In our toxic culture, it increasingly seems as if raising children in the Faith is a losing battle. Perhaps your spouse wishes you were more fun than religious, or your peers challenge you in your beliefs. Concerns related to faith can become touchy topics for today's believers, especially when questions arise regarding your views on family life or your approach to raising children.

With his rare voice of reason and characteristic humor, popular television and radio host Dr. Ray Guarendi provides you with sound practical and spiritual wisdom and expertise as a clinical psychologist and father of ten. In these engaging pages, Dr. Ray addresses numerous issues, such as:

• How can I live my Faith better, especially with those closest to me?
• What to do when children ask: Why do we have to go to church when Dad doesn't?
• How can we get our toddler to behave during Mass?
• Should adolescents be required to go to Mass if they don't want to?
• What should I do when my adult children and grandchildren aren't living the Faith?

Additionally, Dr. Ray lays out ways in which parents can witness to their beliefs, even in broken marriages. You will also learn how to respond when your children's faith is threatened at school or through peers who don't share your beliefs, to protect them from unhealthy influences and mindsets.

Moreover, you will find tips for increasing your focus during Mass, concrete advice on setting an example for your children, and ways to help teenagers develop reverence for God at Mass.

Above all, you will learn who you are as a child of God and how to open your heart to His mercy and healing, regardless of your past experiences or how wounded you are now. Let Dr. Ray show you effective ways to live your Faith and share it convincingly and peacefully with those you love.

Strained or broken relationships are an unfortunate fact of life for most of us. Friends fall away, siblings drift apart, children sever ties with their parents, and despite our best efforts, these painful fissures are difficult to mend.

Bestselling author and clinical psychologist Dr. Ray Guarendi shares practical wisdom and usable strategies to aid you in navigating your way through such situations. With strong doses of humor and hope, he will help you form healthy habits in the ways you talk, think, act, and react to strengthen your relationships and live a more virtuous life.

Through Dr. Ray's down-to-earth style, professional experience, and personal stories, you will learn his tried-and-true rules for life and profit from them. You will discover the key to neutralizing insults and offenses and changing any relationship for the better. In these engaging pages, you'll also learn:

• Three conversation killers to avoid
• The truth about your motives and those of others
• The secret to becoming a real listener
• Tips on offering (and receiving) different types of criticism
• Ways to manage your expectations
• When (and how) to speak up

Dr. Ray teaches you techniques for avoiding psychological claptrap, for responding better to hurtful comments, and for improving your communication skills. He shows you how to become more easygoing, more forgiving, less driven by reactive emotions--in short, a better practitioner of the Golden Rule--and sets you on the path toward peace of mind, heart, and soul.

With wit and wisdom, Dr. Ray Guarendi gives parents the tools they need not only to navigate the teen years but also to enjoy them. Teens are full of life, enthusiasm, energy, and laughter, Dr. Ray asserts, in defiance of a culture that conditions us to expect a far gloomier reality. Too often, the world tells parents to be content with mediocrity instead of the prospect of raising respectful and responsible children with strong character.

In a lively question-and-answer format, Dr. Ray unpacks issues ranging from sibling relationships and peer pressure to curfews and chores to overcoming backtalk and teaching your kids to avoid drugs. He equips parents to give their teens a safer, more stable adolescence and help them develop virtues for a lifetime. If you feel as if you've been a weak disciplinarian, Dr. Ray explains that there are . . . critical reasons to reverse your parenting, even if it seems late. He offers practical approaches such as:

• Four tips to help you enjoy your kids' teen years
• Three techniques for becoming a calmer parent
• Five ways to monitor your child's use of technology
• Four simple house rules that lead to success
• Four consequences to curb nasty talk
• A strategy to motivate underachievers

You will also learn four key sayings for communicating more effectively with your teens. In addition, you will find out specific ways to cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your kids. Most significantly, you will learn how to help your children treat you with respect, so that they will develop this habit in their relationships with others as well. As you grow in becoming a stronger parent with calm, loving resolve, you will learn how to foster quality time with your teens and have real fun together.

This book is wise, perceptive, and laugh-out-loud funny. Dr. Ray uses his trademark humor-with-a-dash-of-sarcasm to give those parents who are barely treading water some good, sound, logical advice to change the tone and tenor of their households for the better.

