opinions. Best-selling author Dr. Tim Kimmel says fear, "is an excellent way to wreck your kids."

Grace based parenting, on the other hand, relies on God's love, replicates His forgiveness and commitment to His children, and displaces fear as a motivator for every behavior.

Grace Based Parenting will help you:

• Find the balance point in a world of extremes
• Keep from investing your energies in a long list of things that don't matter
• Make parenting more fun
• Liberate your children emotionally and spiritually
• Prepare your whole family for a lifetime of healthy choices and relationships-with God and with each other
• Know the best way you can meet your kids' most basic needs-the way God meets all of ours
• Teach your child to navigate their culture, choose better friends, and make wiser choices.

Parents can expect to go away with a blueprint for building confident, courageous, and cooperative kids. Grace Based Parenting will show them a grace-based, character-driven model to nurture well- rounded and loving kids—and have a great time in the process!
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Helping parents raise kids who turn out right by building character into their hearts.

This second part of the Grace Based Parenting small group video study will give parents the confidence and skills to raise kids who flourish in their culture by building character for life.

The Building Character small group study will help you:

• Raise kids who can thrive in a hostile culture
• Instill the six most critical character traits that a child needs to turn out right
• Prepare kids for the biggest challenges of life—loneliness, fear, temptation, betrayal…
• Minimize the hassles of parenting
• Maximizes the potential of your children’s future
• Apply practical lessons that work with your kids

Like a blueprint serves the builder of a beautiful home, this study will give you practical ways to use character to build happy, confident children who can stand strong and reach their true potential in the future.
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Share the joy and wonder of God's Word with the children in your life.

Thirteen essential lessons of scripture starring the Bible's best-known characters. The Read And Share™ Bible combines an enchanting art style with a warm narrator and gentle musical underscore to transport kids back to Biblical times. The bite-size vignettes are perfect for the attention span of little ones, and give parents maximum flexibility to fit any time-frame.

Stories include: The Beginning, Adam & Eve, The Flood, Abram, Isaac & Rebekah, Jacob & Esau, Rachel, Jacob & God, John the Baptist, Jesus is Born, Jesus is Tempted, Jesus Love Children, and One Lost Sheep.
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Each of us grows up with a common longing and a deep-seated need for a father's blessing.  That is...a father's love, support, acceptance, security, and presence in our lives.  

Sadly, for many this need is not met, or only partially fulfilled by an earthly dad.  Still others not only lack a father's blessing, they have suffered the pain ad mistrust of a relationship gone wrong.  As a result, some unknowingly transfer negative perceptions of fathers into their relationships with God.

Yet, God longs to be known as a Perfect Father.  Through Jesus Christ this relationship- and the promise of a Perfect Father's Blessing - is available to everyone.  Through spiritual birth, we all can see, know, and enjoy God as a Perfect Father.
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Family Works is an exciting new series that profiles the stories of family businesses and the joys and challenges that come as families work together.  These stirring stories of self-sacrifice and service to others will encourage, inspire and entertain viewers, while teaching valuable life and business knowledge.   The Family Works Series is a captivating blend of entertainment, inspiration and practical business instruction that features business profiles from a variety of family enterprises.  The series features families that are working together for the glory of God as they order their lives of faith, family and business.

Volume 1 features family profiles of Cook’s Pest Control and Holden Coal.
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It's never too early in your parenting to begin to introduce your kids to wise money management principles. In an increasingly materialistic culture, kids are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements and unsound messages about money—every single day. Countering the influence of our broken culture IS possible, but it doesn't happen by accident.

 As a parent, you must be intentional in both your words and actions. Raising Financially Freed-Up Kids offers you proven principles and practical wisdom to take decisive action in raising financially responsible—and healthy-kids. Using this series and the Raising Financially Freed-Up Kids Participant's Guide, you'll walk through two biblically based, 90-minute sessions, providing you with:

 

• Seven keys to preparing your son or daughter to be financially responsible now and in the future
• Creative ways to use allowance as a learning tool for life in the "real world"
• Three kinds of jobs that every child should experience at home
• Specific ideas and action steps for kids at each developmental stage-from preschool through high school
• A keen awareness of how healthy financial teaching—and modeling—helps your child build a more solid and joyful life

This series is designed for use with the Raising Financially Freed-Up Kids Participan'ts Guide. Order one guide per person. Click on the orange Book, Workbooks, and Handouts icon to go directly to the publisher's web store to purchase the workbook. 

 


 
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Is God concerned about your financial situation? What does the Bible have to say about debt? What is the most important thing to know about money?

In these three engaging 30-minute session shot at LifeChurch.tv, Dave Ramsey, a personal money management expert, popular national radio and television personality, and the best-selling author of Financial Peace and The Total Money Makeover, looks to Scripture as he discusses several critical issues about your personal finances.
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Your marriage is much more than a union between you and your spouse. It is a spiritual discipline ideally suited to help you know God more fully and intimately.

