My New Book at Half Price

I spent part of this past weekend recording the audio version of my new book, The Good Dad: Becoming the Father You Were Meant to Be. It's always fun to see a project come to fruition and this latest book is no exception.

The book will be officially released in late April. However, but my publisher has informed us that between now and April 21, the ePub price, which is normally $9.99, will be $4.99 (available for Kindle, Nook and other eBook devices). You can pre-order the book from our online store.

To give you just a taste of the title, here's a short excerpt:

"Over time, I’ve come to picture a parents’ relationship with their children as something like a playground tetherball. You, as the parent, are the pole. You’re not going anywhere. Your child is the ball. And the rope connecting you—the tether—is the love you share for each other. Your mutual affection is what connects you.

"In tetherball, the ball whirls around the pole, sometimes drawing closer, sometimes spinning farther away, which mimics your relationship with your sons and daughters. At times, you’ll draw close to your children. Sometimes they’ll feel more distant. So long as you have got that tether of love connecting the both of you, however, they’ll never entirely leave you.

"But when the tether breaks, the ball just flies away. It’s lost.

"Neither rules nor judgment do anything to keep the ball on the tether. The only thing that keeps the ball tethered to the pole is love.

"It becomes so obvious when you think about it in terms of our own lives. When we think about our mothers and fathers, we may appreciate many of the things they taught us. But if we had a loving relationship with our parents and we remember the reasons we loved them and their love for us, we don’t often think about rules or lessons or discipline. We think of the times we smiled and laughed together. We think of the games we played. The walks we took. The hugs. The bedtime stories. That’s what love looks like. That’s what keeps the ball on the tether.

"Sometimes, we parents get called on to maintain that tether through some horrible, even unimaginable circumstances. Children sometimes do far worse things than pick on a little sister, steal a cookie at suppertime, or get an F on a report card. Sometimes children, despite their best efforts, get into some real three-tier problems. Drugs. Alcohol. Promiscuity. Difficulties with the law.

"In those circumstances, they sometimes move beyond your rules and discipline. And the only thing you have left is that tether—the moments you’ve shared, the love you’ve shown. The tether is the last thing that holds you together. That tether gives you the ability to put your arm around them and say, “I care about you. And I’m always, always, going to be here for you.”

"That’s love. That’s the foundation to everything you do as a parent."

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