December 04, 2007

The Story of Parenting with Dignity

My inquiry of a couple of weeks ago surfaced some great questions that I will be answering over the next few days.

(I appologize for the recent lapse in writing but I am in the thick of writing my new book, Parenting Teens with Dignity. Look for it in the near future.)

How was the idea for Parenting with Dignity series born? What's the story behind it?

Over time, I found myself disillusioned by the culture in my classroom, and the increasing numbers of students who seemed to be morally and ethically rudderless. I was saddened to watch students making terrible decisions with life-altering and often life-ruining consequences. Born out of this frustration I wondered what would happen if my wife and I were to try teaching parents some of the simple techniques we used daily in our classrooms. Could we teach parents how to teach their values, morals, and ethics to their own children? We believed that if parents knew how to instruct their children in effective decision-making and how to set guidelines for making decisions, it could make a difference in our classrooms.

Profound Change

Permission was obtained from school principals and my wife Barbara and I held the first of what was to become a parent education curriculum that is now entitled Parenting with Dignity. Only a small group of parents attended that first class, but within weeks we began to notice a profound effect in our classrooms. Students were attending class more regularly, and someone at home had actually convinced them of the importance of doing homework! Noticeable changes in personal grooming and perceptible changes in the vocabulary of our students convinced us that we were onto something.

Parenting with Dignity Is Born!

Parenting with Dignity evolved into a nine-week course over the years as the program became more comprehensive and fine-tuned to today’s problems. We were teaching PWD at community colleges, hospitals and in PTAs of Northwestern States when our oldest son, Drew, approached us with an idea. Drew, a quarterback in the NFL at this time, explained that he wanted to build a foundation to support and promote our Parenting with Dignity program!

After considerable deliberation, I accepted the challenge and founded the Drew Bledsoe Foundation as a support mechanism to bring Parenting with Dignity to the entire nation. The rest is history. Parenting with Dignity now stands on its' own and is one of America’s most effective and highly acclaimed parent education curriculums.

For more information about Parenting with Dignity please go to:
http://parentingwithdignity.com

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

And American parents like us are forever indebted to you and Barbara for all your work, all you do, and all you continue to do.
God Bless, and thank you!!

Orion Count Drulzelot said...

Mac, when will Parenting with Dignity for teens be coming out? With three teens in the house, we'll need all the help we can get!
: )

Mom said...

When will your book about teenagers be coming out?

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mr. Bledsoe for all you do. I love reading your blog. Keep up the awesome work and may God bless you and your family.

Derek's Mom

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the work. We all have been enlightened, touched and inspired by your words of wisdom. Keep up the good work. God bless us all!

Lindsay said...

Thank you for coming to the Hermiston School District!! What a GREAT way to start the 2008-09 school year!
Your wisdom and insight will be so very useful as a new school year begins!!

Blessings to you Mac ... and to your family!

Lindsay Murdock

Mac said...

Dear Lindsay,

Thanks for the day with you and your fellow teachers there in Hermiston, Oregon.

I have visited school districts in every one of the fifty states and my visit in Hermiston would rank as one of the best ever! I would love to work in that uplifiting and dedicated school district.

Sincerely,

Mac

Unknown said...

i like this site....

Mac said...

Thanks, and if you like this site you will love our whole curriculum! Drop me a personal e-mail to mac@macbledsoe.com and I will help you to understand how you can use it in the lives of families in your community!

Sincerely,

Mac

Kaira said...

Found the post very interesting.

Ace, Turning Winds said...

Thank you for inspiring a lot of parents to be able to raise our kids effectively. I hope you continue on with your mission because there are still a lot of parents who need your help. God Bless!