Parenting the Guardian Class: Validating Spirited Youth, Ending Adolescence, and Renewing America's Greatness - Softcover

Cloud, Jonathan I.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1434354938 ISBN 13: 9781434354938

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2008

Synopsis

If you have ever wished teens weren?t so rebellious, you won?t after reading this book. It is an explanation of spirited youth and the heroic roles they struggle to have in society. Rebelliousness is a part of this struggle, an inborn drive to demonstrate high self-worth that opposes families, schools, and communities that restrict them to roles that offer no means of being special, daring, and invincible. Notions about adolescence create such restrictions. The book counters them with findings and perspectives from human and social science, philosophy, myth, and cultural history to show that spirited youth: 1) innately struggle to realize potentials of their awakening spiritual intelligence; 2) aren?t adequately supported by modern forms of parenting, family, and community; 3) respond well to authoritative validation and properly resist authoritarian control; 4) lose optimism about what they can become when forced to be obedient and dependent; and 5) will become a Guardian Class that defends and creates good in communities when they are consistently validated. A validating approach to parenting that extends beyond one or two adults in a nuclear family is presented. Guidelines are offered on how it can support youth spiritual development, which is manifested by behavior that departs from established norms, encounters trials and tests, and confronts adversaries and dangers. This pattern of behavior produces positive change when adults nurture, affirm, and engage what is actually underway: 1) struggling for freedoms, possibilities, and opportunities; 2) aspiring to be special, daring, and invincible; 3) seeking to change things through defiance, challenge, and aggression; and 4) discovering the calling, purpose, and vision for their lives.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan I. Cloud has a combined twenty-five years of experience in child welfare, mental health, foster care, community organizing, juvenile justice, youth development, and delinquency prevention. Since 1995, he has served as a consultant for the U. S. Departments of Justice, Education, Defense, and Health and Human Services. On their behalf he has provided training and technical assistance to over 200 municipalities in the areas of delinquency prevention, school safety, gun violence reduction, gang violence reduction, substance abuse prevention, protecting child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and community-youth development. These efforts included leadership roles in four national initiatives each of which encompassed developing community-wide strategic plans. His blend of federal, state, and local experience has given him a unique perspective on efforts to address problems affecting families, children, and youth over the last two decades. He has arrived at significant conclusions about what else needs to be done on behalf of youth who are often seen as rebellious and families that are often seen as dysfunctional, both of which are typically dealt with in ways that undermine their potentials. He is dedicating his personal and professional lives to his vision of concerned adults, in partnership with youth-serving professionals and voluntary organizations, working together to better understand these youth and their families and support the latter in training the innate spiritedness of the former to contribute to the well-being of schools, peer groups, and communities. He has a B.A. Degree in Biblical Studies, a B.A. Degree in Psychology, along with graduate studies in Social Work and Public Administration. He has one son who is currently serving in the U. S. Marine Corps.

Edition details

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1434354938
• ISBN 13: 9781434354938
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 332