Dr. Ray Guarendi directs us to the root of all healthy counseling: the words of the Redeemer.

Rightly regarded as America's leading Catholic psychologist and family counselor, EWTN's Dr. Ray Guarendi details here the fundamentals of Christian psychology in his incomparable down-to-earth style.

In some teachings, Jesus is two millennia ahead of what psychology is only now coming to understand. In others, He directly contradicts what today's psychology preaches. In these pages, Dr. Ray explores the teachings of both modern psychology and Jesus Christ to identify the therapy tools worth employing -- and those we should avoid. Most notably, he helps us understand that every tool and counseling guideline worth pursuing can find its roots directly in the words of Christ.

Jesus knows our minds far more intimately than we do, and He knows the rewards we receive for following the paths He advocates. Indeed, in tackling any interior or exterior difficulty, there is certain knowledge that with Christ's guidance comes reassurance and peace of mind, if only we know the path.

Dr. Guarendi's experience as a father of ten and his mastery of the New Testament enable him to provide recommendations for dealing with numerous daily issues, including:

• How to overcome jealousy and other passions
• What it means -- and doesn't mean -- to turn the other cheek
• How to turn negativity into a harnessed virtue -- without changing your nature
• How to transform your natural qualities into supernatural qualities
• The benefits of having problem children
• How to improve your self-awareness
• What the old adage know thyself really means
• How Jesus turns self-esteem mantras on their heads

The secret of a good marriage, for the most part, is that there are no secrets, only commonsense, time-tested ideas practiced by countless others who have done it well.--from the Introduction

Marriage expert Dr. Ray Guarendi has counseled enough couples to know that building a better relationship with your spouse doesn't mean learning exotic new communication techniques or rearranging your lifestyle. In fact, a few of his ten small steps are lessons you learned in grade school, such as:

• Say I'm Sorry
• Listen a Minute
• Make a List
• Use Your Manners

Plus, with his resistance rationales, Dr. Ray helps you overcome any reluctance you might feel to taking these small steps. Filled with straightforward advice, this book reminds you that a happier, more rewarding marriage is just a few small steps away.

How do I handle difficult family members?

What do I do if I can't control my emotions?

When do I correct others, and when do I hold my tongue?

Too often we are late in realizing that we mishandled a situation, causing both resentment and frustration. But what if you could approach every situation with the mind of Christ?

Distilled from his decades of experience as a clinical psychologist and a practicing Catholic, Dr. Ray Guarendi, popular radio and TV host, offers here dozens of bite-sized reflections that combine sound spiritual advice with the best of modern psychology.

Dr. Ray will help you address countless daily problems and create a plan of action for your most common troubles. With his trademark frankness and humor, Dr. Ray tackles all the topics that too often bring confusion and heartache, including:

• What to do when you're easily offended
• Common excuses parents make for bad behavior in their children--and themselves
• The difference between speaking your mind and losing your emotions.
• The fine line between being a confident evangelist and being a jerk?
• What you should do when emotions overwhelm you?
• How to hold your children to high standards without causing resentment
• The difference between making an excuse and justifying an action
• How to tell people you're angry without being nasty about it.
• What true humility is - and isn't.

Thinking Like Jesus is more than a self-help book. It will place you firmly into the mindset of a disciple of Christ so you can focus your attention on God and, ultimately, what it will take to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

This is the book you need to master your anger so your anger won't master you. Popular TV host, clinical psychologist, and best-selling author Dr. Ray Guarendi incisively cuts to the heart of the matter to help you determine whether your anger response is justified -- and what to do when it isn't.

Dr. Guarendi unpacks for you the many types of anger and the types of people who suffer most from anger. For some, anger is a trait; for others, it is a state. Some are wired fiery, with an anger that is always simmering or on a low boil, while the anger of others often comes and goes quickly.

You'll learn why feelings aren't neutral, and whether anger is a product of your nature or nurture. You'll also learn the difference between righteous and unrighteous anger -- and why those closest to us can anger us the most.

