Hi Friends - I hope you get a chance to listen the radio show today via webcast if you didn’t get a chance to tune in yesterday. Producer Lynne and I talked to Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor of National Review Magazine, about the political scene. What happened to Hillary, what does the future hold for Barack Obama, and just why are some conservatives beating up on John McCain? If you know Ramesh, you know he is brilliant. I hope you’ll tune in here.

Next week, Lynne and I will talk to Robin Henig, author of the NYT cover story “Why We Play.” You’ll definitely want to hear what she has to say.

As always, you can download the podcast onto your MP3 player from NationalReview.com

Thanks for listening - and have a great weekend!

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Hi friends - don’t miss the show today! I’ll be talking live with Paul David Tripp, author of “Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens. I can’t wait to delve in. If you’ve got teens, or know anyone with teens, you’ll want to listen in. That’s 2:00 central time on AM1160/WYLL, or here or on nationalreview.com after the show.

And great news - you can now download “It Takes a Parent” from the National Review Website, nationalreview.com.

(Thanks to the folks who made me make that happen.)

Stay tuned for more announcements - and thanks for listening.

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Hi friends - Today is an encore performance of “It Takes a Parent” - I hope you enjoy it all over again. (This is one of the shows I had my kids themselves listen to - I felt there was so much good stuff in here for them!) Listen to the “It Takes a Parent” show today at 2:00 central (AM/1160 or live streaming on WYLL.com) and afterward here or on NationalReview.com. You’ll hear Ken Sande, President of the International Mediation group Peacemaker Ministries, talk with producer Lynne and me about sibling conflict. Ken says not always should conflict not always be avoided, but that conflict always produces an opportunity for positive things to happen. (You know what? This is true in every area of life.) Tune in to find out how that works!

Happy parenting!

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Posted By: Betsy

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Hi friends - we have a great show for you today. Producer Lynne and I will be talking live with Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony list, a pro-life political action group. As you know, this week marked the commemoration of the tragic supreme court decision legalizing abortion. The good news is that minds and hearts continue to be changed in the pro-life direction. Marjorie (a dear friend of mine) will be talking about where we are legally, politically, and culturally in the pro-life cause. You will not want to miss this - she’s terrific.

Next week, the Susan B. Anthony list will be hosting a ten-year gala celebration! I urge you, if you are anywhere in the D.C. metropolitan area, to make it your plan to join these great folks on January 30th. You can find out more by going to sba-list.org.

Be sure to listen today on WYLL/AM1160 in Chicago, streaming on WYLL.com, or pick up the podcast here after the show or tomorrow and over the weekend on nationalreview.com

As always, thanks for listening!

Betsy

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Hi friends - Hey, producer Lynne and I have a great show for you today. We’ll talk with Wall Street Journal science writer Robert Lee Hotz about. . . optimism. It seems we humans are built for it. Literally. Lynne and I agree that with 9 kids between us - we’d better be optimists or we couldn’t get up in the morning! (This is the subject I wrote about recently.)

Hotz offers a offers a very easy - and surprising - technique for building on the optimism we were created to experience. You’ll definitely want to listen in!

That’s today at 2:00 central time, AM1160/WYLL radio, or afterward via podcast here or on NationalReview.com

And thanks for listening!

Betsy

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Hi friends - As promised, this week on “It Takes a Parent” Producer Lynne and I talked live live to Dr. Madeline Levine, a practicing psychotherapist and author of “The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids” (Harper Collins.) I’ll also be writing about her book in my column next week. (I passed on to you a lot of this information earlier in the week. See the last “parenting tip” for an excerpt from her book.)

Levine deals in her practice with teenagers who get plenty of attention from parents and school, they have a good standard of living - but they are extraordinarily unhappy, more so than teens in the past. Her experience is echoed by her professional peers around the country and in amazing studies we talked about on the air. Did you know studies show the highest rates of depression and substance abuse are in the most affluent teen communities? What’s going on?

Here’s one hint:

Levine writes that today we set academic standards for our kids that are exceedingly high, while at the same time we have standards for their involvement in family life that are exceedingly low. How true!

