Hi, Jim Daly here. Today's cultured deeply needs help, but in times like these, the light of Christ can shine even brighter.

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And we really encourage parents not to intervene and steal that and pull them along. The analogy of the ship, I think, is good. Are you going to be a rudder parent?

Are you going to tow the ship? Are you going to drag your child through the water to get them to move forward? Or are you going to be behind them steering them in the right direction? And there's a big difference.

Some good thoughts from Dr. Timothy Johansson. And he and his co-author Michael Anderson are back with us today on Focus on the Family, talking about better ways that you can communicate with your child.

These gentlemen have written a great book called Just the Essence of Raising Life Ready Kids, and we've got details in the episode notes.

I'm John Fuller and your host is Focus President and author Jim Daly.

But John, we had a wonderful conversation last time with Michael and Tim, and I'm looking forward to more of that today. If you missed it, you've got to get the download or go to the website, get the app and listen that way.

Parents want help because I think in part the culture and our own inability to parent well is creating a need that we need to help build up your parenting ability.

Don't feel shy about that. Don't feel embarrassed about that. It doesn't come with a manual. You know, we're taught how to be CPAs and how to be doctors and how to be other things.

But parenting, it's almost as if, hey, good luck with that. And we look in Scripture, we're trying to find Godly advice. You're going to find it today. And we are excited about our guests.

And they are Dr. Tim Johansson, a professor and pediatrician from Arizona and Mike Anderson, a licensed psychologist from Minnesota.

They have spent decades working with children and families and have a passion to help parents. Yes, mom and dad, even with your most challenging parenting circumstances.

Tim and Michael, welcome back to focus on the family. Thank you. It is always good to talk with you. You have really tapped into something with your book, just.

It feels counterintuitive, but to recap from last time, talking about backing away from some of those communication disasters. And I'm sure most parents have had that situation where you have gotten into a real argument or discussion or firm talk with that teenager.

Or maybe a child who's a bit younger, eight, nine-year-old, who's showing some self-determination and a little bit of strong will. And you're going, whoa, where's that coming from?

It's refreshing to think of new ways to do this. And I would encourage all of you listening to open your heart, open your mind about how to do this more effectively. That's the goal.

We talked last time about the ways we communicate with our children. And I thought you had some great tools there for parents to think differently about engaging.

I learned many things the last time we talked. One area that we didn't address is fear. You believe fear can become a huge barrier between parents and children.

And in fact, you say we use self-protection strategies that I think mask that bad behavior to protect ourselves. So explain what you're driving at there.

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