Review: The Family Toolbox

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Today's review product is a DVD/video driven program to aid families in discipleship and communication especially between parents and teens. It is recommended for parents with children ages 10-18.

The Family Toolbox from the National Center for Biblical Parenting contains 8 lessons that take you through 16 life principles to work through together with your family.  The system is pretty simple and easy to implement.  A lesson a week would be great allowing your family enough time to really work on and pray about the area you discussed in the lesson.

Each lesson is designed to take only 15-20 minutes making this perfect for family devotion time in today's hectic lifestyles. 

It is recommended that you, the parent, watch both of the lesson videos and get acquainted with the material in the workbook.  In the workbook, you will find worksheets to work through with your teen as well as parent worksheets to work through alone.

Your family begins together in the workbook where each lesson is broken down into steps.

• Step 1 - Introduction - This section gives you an overview of what the scene in the video will be about.
• Step 2 - Watch the video -  Here you will watch a short video segment of a dramatic sketch depicting real life situations (and some of them awfully close to home here).
• Step 3 - Discussion - Here is where you will find questions and Bible verses to help you and your child discuss the 2 life principles discussed in each lesson.
• Step 4 - Conclusion and prayer - Here you will discuss the big idea of the lesson and discuss at least one thing you can work on for the week and pray together asking God to help you do so.

For Lessons 2-8, you then can discuss what you are working on and how it is going.  This is not only for the teens to change their behavior issues but the parent as well.  Children often react to how they've been trained by their parents.

The 8 lessons you will go through are...

1. It Starts with the Heart
2. Follow Instructions Well
3. Handle Pressure Without Losing Your Cool
4. The Value of Correction
5. The Importance of Responsibility
6. Accept No as an Answer
7. Deal with Your Own Anger
8. Consider the Needs of Others

The 16 life principles you will discuss are...

1. Be Respectful Even When It's Hard
2. Develop Internal Motivation
3. Develop Healthy Habits for Following Instructions
4. Look for Ways to Contribute to Family Life
5. Solve Problems Instead of Generating Conflict
6. Instead of Sarcasm, Develop the Skills of a Peacemaker
7. Learn to Value Correction
8. Apologize Well
9. Develop a Plan for Being Responsible
10. Take Responsibility for Your Mistakes
11. Train Yourself to Accept No as an Answer
12. Avoid Arguing
13. View Your Family as a Team and Look for Ways to Work Together
14. Learn Self-Control to Manage Anger
15. Practice Flexibility When Plans Change
16. Learn to Handle Unfairness Well

You can order Family Toolbox here in DVD format for $99.95 or you can download it right away for $79.95. There is also a church kit available here.

Our Thoughts

Wow, as you can see by the lesson titles and principles discussed this is such a valuable resource for families today. Let's face it, families are made up of broken people and that baggage is brought into families unless you face it head it on. The solution to challenges will never come by avoiding them or running away from them. The solution comes from communication as a family.  More importantly, the solution comes from God.  He has written in His Word how we are to handle family conflicts which often carry over into life conflicts.  The Family Toolbox brings you back to God's Word to handle all these conflicts and more.  It all comes back to the heart.  Get the heart where it needs to be, and the conflict will follow.

I would highly recommend The Family Toolbox for all families! It is a great teaching tool to help your family to not only exist in this life but to thrive in it.

Places to Find out more

NCBP: http://www.biblicalparenting.org/
The Family Toolbox: http://www.biblicalparenting.org/familytoolboxparentteenorder.asp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Center-for-Biblical-Parenting/116883041645
Twitter: https://twitter.com/biblicalparent
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/National-Center-Biblical-Parenting-3874044?mostPopular=&gid=3874044