Bringing Out the Winner in Your Child

Book excerpt: New Economy Edition Many parents I meet, "" says John Croyle, ""feel discouraged and defeated in their relationships with their children. They want to be good parents, but they don't know where to find that 'something extra' within. This book is meant to give you some positive principles that will help you find that. Then you in turn can bring out the winner in your child."" Bringing Out the Winner in Your Child challenges parents to examine their skills, recognize their inadequacies, and love their children enough to make the changes needed to provide a stable, peaceful home. Croyle's life is an inspiring story of an All-American defensive end whose love for children prompted his coach, the legendary Bear Bryant, to advise him to ""forget about pro football and follow your dream."" In 1974 Croyle founded Big Oak Ranch as a home for abused, neglected, or abandoned children. Since then it has been a refuge and a natural, loving environment for more than 1,500 children from ages six to twenty-one. Croyle's practical guide to raising children encourages parents to develop skills as guardian, disciplinarian, provider, and friend so they can provide their children with love, stability, protection, and wisdom. His wide-ranging experience is the basis for his many lessons in dealing with typical parenting problems. Croyle offers such valuable insights as how children listen with their eyes (not their ears), how children and adults speak different languages, how realistic boundaries can affect children in positive ways, and how discipline with love, not anger, creates an atmosphere of growth and trust. His daughter, Reagan, was a four-year member of the women's varsity basketball team at theUniversity of Alabama. Croyle's son, Brodie, was the top-rated high school quarterback in America when he graduated in 2000, and in 2002 he was a quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide.""