Sacred Marriage shifts the focus from marital enrichment to spiritual enrichment in ways that can help you love your mate more. Whether it is delightful or difficult, your marriage can become a doorway to a closer walk with God. Everything about your marriage—everything from the history you and your spouse create, to the love you share, to the forgiveness you both offer and seek by turn—is filled with the capacity to help you grow in Christ's character.

This six-session, small group curriculum will equip you to love God more passionately, reflect the nature of his Son more precisely, and fulfill God's overarching purpose for your marriage. Writer and speaker Gary Thomas invites you to see how God can use marriage as a discipline and a motivation to love Him more and reflect more of the character of His Son.
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As parents our deepest desire is to raise children who succeed in life. This is also our greatest challenge. How can we foster traits such as honesty, compassion, and dedication in young minds? How can we raise children who will love and serve God as adults? How can we develop future spiritual champions?


The Revolutionary Parenting series will help you create a plan for your family to do just that. Drawn from a landmark study of Christian twentysomethings and the parents who raised them, these resources are designed to help you build a solid foundation of faith in your child. Revolutionary Parenting is an eight-week journey designed to help you create a parenting plan for your unique children.


So whether you're the parent of a newborn, a teenager, or any age in between, join the revolution and share a lasting legacy of faith with your children.
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Are you busy, tired, stressed out, and stretched to the limit? Does life seem a little out of control? Are you running long on "to do's" and short on time?

In the series, Balancing Life's Demands, you will learn how to put "first things first" and find peace in the midst of pressure and adversity. This isn't about cliches or quick fixes, just practical biblical insights to help you order your personal world. This series was previously titled Biblical Priorities.
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See Your Child Through God's Eyes

Everybody Needs The Essentials! That's what you get in this powerful entertaining series from Focus on the Family. Essentials of Parenting brings top childrearing experts into your home or church-with practical wisdom, honest confessions, and decades of experience.

Essentials of Parenting: Raising Kids with a Faith that Lasts introduces you to one of your greatest privileges-helping your child begin a relationship with God. You'll see how everyday conversations, family fun, and purposeful projects build spiritual foundations your son or daughter can rely on for a lifetime- and beyond.
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The joy and wonder of God's Word comes alive for the children in your life.

Thirteen best-loved stories from scripture starring the Bible's best-known characters. Straight from the pages of Read and Share Bible by Gwen Ellis, this animated DVD combines an enchanting art style with warm narration and gentle musical underscore to transport kids back to Biblical times. These 3-minute bite-size vignettes are perfect for the attention span of little ones.

Stories include: Joseph and His Brothers, Moses, Ten Commandments, Balaam's Donkey, First Lord's Supper, Resurrection, and the Holy Spirit
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Our fast-paced American society promotes a constant drive for success, but often at the expense of our inner peace and contentment: "The increase of information, transportation and contamination have cost us dearly," says Dr. Tim Kimmel. "Our sense of permanence, unity and peace are jeopardized by hurried lifestyles."

Based on his best selling book, Little House on the Freeway, Dr. Kimmel brings help to the hurried home by sharing positive ways to overcome one's hectic lifestyle. In eight sessions with practical applications, The Hurried Family video study explores the symptoms of a hurried family and provides counsel for restoring calmness and giving the gift of rest to others.
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Congratulations! You're a Parent! NOW WHAT?!

Have you noticed that your child didn't come with an instruction manual? That no one required you to pass a course before you could become a parent? That out of all the parents you've known that could mentor you, none were perfect? Who can you turn to for help?

Join us on an exciting adventure as we follow the "heavenly GPS" that can help us navigate through the pitfalls and perils of parenting. In Raise up a Child, Phil Tuttle, president of Walk Thru the Bible, will guide you back to the heart of parenting through four easy-to-remember parenting scenarios: Choices, Consequences, Compassion, and Consistency.
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What if you had the perfect relationship with your parents?

The myth of a perfect family can lead to disappointment, frustration and anger.  There is no perfect family.  But many teenage students struggle with expectations and authority from their parents.  

In these four youth Bible study sessions, Mark Matlock will give practical and Biblical instruction to teens to help repair and build healthy relationship with their parents.
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What Kind of Parent Do You Want To Be?

Who you are matters more than what you do. When your kids are all grown up, how will they remember you?

In these six sessions, Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott will take you through a parenting approach you won't find in any other parenting resource.

*In reality TV style, take a sneak peek at real-life parenting moments and vulnerable questions from 20 families.

*As a Bible study, discover 10 Biblical traits that will make you a better person and a better parent. Then begin to intentionally pass on key traits to your kids.
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What does it mean to be a man? Moreover, how does a father instill these qualities in his son?

By Raising a Modern-Day Knight. Beginning with a biblical perspective of manhood, author-pastor Robert Lewis shares a unique approach to shaping a boy into a man by equipping him with three essential elements: a vision, a code of conduct, and a transcendent cause (Christianity) in which to invest his life. Complete with ceremony ideas to celebrate accomplishments and ingrain them in his mind, this resource is as insightful as it is practical in raising a boy to be a chivalrous, godly man.

