I have often thought to myself that, aside from a short time spent in a couple of CRO homes, most of my 23 Family years were spent in what I call "regular" Homes. Where you could take the best of the childrearing advice and apply it, throw out the obviously inappropriate stuff, and enjoy spending lots of time teaching your preschool kids to read, memorizing Bible verses with all kinds of games, etc. etc.

I still have a Family book called "Raise 'Em Right" which was put out in 1989 and mostly contained summaries of books like "Dare to Discipline" by James Dobson and "How to Live (Almost) Happily with a Teenager!" by L&J Davitz and "Sibling Rivalry" by Seymour Reit, to name a few I have found helpful.

This book has a few articles (not written by Family members) about teenagers which I have found helpful. I do recall that, as far as I am concerned, the Family had nothing else that was at all helpful about raising teenagers.

Laura

> Concerning the early years, on some of it, I
> do agree, though as Anneke says the violence
> came early as well. I lived at Basetto for a
> while and the best of the best were gathered
> there. Some of them truly were my life
> savers. I'm an only child, and knew really
> nothing about children. I mean nothing.

> I had the pressure from Q Deb (who was
> writing the standard for all to march too)
> to be revolutionary and serve the
> Queen, (I was in a kitchen 4 days
> after a long delivery and felt like I'd die
> most of the time; But, of course told no one
> and no one asked. George was whisked off to
> Rome by then and I didn't see him for
> several months). But I did have some
> wonderful folks close that did really help
> me learn alot; Sarah Ireland, Keturah,
> German Rebbecca, Mercy & Sheila. I know
> that later others had different and less
> positive experiences with some of them, but
> they were really a God send to me.

> I have found a lot of really good material
> since I got out. There is a lot of
> conflicting voices, even among Christians.
> Dobson's Strong willed child was
> really helpful for the older years of some
> of mine strong willed ones, and the LaLeche
> League's book was awesome for the younger
> years (We found it in Spanish for our
> daughter in law). They do a good job of
> combining natural with medical, when you
> really need it (and how to know the
> difference), in an excellent way. Mostly I
> learned to pray for them and love them
> unconditionally. That took a while.
> Rebuilding is really a pain but I have found
> that there is a lot of ignorance out there
> out side the COG.