About the Book
Book: Unison Parenting: The Comprehensive Guide to Navigating Christian Parenthood with One Voice
Author: Cecil Taylor
Genre: Parenting/Family, more specifically Christian Parenting
Release date: September 17, 2024
Singing in unison is when all voices sing the same note, at the same time, to emphasize the text. Similarly, families need to parent in unison to emphasize the message they want to send to their children.
Cecil Taylor uses his personal parenting experience, and those of the families he’s taught and ministered to over decades, to create unique foundational strategies for unison parenting within a Christian context. Learn how to stay on the same page throughout the trials of parenting, provide children with a solid faith foundation, and balance loving nature with firm boundaries to create a warm, stable environment where the child and parent can eventually collaborate to bring the child to full, responsible adulthood.
Whether in a traditional or nontraditional family structure, Unison Parenting leads parents through the ages and stages of childhood into mature adulthood. Additionally, Cecil lays out parenting fundamentals to manage your child’s growing need for independence during their teen years, while gradually building trust through incremental decision-making.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
With more than 30 years’ experience as an adult Sunday School teacher and as many in youth ministry, Cecil Taylor has impacted lives in local churches throughout his adult life. He founded Cecil Taylor Ministries to broaden that impact, teaching Christians to live a 7-day practical faith through books, video studies, and speaking engagements. His ministry is cross-denominational, focused on the common struggle Christians face in putting their faith into practice and applying scripture and faith principles to life situations.
Cecil has written three previous books, all of which have been awarded across international, national, and regional contests. For each book, Cecil has created a study guide, a video study, and downloadable free leader guides.
More from Cecil
Would you like to know the surefire, guaranteed way to get your teen to open up and talk to you? You’ll find it in my new book, Unison Parenting: The Comprehensive Guide to Navigating Christian Parenthood with One Voice.
Unison Parenting is the culmination of my fifteen years leading parenting classes in my church, my thirty years of youth ministry, and my raising of three children (one adopted) to adulthood. I taught and tested the parenting advice with seven hundred families that attended my classes, so I am convinced the structure and tips you’ll find in the book are well-proven.
One of those tips is how to get your teen to talk to you. I have never had anyone return to me to say that the technique doesn’t work; in fact, they laughingly complain that the technique works too well, and they can’t get their teen to stop talking!
An overarching theme of the book is, of course, getting and staying in unison as parents, but not only as parents – as a family. Another way to put it is a spirit of collaboration. You begin building this collaboration when the children are young, and as they grow, you expand the collaboration to partner with them on the common goal of helping them become mature adults who make good decisions.
I can tell you from experience that the collaborating spirit of such a family continues into adulthood, fostering solid on-going relationships and a desire for family community, even across distance.
This is not to say that my wife and I were perfect, nor that our children were perfect. We all made regrettable mistakes along the way. Our learnings, plus the positive and negative experiences of families I encountered over decades, will help you avoid pitfalls as you create a unison atmosphere among parenting partners and with your children.
Interview with the Author
What does success as an author look like to you?
Let me start with versions of success that aren’t as meaningful. Having a New York Times bestseller, becoming famous enough to be on talk shows, those kinds of things. My success is simply getting the message out to as many people as possible. I write Christian-based non-fiction, so I have a mission to help others. I can’t get too caught up in the numbers, because sometimes, the one person who reads it and is helped is the special one I wanted to reach. But I definitely would like to have a lot of special ones.
What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?
Most of my favorite verses revolve around dealing with stress and anxiety, such as Philippians 4:4-7. But these days, my favorite verse is 2 Chronicles 20:12, which in part reads, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” That is the internal slogan for my ministry, written on a sticky note and taped to the wall over my laptop: “I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you.” I say that to God quite frequently.
What would you like your readers to get out of this book?
First, I would hope parents would come away with a sense of optimism that it is possible to parent in a well-conceived, consistent, loving but firm way that matures children into great adults. To that end, I also would like them to learn supporting strategies and tactics. Also, I would like them to be able to co-parent in unison, staying on the same page for the sake of the child.
Which chapter was the most difficult to write?
The first chapter in the Teen section is Collaborative Parenting. Its premise is that when you have those four high school years to grow a child into an adult, you can collaborate with the teen in a new way. It doesn’t have to be contentious; there is another way built on teamwork and mutual respect. The basics of the concept are not hard to understand.
However, the practice is more difficult. Some techniques in that chapter come from research into interpersonal communications. Some, which I used as a parent, actually come from human resource management in the business realm, techniques that allow you to analyze the child’s readiness to move to new stages of growth.
These techniques can be a little complicated. So the challenge was to make them as simple, understandable, and executable as possible. Hopefully I succeeded so that others can put these useful techniques into practice.
What is your most well-loved and well-used house appliance?
Oh, the air fryer! Our lives changed for the better when we purchased an air fryer. Dinner is so much simpler now, not to mention healthier. I’d get rid of my oven altogether if I didn’t need it for broiling and for baking desserts.
Blog Stops
Lots of Helpers, October 23
Simple Harvest Reads, October 24 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, October 24
Artistic Nobody, October 25 (Author Interview)
Guild Master, October 26 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 27
Fiction Book Lover, October 28 (Author Interview)
Vicky Sluiter, October 29 (Author Interview)
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, October 30 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, October 30
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, October 31
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, November 1 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, November 2
Blossoms and Blessings, November 3 (Author Interview)
A Reader’s Brain, November 4 (Author Interview)
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, November 5 (Author Interview)
Giveaway
To celebrate his tour, Cecil is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card and a copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
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