The Love Dare For Parents by Stephen and Alex Kendrick

The Kendrick brothers are at it again!  Yeah for all of us who are striving to live every moment of this life intentionally for our creator.  We Wachters are huge fans of their films from Flywheel right on through to Courageous.  Although I don't mind saying, Fireproof is our all time favorite.  It's right up there with Disney Cars, which my kids have watched a hundred times if they watched it once.  And they certainly did watch it once.

This time the Kendricks have combined the Love Dare they created with Fireproof and the idea of being a purposeful parent they stressed in Courageous to write The Love Dare For Parents.  When this came across my email I jumped at the opportunity to review it.  The Love Dare has helped so many couples get back to God's way and purpose for marriage.  I couldn't wait to see what they would do for parents and children.  If you are familiar with the original Love Dare you may be asking some of the same questions I was.  As the mother of nine children my primary question was how can you implement a one on one plan with so many hearts to reach?  Is this going to be the same old kind of parenting book you read day after day?  Or will it be like so many sequels to popular Bible studies that are just the same deal with a different cover?

Alex and Stephen answered all my questions right out of the gate.  They suggest several different ways to carry out the love day with more than one child.  What I decided to do was to follow each day with each of my children.  Some days can be carried out with all the children at one time.  And when the time comes where I need a day for each child I will do that day for nine days and then pick up again with the next day.

For example day 1 is all about telling our kids we love them.  That's something I do all the time anyway.  And it is something that is easy to do with all nine kids on the same day.   Day 30 instructs us to talk through a recent crisis with our children.  Help them to respond to it and pray with them.  We do this as a natural part of our family anyway but it will be easy to sit and have such a discussion with our whole family together during devotions, happy hour, dinner or bedtime.  And with so many life changes on the Wachter horizon, there is no lack of topics for sure.  So Day 30 will be a group dare.  Day 40 invites us to write a legacy letter to our children.  I can not see myself doing this quickly.  I think I will take at least one day per child to do day 40 or maybe even wait until vacation where I can have several uninterrupted weeks to work on it.

At the end of each day the authors have included a place to check when you have completed the day's dare and a place to write how you have carried it out.  After forty days you will not only have a closer relationship with your most precious asset but you will also have a wonderful journal .  I have a paper back edition but I could see a beautiful leather bound version being a wonderful gift to any parent.  When you read this, Alex and Stephen, perhaps you could send a note off to your publisher?

To accompany The Love Dare For Parents the Kendricks have created an online assessment test to help you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.  I clicked over there on my iPhone and took the test in just a few minutes while I was nursing Addison.  It was that quick and simple.  Unlike many of those sort of things, I found this one to be very accurate as far as I see my parenting.  After taking the evaluation, you are directed to specific days to help strengthen each of the six key areas of parenting.  This online tool takes a great book and makes it even greater.

Note:  I did have trouble adding multiple children to the website, but adding my children to the page does not change the effectiveness at all.

Thanks to the Kendricks for another great way to grow our families stronger.