Andy Stanley - Parenting: Getting It Right

When we hit a wall with one of our kids, we called the Stanleys for advice. Their parenting wisdom gave us clarity, focus, resolve, and the courage to stay the course. After it worked even better than expected, we told the Stanleys they had to write a book on parenting. Regardless of the age of your children, youll benefit from the Stanleys insight, experience, and wisdom. Highly recommend!

CRAIG AND AMY GROESCHEL, founders of Life. Church and authors of From This Day Forward

Ive often wished for wisdom from those who have effectively raised their kids from toddlers to teens to thriving adultand for the chance to ask them all the questions. I love that I have found the answers to those questions in Parenting by Andy and Sandra. I wish Id had this book years ago, but Im so encouraged by it now as I navigate having kids in their twenties. This resource is full of biblically based parenting wisdom from two parents I highly respect. To the moms and dads at any point in the journey, dont miss this resource to help us parents get it right!

LYSA TERKEURST, #1 New York Times bestselling author and president of Proverbs 31 Ministries

I loved this book! In fact, I highlighted notes on every page. At times, I felt like it was so personal that I was reading the Stanleys journal. The stories are relatable, the principles amazing. No matter the age of your kids, this is the book to read this year.

JIM BURNS, PhD, president of HomeWord; author of Doing Life with Your Adult Children and Finding Joy in the Empty Nest

Parenting is timeless wisdom from a trusted coupletwo parents who have made it to the other side alive (and even happy!). Im so thankful that Andy and Sandra poured out their cup of experiences, wisdom, failures, and insights so that many generations will be filled up.

COURTNEY DEFEO, author of In This House, We Will Giggle and founder of Treasured

ZONDERVAN BOOKS

Parenting

Copyright 2023 by Andy Stanley and Sandra Stanley

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Zondervan titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email SpecialMarkets@Zondervan.com.

ISBN 978-0-310-36668-3 (international trade paper edition)

ISBN 978-0-310-36629-4 (audio)

ISBN 978-0-310-63866-7 (custom)

Epub Edition DECEMBER 2022 9780310366287

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Stanley, Andy, author. | Stanley, Sandra, 1966author.

Title: Parenting : getting it right / Andy Stanley, Sandra Stanley.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2023. | Summary: From North Point Ministries founders and married couple Andy and Sandra Stanley comes Parenting: Getting It Right, a faith-based parenting guide for our times, one that honestly explores the challenges and distinct stages of raising children, while equipping and inspiring parents to lead their families with confidence and graceProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022031564 (print) | LCCN 2022031565 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310366270 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780310366287 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: ParentingReligious aspectsChristianity. | Child rearingReligious aspectsChristianity. | BISAC: RELIGION / Christian Living / Parenting | RELIGION / Christian Living / Family & Relationships

Classification: LCC BV4529 .S73 2023 (print) | LCC BV4529 (ebook) | DDC 248.8/45dc23/eng/20220906

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031564

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022031565

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NASB 1995 are taken from the (NASB) New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org

Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design: Studio Gearbox

Cover photo: BigNazik / Shutterstock

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

Printed in the United States of America

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Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that the endnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication

T he names on a book jacket would never get there without a team of people working behind the scenes to ensure theres a book and a jacket to begin with. This book is certainly no exception. An enormous thank-you to Jessica Duquette, Emily Beach, and Holly Duncan. This project was your idea. Thank you for planting the seed, gathering and organizing content, creating our initial table of contents, and writing a few first drafts. To Suzy Gray: your attention to detail and your tenacity in keeping the details in front of us got us to the finish line. To our friends at Zondervan, thank you for believing in this project. We are especially grateful for Kim Tanner. Kim, your edits, questions, and suggestions made this manuscript cleaner, clearer, and crisper. Thank you!

To our amazing parents: words fall short in thanking you for life, for love, for encouragement, and for modeling the kind of parents we strove to be. To Andrew, Garrett, and Allie (along with Ana, Danielle, and Clay): Wow. What an honor to be your parents and parents-in-law. Thanks for your patience with us where we got it wrong and your kindness in letting us know where we got it right. And to our gracious heavenly Father, the only perfect parent: how grateful we are to be your children.

It Makes All the Difference

(ANDY)

W hen Sandra was a senior in high school, she underwent significant back surgery. The results were twofold. She went into surgery at five foot seven and came out at five foot nine, thus ending her dreams of a spot on the American Olympic gymnastics team. The second outcome was that, because of some added hardware, Sandras surgeon recommended she opt for a C-section if she became pregnant.

From an expectant moms perspective, a C-section has a couple of advantages, most notably that the mom gets to schedule the delivery, so there is less fear of her water breaking at Walmart in aisle nine while her husband is golfing in a remote location with no cell service. From an expectant fathers perspective, the biggest advantage is not having to attend child-birthing classes.

Or so I thought.

Wed been married four years when the parallel pink lines changed our lives forever. By that time, I knew I had married a rule follower. And Id come to appreciate her by-the-book approach to life. But I was still surprised when Sandra informed me shed signed us up for four two-hour birthing classes. I say surprised. Dismayed would be more accurate. Why spend four Tuesday nights learning about something I didnt want to know more about and didnt need to know anyway? Technically, she wasnt going to give birth. She was going to have surgery.