Ready for Responsibility [Paperback]

Bob Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 25, 1996

They're growing up faster than you'd ever imagined. Before you know it, high school will be behind them. Will your children be ready for the complex choices and responsibilities that await them as adults? Parenting authority Dr. Bob Barnes believes the time to prepare children for successful public, personal, and private lives is now, while they're at home. How? By giving them a 'learners permit' : opportunities to develop the skills, experiences, and characters that will help them become good decision makers, good marriage-partners, and good communicators, employees, and money-managers -- and godly individuals whose Christian faith runs deep. In Ready for Responsibility, Dr. Barnes steers you beyond fearful and passive parenting styles to become a 'training parent.' Complete with practical questions and exercises, here's how you can give your children one of your greatest gifts as a parent: the means to succeed in life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

We pray that our children will succeed in a career that fits their talents and interests, that they will find a good marriage partner, that they will be happy, well-adjusted adults. But in what ways can our parenting help them reach these goals? What can we do now to help prepare our children for life as adults? In this encouraging and insightful book, Dr. Bob Barnes offers practical suggestions and specific advice on how to teach children the skills they will need to be good employees and marriage partners. Using stories and personal anecdotes, Barnes talks about such issues as dating, allowances, manners, communication skills, responsibilities, authority, sex education, and more. But not only does he give advice, Dr. Barnes also helps parents apply the insights and create their own specific plan for parenting. He gives parents the tools they need to parent confidently, and raise children who will be Ready for Responsibility.

From the Author

Dr. Bob Barnes is the executive director of Sheridan House Family Ministries and author of several books including Who’s in Charge Here?, Single Parenting, Raising Confident Kids, and co-author with his wife, Rosemary, of Rock-Solid Marriage, We Need to Talk, and Great Sexpectations. He speaks at numerous conferences, writes a weekly newspaper column on the family, and hosts the weekly radio program, "Family Time Radio." Bob Barnes lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, with his wife, Rosemary, and two children

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (December 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310201357
• ISBN-13: 978-0310201359
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #301,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book and great insight, May 4, 2002

By 

"szatkowskir" (Sunrise, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ready for Responsibility (Paperback)

I heard Bob Barnes at a parenting conference. I bought this book and read it in a short time (it's not a long book). This book gives you such straight forward ideas on how to to prepare your children for the responsibility of the real world. He shows you by example how to lay out what is required and what the consequences are and then how to follow through in order to put the responsibility on your child. It then becomes your child's choice. It eliminates nagging and issues of punishment because they is no question...it was already decided, you just need to follow through.

Definitely read this and "Who's in Charge" if you want to raise responsible children who respect you as their parent!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book -- practical, insightful, challenging!, March 27, 2007

By 

Dan Panetti "Worldview Director" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ready for Responsibility (Paperback)

Parents, this is an outstanding book, valuable for everyone wanting to raise helpful, well-adjusted children who are ready to work and relate to others in a meaningful and significant way. Barnes is great - straight shooter, practical, and humorous - and he drives home his points with excellent examples and poignant stories. He talks about everything in this book - from teaching children responsibility with money to sex and tons of stuff in between! Barnes uses what he calls the ICE principle - Instruction (clearly telling children what is expected), Consequences (holding them responsible for falling short of the standard established) and Experience (allowing children to begin to "cut the grass" and make decisions for themselves).

I have also had the pleasure of listening to Dr. Barnes present this same message as part of a CD series ordered from his ministry's web site - the 4-disk CD series is entitled Positive Parenting and is available at www.sheridanhouse.org and is an excellent tool, especially for those unable or unwilling to read the book.

One of the fundamental elements of this book is its focus on communication - the parent's ability and willingness to openly communicate with their children and a child's ability to communicate effectively with his or her peers. Barnes addresses the issue of emotionalism and its adverse impact on communication head on and helps the reader see conflict as opportunity instead of tragedy. Barnes writes not only from personal experience, but also drawing wisdom from God's Word and does a great job of making parenting the high calling that it is! This is a wonderful resource and tool for parents.

4.0 out of 5 stars In the process of reading book, February 14, 2011

By 

Isabel - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ready for Responsibility (Paperback)

I have only read chapter one of the book and thus far find it extremely useful. We are using it in my son's school as part of a parents ignite meeting. Based on the first chapter thus far, I find it to be a good book. I'm hoping it can gives us the basic tools for our son to be a happy and successful person in life. I think one of the challenges we face as parents today is that we bring our imperfections in the parenting role and we want to make sure as we raise our kids that we do not make the same mistakes our parents did.