Please Note: Each participant in this study will need a Raising a Modern-day Knight training guide. Navigate right to the product on www.rmdk.com by clicking the orange Books, Workbooks and Handouts button above. Taking the course without a training guide is not recommended.
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“Simple Truths with Mary Flo Ridley" was developed to help parents make the most of their opportunities to shape the sexual character of their children.

Planning conversations with your kids about sex might seem stressful, but it’s easier than trying to answer their questions when you’re not prepared. Take in and personalize this information for your family and you will find that these conversations serve as tremendous opportunities for strengthening your relationship with your children.

In the Discussion Guide’s Table of Contents, each chapter listed in red corresponds to the Step by Step section with the same title. Using the Discussion Guide and series together will give you the opportunity to personalize this resource as you shape the message for your specific family. 

This series is designed for use with the "Simple Truths Discussion Guide." Order one guide per person. Click on the orange Books, Workbooks, and Handouts icon to go directly to the publisher's web store to purchase the workbook.
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“Simple Truths with Mary Flo Ridley" was developed to help parents make the most of their opportunities to shape the sexual character of their children.

Planning conversations with your kids about sex might seem stressful, but it’s easier than trying to answer their questions when you’re not prepared. Take in and personalize this information for your family and you will find that these conversations serve as tremendous opportunities for strengthening your relationship with your children.

 
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Identity questions. Emotional turmoil. Rebellion.

Welcome to the teenager’s world. And if you’re their parent, you’re already in that mix. It’s a tough job, you know, and you’ve got to do it. Nowadays, you have to play counselor, cop, and crisis manager all rolled into one. Good parenting means using your head, your heart, and your faith.

Parenting Your Teenager equips moms and dads to recognize common patterns, plan effective strategies, and build character. Perfect for small group Bible study or a seminar, this 4 part series features relationship experts Les and Leslie Parrott. And, in 24 gut-level interviews, parents and teens talk openly about rebellion, conflict, pain, and identity. Plus, there’s a candid chat with singer Steven Curtis Chapman about faith and family.
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Men's Fraternity: Authentic Manhood: Winning at Work & Home -  by Robert Lewis challenges men to step forward, meet their responsibilities, and establish their manhood. This study focuses on the chief responsibilities men have as husbands, fathers, and breadwinners. Two mirrors are presented to help men evaluate how they are doing in life: the mirror of work and career, and the mirror of home and family. Participants will evaluate chief responsibilities of how a man successfully relates to a woman and how a man rightly engages in his work.

Here is a plan for leading men in your church and community to win in life by helping them understand and undertake the challenges of both career and family. (Session 5 includes a frank discussion for men of sexual issues in a marriage. Leader should preview this session before showing.) Men's Fraternity is designed to bring Christian men together in a safe, comfortable setting where they can learn the true, biblical meaning of manhood and honestly share their challenges and concerns. (16 sessions)

Please Note: Each man participating in this study will need a Winning at Work and Home workbook. Navigate right to the product on www.authenticmanhood.com by clicking the orange Books, Workbooks and Handouts button above. Viewing a session without a workbook is not recommended.
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In God We Trust contains everything a church needs to teach children about stewardship. This four week study will teach children grades kindergarten to fifth grade how to give, save and spend wisely. The lessons are based on strong financial principles modeled through Scripture.

Please note: This resource is for a church to use in their children's ministry. To learn about a companion resource that parents and children can also do at home, click on the FamilyTimes link under the Books, Workbooks, and Handouts orange button above (Family Times contains the same video content, but different written and CD content).
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Grandparents, you have a significant chance to impact a child's life for eternity! Don't miss it. Your grandchildren need you to be the best grandparent you can be.

Grandparenthood is far more than rocking chairs. It is a second chance to do all of the "ought tos" and "should haves" that the busyness and demands of daily parenthood kept you from doing. It is living part of the idealistic dream of parenthood that real life, diapers, soccer practice, dance lessons, and waiting up for teenagers prevented you from doing. Grandparenthood allows you to play a key role in writing the history of a generation that you will some day leave in charge.

While this study was originally called Grandparenthood: More Than Rocking Chairs, it is now called Extreme Grandparenting. The contents of this study still have the Grandparenthood look, but the content matches the book. You have the option of calling the study Grandparenthood: More Than Rocking Chairs or Extreme Grandparenting: The Ride Of Your Life, however, the promotional materials on the Facilitator CD-ROM are for Grandparenthood. Please check the website www.grandparenthood.net for Extreme Grandparenting promotional materials as they become available.

IN EXTREME GRANDPARENTING YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO:

• Pass on a great sense of blessing to each one of your grandchildren.
• Be a light to guide the way for the generations that follow you.
• Set a clear and reliable standard for your grandchildren to emulate.
• Help your grandchildren if and when their parents go through a divorce.
• Respond graciously if your grandchildren move in with you.
• Be an effective grandparent to your step-grandchildren.
• "Spoil" your grandchildren in a positive way.
• Avoid crossing the fine line between intervening and interfering.
• Process the inevitable conflicts that go with grandparenting.
• Grow even closer to your grandchildren as they grow older.
• Leave a legacy that will go on forever.

 
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