So, why am I doing this? I once wrote a full length book EVERYDAY PARENTS RAISING GREAT KIDS---published by Deseret Book in 2004. I wrote it because I wanted to share my ideas on functional families learned almost totally by my own experience as a parent and grandparent. I also wrote it for my children so they could see my ideas in print and see if they would inspire my children to create their own ideas about healthy parenting. I grew up in a troubled family and as I became a father myself I realized I had never seen a healthy family up close. So I actually went and talked to a number of people who, in my opinion, had fairly healthy families. I wanted to ask them questions and see if I could learn how to be a good parent despite my difficult childhood. I made plenty of mistakes as a young parent but learned a lot over the years. I decided I wanted to share my parenting ideas and see how people reacted to them--so I wrote the 300 page book. It was a fascinating experience to write a book since I had never attempted anything like that before. Getting it published was a great moment in my adult life as I really did not think I could do it. A number of years before I wrote the book I coined a phrase that has been on the wall of our home for probably 30 plus years now------HOME IS WHERE THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS HAPPEN.
Also, I have been a licensed psychologist for 35 years and my many clients have taught me a great deal. I would like to share some of those ideas, too. I have done a lot of public speaking sharing my ideas on mental health, family, personal growth and development and many other topics that relate to the topic of "people."
I love questions. Answering questions helps us learn from each other. I am interested in almost anything other than math. Math and I do not get along. I got a D in geometry in high school. So none of my blogs will deal with math--but they will deal with almost everything else. I do not think I am smarter than you are. Quite to the contrary. I just like to learn and I like to share what I have learned. So, my blogs will not be "battlegrounds".....but rather they will be "classrooms" where I will write something and invite you to think about it and even respond with your own ideas if you would like to do so. I hope to see you on the road called BLOGS RD...take care. Jim MacArthur oh and my nickname is "Sparky"....in case you are interested.
