This class was such a blessing to us! It gave us practical tools and ideas that we have been able to incorporate into parenting our kids that can empower them make good, godly choices successfully in their lives...choices that reflect God's love and are based on His Word. The class was so encouraging and empowering, and allowed everyone to share helpful thoughts and ideas, as well as concerns and questions in a nonjudgemental atmosphere.

Hi,
Just want to say thank you. I am a mother of three beautiful little boys and a sufferer of bipolar disorder. I have only been able to attend church a dozen or so times in the past 6 years. I was brought up in the church and have been a Christian my whole life. Due to this crippling illness, I've been starved for teaching and godly encouragement as a woman and mom. I stumbled upon your website (well I don't think it was an accident). I know God placed it in front of me. What a blessing. I have found encouragement, hope, and a whole lot of great parenting teachings that have been such a blessing. I cannot put into words. Please never stop your audio downloads on HomeMakers! It truly is my lifeline. It has helped me feel not so alone, and trust me, bipolar is a very lonely illness. Thank you, thank you, all the way from down under in Australia. HomeMakers, you are truly going into all the world!
God Bless You,
Melissa

The Parenting Young Children classes were very influential to our family. We learned so much that it's a challenge to sum it up in a few sentences. We now have a much clearer picture of what the Word says about raising a child, and creating a peaceful home. It is really exciting to know that God's will is for us to have a successful family, and the classes gave us the insight and many tools to succeed. Now we are so excited about our family's future.

We are very grateful to Brad and Katie Ziola for their teaching, as well as the great insight from the other group leaders. We will be taking the classes all over again and would highly recommend these classes to anyone with children.

We just finished the winter/spring session of Parenting Young Children and we have really enjoyed it. We attended when our boys were very young (2 and a newborn), and received very relevant information on discipline and handling the toddler years. We did not attend again until this last session and we were able to take away something for our family from every aspect that was taught, now that our boys are 3 and 5 and our lives are so different, and our kids have very different challenges.

I think that the most important thing that I took away was that we are on the right track with so many things that we do and it is just so great to know that there is a place to go that you can talk about all the issues that parents in the year 2008 deal with, and the biggest blessing is that you are taught the biblical view of how to raise children that love and respect the Lord.

We loved the part about rewards systems and what works the best for individual children, and implementing more devotion time and there were great examples about what bibles are out their to buy for our kids and there were great resources given on what are some really awesome websites and books to look at.

It is such a blessing that our church has this group with the Ziola's teaching it, they are experienced, successful parents who want other parents to learn some tips to raise children in the way that God wants them to be raised. We were so blessed by the Ziola's and our small group leaders the Huether's and the Perego's and all the other parents in the class. We will definitely be coming back in the Fall to continue with this group.

I recently had my four kids at a smaller grocery store that has a section of kids toys. I typically let them look over the toy area while I'm in that section, getting my produce. Just before Christmas, the manager walked up to me and asked if my kids like chocolate. I was a bit surprised and said they like it, but we don't keep much in the house. She said she was asking because she wanted to reward them! She had spent several hours earlier that day getting that section back in order and she couldn't believe how nicely they were standing and looking with their eyes, not their hands, which is the expectation I had given them before going in. My kids very happily received a special beverage treat, thanking the manager with big smiles. At home later, they asked if they could share with their friends who were coming over in the afternoon.

Thank you Parenting Young Children, for helping us have an expectation!

We have four children, ages 6.5 yrs, 5 yrs, 2 yrs, 1 yr. We have been participating in Parenting Young Children for 2 1/2 years, as it is our goal to grow up godly children that others can enjoy being with. We have seen so many little victories we couldn't possibly list them all, but isn't that the best?!

We were recently at a family gathering, and there was a HUGE pile of dirt (like 10 feet high!). Everyone looked to us, to see if the dirt pile would be an okay thing to play on. We thought it looked like a small boy's dream, and since we didn't have a wedding to go off to in an hour or so, we agreed that our kids could play on this dirt "mountain." In minutes, all the kids were covered in dust and dirt... and smiles. They had a great time and there were almost no fights because there was only dirt to play with (ah, simpler times!). Later that night, after much scrubbing and soap, our son said this was the BEST day ever.

For us, the better part of it came several days later in the form of an email. One of the family members had been videotaping this event and dirt mountain fun. He said ours were the best behaved kids there. That will make a parent smile for quite a while, and THANK our Lord that we had training like Parenting Young Children.

Thank you, Parenting team, for giving back to our kids!