Listening Options:
1. Online: Click the right arrow.
2. Offline: Click the “Download” button.

Well, according to Dr. David Popenoe, yes! He’s a professor emeritus of sociology at Rutgers University, and director of the prestigious National Marriage Project there. He has a lot to say on the matter.

For one thing? He thinks our high expectations concerning marriage today doom too many of them to failure before they start. (Think of Eharmony’s promise to help you find your “soul mate.” It may be no wonder that already, the evidence seems to be that marriages which come from Eharmony have a higher break-up rate than the culture as a whole!)

Personally, I’m beginning to think we might want to bring back arranged marriages — see my column of this week. Okay, I’m kidding but then again. . .

If you couldn’t catch the show yesterday at noon (AM1160/WYLL Chicago) check in here later today for the MP3 file here, or on Friday visit NationalReview.com.

As always, thanks for listening and thanks for stopping by!

Betsy Hart

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Listening Options:
1. Online: Click the right arrow.
2. Offline: Click the “Download” button.

Dr. Michael Horton says “yes”! He’s the author of the new book, “Christless Christianity.” (He’s written many other books, including “Putting the Amazing Back into Grace.”)

Horton argues in his provocative new book that it’s not about “liberal” or “conservative” theology. It’s not even about the vigor of American evangelicalism. It’s that in churches across the board, Christ is being taken out of the gospel, and replaced with a therapeutic message that misses the cross, even in ways that sound. . . Christian.

I hope you’ll tune in today to “It Takes a Parent” at noon central on AM1160 WYLL in Chicago, listen streaming on www.wyll.com, or get the podcast by tomorrow evening here or on Friday on NationalReview.com.

In the meantime, visit “www.christlesschristianity.org”

Thanks for stopping by, and have a lovely Sunday.

Betsy

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Listening Options:
1. Online: Click the right arrow.
2. Offline: Click the “Download” button.

Hi Friends - I hope you get a chance to listen to this week’s “It Takes a Parent,” radio show. Dr. Calvin Beisner, spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation (www.CornwallAlliance.org) is back to talk about the environmentalist agenda and what it could cost us - literally - if that agenda is given its head in Tuesday’s election.

Did you know that Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, wants to cut carbon emissions in the U.S. by half - half - of their current rate by the year 2050? Forget what “spreading the wealth” would cost, that agenda would have a catastrophic impact on America’s families. But most of all it would devastate the world’s poor as energy prices - needed for everything we use - would skyrocket.

The environmentalist agenda sounds so good. . . we have to help our kids think rightly about it, because no one else is!

I’ll also talk to Beverly Rothstein, CEO of “yourslimvision.org” when she tells us how to handle all that leftover Halloween candy. And do you agree with Parenting magazine which tells parents to “understand” why their children lie? Or do you think lying is just. . . wrong? All that is in store for you in this week’s radio show.

“It Takes a Parent” airs noon Sundays, AM1160 WYLL, or podcast here and nationalreview.com

Don’t forget to vote, and thanks for stopping by!

Betsy hart

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Listening Options:
1. Online: Click the right arrow.
2. Offline: Click the “Download” button.

Hi Friends - this week, David Staal is my guest on “It Takes a Parent.” Until this summer, David was the head of the children’s ministry Promiseland at Willow Creek Community Church. He recently left that position to head a ministry in Michigan called Kids Hope USA. www.kidshopeusa.org.

What he has to share is amazing. Kids Hope pairs churches with public schools and kids at risk around the country - and the schools are glad to have the churches involved! You are going to want to hear how and why that’s possible. More public schools are asking for the ministry than there are churches available to provide it!

David will also talk about his own kids, and helping them through a difficult transition with the move which in their words “ripped them away” from their friends. With the economy the way it is and various transitions in our own homes, a lot of us may need his insights.

As always, I get a chance to touch on some issues of the day - like, some awful advice to a new mom in a recent advice column - in the “HeartBeat” section of the show.

I hope you’ll tune in Sunday at noon central time, at AM1160/WYLL Chicago, or streaming live at www.wyll.com, or later here or at the end of the week on NationalReview.com.

As always thanks for listening, thanks for your notes and e-mails - and have a great week!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Listening Options:
1. Online: Click the right arrow.
2. Offline: Click the “Download” button.

Hi friends - I hope you’ll tun into “It Takes a Parent” today at 12 noon central, on AM1160 WYLL, or streaming live at www.wyll.com.

My first guest is New York attorney Philip Howard, who heads a public interest group called “The Common Good” - (commongood.org). He argues that we have become a society obsessed with eliminating risk, especially when it comes to our kids and safety, and that this approach is nothing short of dangerous. He offers some interesting strategies for changing that thinking. Philip’s articles have appeared in the New York times, the Wall Street Journal and many other publications, and you’ll want to get his insights on how we might be putting our kids at risk our by keeping them “safe!”

Then, I get to talk to Matthew Locricchio, author of “the 2nd International Cookbook for Kids.” This is a really fun cook book that can draw kids into cooking on their own - and for the family! As a single mom to four kids who think a regular diet of chicken nuggets would be just fine, I love his ideas and have started to implement them in my home. After the show I’ll be posting one of the recipes in his book.

So, tune in in a few minutes or listen here after the show via podcast or with our simple “one-click” slide-bar (the shows will now be posted my Monday evening) and of course on Fridays you can go to NationalReview.com and hear “It Takes a Parent” there.

Hey, as always thanks for stopping by - and have a great week!

