Safe Eyes internet filter recently released Version 6.0 of their award-winning Internet monitoring and parental control software. This update is now available for immediate download for PC users. (Latest Mac version is 3.4 released Jan 7, 2009.)

Safe Eyes is a tool for parents and families wanting to block objectionable content, monitor social networking, establish time limits, and provide web activity reports. Safe Eyes software can also be used on mobile devices and businesses.

Version 6.0 of Safe Eyes internet filter software features improved reporting and monitoring, an Easy Setup Wizard for creating multiple user accounts, and the ability to filter online TV according to standard TV ratings. Safe Eyes 6 also gives you the ability to enable safe-search settings on all major search engines with a single click, and prevent users from downloading music with explicit lyrics through iTunes.

To get the newest Safe Eyes software as well as see release notes and updated system requirements, click here.

Disclosure: FamilyDads is a paying customer of Safe Eyes  (we use it on our own computers!) as well an affiliate of Safe Eyes and receives a commission on referred sales. Purchasing through the FamilyDads Safe Eyes affiliate link directly supports the ministry efforts of FamilyDads.

Did you know that over 75,000 books have been written on parenting?

Whoa! That’s a lot of information out there for dads and moms.

And most dads like you and me won’t have the time nor interest to read even a tiny fraction of all those books.

Author George Barna, a dad himself with two daughters, (you may have heard of him, he is also a well-known Christian pollster and researcher) recently published a new book on parenting with a very unique twist:

“To amass a body of knowledge that could be absorbed and applied by all parents to help them mazimize their parenting potential.”

Sounds very worthwhile, doesn’t it?  After all, what parent doesn’t want to maximize their parenting potential?!!

But to write such a book, Barna’s team had to gather specific data from three sources:

1. Telephone surveys nationwide of parents with children under the age of 18. The parents were asked about their challenges, successes, and failures as parents.

2. Existing books on parenting practices, particularly those with a spiritual dimension. Those elements that were identified as significant were studied more closely.

3. Personal interviews of more than ten thousand (yes, 10,000!) young adults in their twenties who were leading “transformed” lives with genuine, mature faith (not merely church attenders.)

These young adults were asked what happened during their formative years that “worked.”

Their parents were then interviewed for their input on upbringing these children.

Would you like to know what the research revealed?

It’s all laid out in a concise, timely book by George Barna called “Revolutionary Parenting.”

In the book, Barna starts with a look at the current crisis in American parenting, specifically as it relates to raising children with a Biblical worldview and an understanding of spiritual matters.

The next section… which is the bulk of the book… summarizes the parenting research that his team did.

The final section closes with a very personal chapter called “How Studying Revolutionary Parenting Changed Me” in which Barna talks about ten specific lessons he learned from his research that has impacted his own parenting of his two daughters, and he shares all this with the reader.

One dad reader commented…
“This is one of the few books every Christian parent must read! Great book!!! Wish it had been around years ago! If you are a new parent or even if your kids are already teens — you need this book. It is short: a fast, easy, but meaningful read.”

Learn More and Order Revolutionary Parenting for yourself, or as a gift for another parent you know, at DadResources.com, the bookstore that supports FamilyDads–
http://www.DadResources.com/product.asp?itemid=16

I just created a new webpage of a video interview with John Eldredge that I highly recommend all men watch. Click here to watch. In this interview, John talks about several critical areas that we dads need to hear:

- The two fundamental questions every little boy is asking his dad

- The two core needs of every daughter that her daddy can meet

- Healing from the wounds we received from our own father

- The power a father has in the lives of his children

- God wants to be our father

- How to build true masculinity in your son

- The stages of a man’s life as illustrated by men in scripture

John is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, and counselor. He is well-known for his popular books Wild At Heart, Way of The Wild Heart, and You Have What It Takes.

     

Your purchase of these books at www.DadResources.com
provides direct financial support to FamilyDads so we can reach more dads
with these critical messages of fatherhood.

If you have a son, grandson, work with boys, teach a boys Bible study, or know another dad who has boys, then this message is for you…

As part of the transition to manhood, boys desperately need their dads or other adult men in their lives to teach them about work, and to develop healthy attitudes toward work and a willingness to work for God’s glory.

The best way to do this is apprenticeship, where a boy “shadows” his dad or other adult men and learns about work and character by example.

An excellent resource I am using to teach my own sons about work is “Created For Work: Practical Insights For Young Men.”

The author, a dad himself and a carpenter by trade, tells inspiring stories from his own life and work — real-world stories that fascinate boys.

He uses these stories along with Scripture to reveal truths about diligence, initiative, honesty, promptness, responsibility, and many more aspects of character and work ethic.

Two of my sons favorite chapters are “Dirt” and “The Donut Race.” “Dirt” is about a guy who never lets dirt get in the way of completing his work. “The Donut Race” is about two boys who race each other to a donut shop one morning before school. One boy obeys the traffic laws, while the other one speeds. It’s an effective and humorous lesson on haste and also teaches how hasty people miss God because God is never in a hurry.

Having personally read this book with my own son when he was 8, and now re-reading it again with him at age 10, I give “Created For Work” two thumbs up as an excellent way for dads to spend quality time with their sons as well as impress on their minds key character qualities about work through reading together fun “guy-stories” and discussing the questions at the end of each chapter.

If you have a son, grandson, or know a boy or group of boys between the ages of 8 and 16, this book is highly recommended as an interactive resource. It is also an excellent gift idea for a boy or dad!

Learn More or Order This Resource

by Joey Watkins, Friday, August 29, 2008

I was walking across my bedroom toward the bathroom when a thought occurred to me…

“Am I just living WITH my family, or am I LEADING my family?”

There is a huge difference…

A dad who just lives WITH his family simply co-exists with them under the same roof.  He may share meals with them, drive in the same vehicle, watch the same tv shows, and sleep in the same house at night.

But in reality, his focus, his time, his thoughts, and his attention are primarily given to matters unrelated to his family such as his work, sports, hobbies, and other interests.

A dad who LEADS his family is entirely different.

His thoughts are daily on his children and his wife. He prays for his wife and children.

His work does not dominate his life, even though he works with all his heart when he IS working.

He values and priortizes time with his family. He blesses them with his words. He serves them in love.

He is intentional about personally instructing his children in the ways of God: teaching them about love, faith, truth, forgiveness, evil, and more.

Dad, carefully examine your daily patterns. Determine if you are just living WITH your family or LEADING them.

Your children desperately need their dad to LEAD them. Your wife desperately needs her husband to lead the family.

Your feedback: Give your feedback or input below to encourage or challenge other dads on this topic.

R E S O U R C E   for   D A D S

Raising A Modern-Day Knight

A Father’s Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood

Looking for a tool to guide your son into transitioning from boyhood to manhood? This book by Robert Lewis is perhaps the most popular on the topic. Lewis looks at what it means to be a man and then gives ideas and practical ways you can guide your son with confidence to authentic, Biblical manhood. Learn More

Click Here to Order This Resource