In his straightforward, engaging, and humorous style, Dr. Guarendi also unveils healthy strategies for coping with those who make us angry and how we can make choices to regulate our emotions. From this compelling, life-changing book, you will also learn:

• The danger of harboring negative feelings
  

• The surprising benefits of anger, as well as its liabilities

• Pros and cons of venting anger and of holding it inside

• The advantages of exercising self-control in the heat of an argument

• Ways to take ownership of your thoughts, words, and actions

Best of all, this book will help you grow in virtue as you develop Christlike patience, charity, self-control, forgiveness, and humility in your relationships with others. By responding prayerfully and choosing to love deliberately, you will attain greater happiness, clarity of mind, and peace of heart.

From raunchy television shows to immoral peers, the barriers to raising moral and mature children are higher and more treacherous than ever. In Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World, acclaimed Catholic psychologist Dr. Ray Guarendi offers parents a roadmap through this difficult and sometimes frightening terrain.

Dr. Ray brings to bear his decades of clinical experience--and his experience as a father of ten--with some of the hardest questions of modern parenting:

• How do you manage kids' access to pop culture--and to the corporations who all want a piece of their allowance?
• How do you respond to others, including your own family, who don't approve of your countercultural parenting?
• How do you handle the overabundance of stuff--toys, clothes, technology--that clogs up your family's everyday life?
• When do you give (or take away) a smartphone?
• How much freedom do you give your kids to choose their own friends--and when do you step in when they make wrong choices?
• What are the habits of mind you need to form in them so they can stand strong against a morally and spiritually corrosive culture?

Raising Upright Kids in an Upside-Down World is a clarion call for strong, confident parenting in confusing times. More importantly, Dr. Ray gives you the resources to grow in that confidence: the knowledge of an expert, the insight of an experienced clinician, and the wisdom of decades of fatherhood. This is a book for parents who aim to form children who value the things of God, no matter the work and the effort. Dr. Ray is here to tell you: it's worth it.

Do you know anyone who is looking for straightforward information about adoption for themselves or others? Are you interested in learning more about adoption and finding answers to common concerns?

In his latest book, Adoption: Should You, Could You, and Then What?, Dr. Ray Guarendi -- renowned clinical psychologist and father of ten adopted children -- provides authentic answers to challenging, real-life questions. With humor and wisdom, Dr. Ray draws from professional and personal experience, as well as scientific research, to allay frequent misconceptions. Issues he addresses include:

• frustrations about the adoption process, including why couples have to wait so long
• healthy motives and reasons to adopt
• how to make adopted children feel special
• adopting children of various ages and if it will impact birth order
• relationships (if any) between adopted children and their birth parents
• rearing children with special needs
• adopting children of other races
• tips for responding to difficult reactions
• talking to children about their adoption stories
• whether adoptive children should be treated differently

Dr. Ray's counsel in Adoption is relatable to all families. In an increasingly socially disconnected world, Dr. Ray reminds us that, through commitment and bonding, parents enable children to thrive at home and beyond. In discussing how to choose, live, and love adoption, Dr. Ray emphasizes that a loving, strong parent can do much to put a child on the path to recovery and counsels, Never let the opinions of others overrule your decision to adopt.

Raising ten kids revealed to Dr. Ray Guarendi and his wife, Randi, a lifetime of insightful lessons. Dr. Ray shares his wisdom with clarity and abundant humor, because as any mother or father knows, parenting is too important to be taken too seriously.

With his rich, tenfold experience as a father, Dr. Ray gives guidance that will help you gain confidence toward molding and instructing your own children. Through his many and absorbing anecdotes, you'll learn how to act with calm authority whether with a disrespectful teen or a tantrum throwing toddler.

Through parenting, Dr. Ray learned to avoid labels and to respect each childï 1/2ï 1/2ï 1/2s temperament. He reinforces how with each child you can become a better parent.

You will learn, as did he, to be better able to stand strong in God's grace and trust in His plan if your children have special needs. You'll be moved by stories of children who were affected by serious health issues, substance abuse, and unstable foster-care placement. You'll also learn:

• Why stronger parents, who act more and lecture less, have smoother family lives
• How the look is a form of classical conditioning that helps convey authority
• The power of affection to show your children your love
• To present a united front as parents and not be manipulated by your children
• How perseverance and consistency in setting and enforcing expectations pays off
• To resolve (and avoid) conflicts, teach respect and manners, and much more

Most strikingly, you will see God's providence at work in forming your own family. You will grow in the resolve and wisdom to guide your children when young and give them wings to fly when older.