Betsy Hart

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Listening Options:
1. Online: Click the right arrow.
2. Offline: Click the “Download” button.

Yes! Please tune in to my radio show today to hear more. I’ll be talking with Walt Mueller, President of thw Center for Parent Youth Understanding (www.CPYU.org) in Pennsylvania, who will walk us through how to help our kids think about the “cultural soup” they are surrounded by, not just run from it. Because after all - we can’t!

Walt is a Christian, and his website is geared to Christian families - but it’s great for any parent of a child or teen.

In the Heart Beat of the show, we’ll get to “This Old Marriage” and “Baby Organizers.”

I hope you tune in today at noon central to WYLL/AM1160, or listen streaming on www.wyll.com, or after the show here or later in the week on NationalReview.com

Have a terrific Sunday, and as always, thanks for stopping by.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

To listen to Betsy’s show you now have to options:
1. Listen Online in this Window: Click the right arrow to start the audio slider.
2. Listen Offline or in Another Window: Click the “Download” button.

Hi Friends - I just got back from speaking to Fellowship Community Church in Salem, Virginia, for the weekend. I had a great time! FCC is a wonderful group of people, and for the folks I met there who are coming to my blog for the first time - it’s great to meet you here, and it was great to meet you in Virginia. Thanks for welcoming me so warmly. Feel free to drop a line here or via the contact button, and just say “hello.”

Meanwhile, I hope you got a chance to listen to today’s radio show, “It Takes a Parent,” on whether or not we as modern parents are so overprotecting our kids that we are doing them harm? No worries if you missed it. You’ll be able to get the podcast here tomorrow, or later in the week from NationalReview.com.

It’s a “best of Betsy” show so to speak. Starting this week it’s all new shows again as my producers and I have revamped the revamped a bit after listening to your great input and suggestions. And by the way? Keep them coming - we read them all.

Thanks for stopping by!

Betsy

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

To listen to Betsy’s show you now have to options:
1. Listen Online in this Window: Click the right arrow to start the audio slider.
2. Listen Offline or in Another Window: Click the “Download” button.

(Hi Friends - while we are at work revamping the radio show, this week’s and next week’s broadcasts will be “The Best of It Takes a Parent” episodes).

Hi Friends - This week on my radio show, “It Takes a Parent,” I have the honor of talking with Dr. Calvin Beisner (rhymes with ‘Nice - ner”) He wears many hats, one of which is the National Spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation.

Cornwall Alliance

This week, Dr. Beisner and I discuss the growing seduction of many well meaning evangelicals into the global “climate change” political movement, and the devastating repercussion for the poor that could have around the world. You will not want to miss the discussion of the real story about climate change, why and how many Christians in the United States are being misled on this issue, and the principles behind rightly stewarding the creation.

And by the way, you may be more than a little surprised (and horrified) to find out where the money to promote much of the global warming “hype” in the Christian community is coming from (this from the Institute for Religion and Democracy)

Do Some “Humanitarians” Hate People?

Be sure to tune in to AM1160/WYLL Chicago at noon on Sunday, listen live at WYLL.com, or check back here later to tune into the show or get a podcast from nationalreview.com.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Betsy Hart

P.S. - Thanks for all your notes and e-mails. I read every single one, even when I can’t answer them all.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

To listen to Betsy’s show you now have to options:
1. Listen Online in this Window: Click the right arrow to start the audio slider.
2. Listen Offline or in Another Window: Click the “Download” button.

Hi Friends - my producers and I are in the process of adding some new twists to my radio show, “It Takes a Parent,” so this week’s podcast is getting up late, but - I think you’ll want to tune in to last Sunday’s show as it’s about the economy and handling finances and what a timely message even though it’s a show which is repeating from July 27th.

David Briggs from the “Good Sense” stewardship ministry at Willow Creek Community Church joins me to talk finances, and savings, and staying out of debt even in turbulent times. Be sure to use the new “one-click” feature above which allows you to easily hear the radio show.

Hey, if you have ideas for the radio show or features you’d like to see - now is the time to tell me. Contact me by clicking the envelope above.

Soon, Scripps Howard News Service will be adding the “It takes a Parent” show to their website, so stay tuned for more!

Cheers - Betsy Hart

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

I hope you like this new audio feature which lets you listen to my podcasts instantly! (If you want to download the program instead and listen to it later just click the “Download” link.)

And here’s this week’s column on the dangers of. . . the hula hoop? Yep!

my column

Meanwhile, I hope you tune in to my radio show, “It Takes a Parent,” this Sunday at noon central time, AM1160/WYLL Chicago, streaming live on WYLL.com, or later here on my website or, on Fridays, that week’s show is podcast and archived on www.nationalreview.com. I’ll be talking with Dr. David Elkind, author of the block buster best-seller “The Hurried Child,” on what happens when we push our kids to grow up too fast? Twenty-five years after the release of the book, the trend may be worse than ever. How can we give childhood back to our kids? I also talk to Dr. Bennett Leventhal from the University of Illinois Chicago. A renowned juvenile psychiatrist, he sheds light on the news this week that pediatric suicides are on the rise after years of having leveled off. I hope you tune in for some really valuable information.

Later, I’ll be posting some political columns I’ve done for the “Chicago Daily Observer” this week on the Sarah Palin choice - and why she makes so many people so hysterically nervous!

I hope you have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by, and please remember that I read all the e-mails I receive, even when I can’t answer each one.

And thank you!

Betsy

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!