David Noyce
Peggy Fletcher StackBy following an unconventional parenting path, Latter-day Saints Gabrielle and Ben Blair have learned to buck conventional parenting wisdom — and, along the way, remove a lot of the stress that comes with raising kids.
Maybe you parents out there have experienced these anxieties:
• “We can’t afford to send our kids to a private grade school or middle school or high school. So that means they’ll have to settle for our low-rated neighborhood public school?”
Or:
• “Let’s see, our daughter has basketball. Our youngest son has Little League. And our oldest son has gymnastics and a few makeup classes. I guess that means no family vacation this summer.”
Or:
• “Our son has fallen dangerously behind on his grades. There is no way he can get his GPA up in time for college applications. Heck, he’s even talking about dropping out. I guess he and we can kiss an Ivy League education goodbye. Looks like community college instead — if we’re lucky.”
Or:
• “I keep looking over my daughter’s college coursework, and I honestly can see a career in any of her choices. Yes, her grades are great, but how will she land a job?”
And, a biggie for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other religious parents:
• “My child has left our church.”
Any of those pressures sound familiar?
They do to the Blairs, and the good news, they emphasize, is that families — parents and kids — can be happy and succeed in all of those scenarios. (For instance, they emphasize, public schools can be wonderful. Community colleges are an amazing bargain. And career choices are rapidly changing and ever evolving.)
They spell all that out and more in their new book, “The Kids Are All Right: Parenting With Confidence in an Uncertain World.”
(Courtesy) The new book on parenting from Gabrielle and Ben Blair.
On this week’s show, Gabrielle Blair, founder of Design Mom and The New York Times bestselling author of “Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion,” and Ben Blair, co-founder and president of Newlane University, discuss what they have discovered on their parental journey.
Listen to the podcast:
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David is a managing editor at The Tribune, where he has worked since 1984. He oversees coverage ranging from local government and west-side issues to growth, development and housing. In addition, he directs religion reporting, co-hosts the award-winning “Mormon Land” podcast and writes the Mormon Land newsletter.
Hired in 1991 to cover Utah's various faiths, particularly Mormonism, Peggy has talked forgiveness with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, nearly fainted waiting for the Dalai Lama, fasted with Muslims during Ramadan — and has reported on 50 consecutive semiannual LDS General Conferences.