Don and Christy are good parents who are doing all they can for their kids. Their daughter and son have struggled as teenagers, and this is happening with millions of other families as well. But Don and Christy found out about STEPS Proactive Parenting, and this is their story …
Dealing with a Family Crisis
Our daughter, Emma, is 18, and she has been getting more and more out of control. She struggled with anxiety which led to abusing pills (Xanax), and we’re afraid her drinking has become an addiction. We’ve found her passed out, and she runs off sometimes. We’ve also gotten worried about her harming herself, so we’re afraid to leave her alone.
We want to help Emma see she has a good future if she will take positive steps. But she has become angry and disrespectful, and this led to frustration, uncertainty, and sadness for us. We needed help and to hear from someone who has been through these sorts of things.
The STEPS seminar and articles helped us learn how we can be more proactive in our parenting. That guidance helped us understand our emotions were normal for parents with a child who is struggling. Every parent will benefit from the life-changing principles in this ministry.
Focusing on Early Prevention
Our younger son, Jason, is still figuring things out including how to deal with temptations he faces. Recently, we had to pick him up from a party where the police had been called for underage drinking. We think he may have experimented with pills as well.
We are learning how to help him deal with situations in a healthy fashion and prevent problems before they become serious. We now have a more realistic expectation of what’s going on with him and that it’s okay for us to think about taking care of ourselves as well.
The STEPS ministry has been a real blessing to us! We wish we would have been exposed to this teaching a lot earlier in our journey. The guidance and proactive ideas were a big help, and the release from control and perfection were a huge comfort to us.
Encouraging Proactive Parenting
We also greatly appreciated the “Biblical Parenting” seminar we recently attended. We learned more about how to be aware, connected, and educated about what our kids are going through, and we saw how the Bible offers guidance any parent can put to good use.
Now, we want to offer hope and encouragement to other parents. We want them to know they are not alone and to get help early when they notice warning signs or issues with their kids. We love what STEPS is doing to help hurting families.
STEPS Ministries provides practical resources for hurting people to find help, healing, and hope.
STEPS Proactive Parenting helps parents create happy families by being proactive in their approach to raising their kids, especially in the troubling and sometimes dangerous pre-teen and teenage years. We provide proven and effective resources to help kids thrive and prevent them from going down the road toward harmful issues such as anxiety, substance abuse, and hopelessness.
Question: Based on national statistics, you know dozens of families who are facing struggles like those in this story, but how many of them do you think are getting help? (The national average is that 90% of people struggling with addiction do not get help.)
Action: If you want to help STEPS help hurting families, please share your financial or volunteer support on our STEPS Donate page.