I don’t agree with everything she says - she seems to take a more “hands off” view of the teen years than I would - but wow she makes some great points. And this isn’t just about affluent teens, there’s so much here for all parents. You’ll definitely want to have a read of the excerpt, and a listen to the show - and pass it on!

Happy parenting - Betsy

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Hi Friends - today’s show is a “Best of It Takes a Parent” - I hope you got a chance to listen! Dr. Wendy Mogel is the author of the best selling, “The Blessing of a Skinned Knee.” She is a wonderful child psychologist in southern California, and she is just filled with common sense. As she put it to me when I was working on my book, “It Takes a Parent,” “I think the word ’special’ and ‘child’ are used way to much in the same sentence.”Producer Lynne and I are a little tired of our kids whining, or telling us things like “that’s stupid” - no matter what we suggest doing, say on a Saturday afternoon) - and in my case I’m tired of my kids asking me to go out to dinner all the time. What is that??

Dr. Mogel will talk to us about how to help our kids become more grateful. Thank goodness!

Dr. Mogel takes on what I call “the parenting culture” so beautifully, you’ll want to listen to the show and then buy her book on Amazon.com

Be sure to tune in - and thanks for listening.

Betsy Hart

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Hi Friends - I hope you get a chance to tune in to today’s show, “Breast Cancer Facts and Fiction.” Producer Lynne and I talk to Dr. Virginia Kaklamani from Northwestern Medical Center.

She focuses on genetic predispositions to breast cancer. And she shared this interesting nugget: if you have a close family member who has or had breast cancer, consider getting genetic testing done. If you are a woman and you have the BRAC I or II gene, you have an 80 percent lifetime chance of getting breast cancer.

But you know what? Knowledge is power, and get ready to learn something from this show. It takes a parent to stay healthy!

Yes, guys, we’ll be focusing on men’s health in upcoming programing. This one is for the moms - AND the men who love them. I hope you’ll tune in to the podcast or listen or go to nationalreview.com after the show.

And of course Lynne and I hope you have a happy - and HEALTHY - new year!

Betsy

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Hi friends - I hope you tune in today! I’ll be talking with Daniel Darling, author of “Teen People of the Bible.” In his new book he looks at the teenagers and very young adults of Biblical times, and examines their profiles of both courage - and cowardice. That’s at 2:00 central time on AM1160 WYLL or streaming at www.wyll.com or podcast later here or on NationalReview.com

It’s Christmas time, so of course we are concerned with matters of faith. But for us parents, that needs to be a consuming passion throughout the year, not just at Christmas. (In fact, in some ways I think Christmas gets in the way of faith, but that’s a separate show!) Anyway, I found it interesting that Darling points out that most children and teens raised in faith will fall away from their faith in college. He argues one reason for this is that that too many Christian parents - and churches - “dumb Christianity down.” I think he makes some great points.

But first, we’ll talk with David Staal who directs the Promiseland Children’s Ministry at Willow Creek Community Church. The folks there have recently developed a core curricula for even the youngest children to teach them the fundamentals of Christian doctrine consistent with their ages and intellectual development. But David agrees that the most important Christian teacher a child will ever have is his own mom or dad. So find out just what those first principles are and how to make sure your kids are rightly absorbing them.

Then from 3-5 PM Central time, I’ll be guest hosting the Sandy Rios Show live. Dan Darling will continue the discussion with me there, and we’ll have lots of other great guests too. You can listen in at AM1160 Chicago, or live on WYLL.com. Since we don’t have time for call-ins on my show (I know, I know, I wish we did!) feel free to call into Sandy’s show today.

And please have a VERY Merry Christmas!

Betsy

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Hi friends - be sure to listen to the radio show today at 2:00 pm central on AM1160/WYLL Chicago, streaming at wyll.com, or after the show podcast here and on NationalReview.com.

Today I talk with Kate O’Beirne, of National Review magazine and a former member of the President’s Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed forces about whether women and war should go together. I don’t think you’ll be surprised to know that we both agree they shouldn’t. If you’ve been following the debate here on the blog, you’ll especially want to tune into the show. Thanks for listening, and have a great day—Betsy

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