I Can Finally Stop Parenting

Parenting is a lot of work. I often find myself tired in the evening when I wish I had even enough energy to make it to the end of The Biggest Loser.

But upon a recent trip to my local library with the twins, I struck upon a genius idea, an idea that should make parenting much simpler, easier, and give me more time and energy to enjoy hobbies that often get pushed aside. The only question I had was, "Why hadn't I thought of this earlier?"

Let the Berenstain Bears raise my kids.

There are Berenstain Bear books that address every possible parenting situation that you could think of, or at least most of the major ones. There are close to 350 titles in this series. I'll start with a few of my favorites that I remember reading in my own childhood.

 

But just because you remember a few books, don't think you don't need to revisit Bear Country USA and see what's changed. Papa Bear still has his backwoods overalls and Mama Bear is still rocking her housecoat, but times have changed so Brother Bear and Sister Bear have had to be prepared for new things. Things like...


Women working outside the home:

How to handle gang initiation:

Global Warming:

or the growing number openly nerdy people in society

I could go on and on, but you can visit Bear Country yourself and learn more about how easy parenting actually can be. I know that I'll be ready for whatever life throws at me. When my kids ask me...

Why is that man in a chair with wheels? I've hand them:

Why are there no professional female football players? They get:

Dad, can I start a boy-band? They'll learn all about the problems of a life in rock and roll from:

And now that the Berenstain Bear books are published by Zondervan, a Christian publisher, they have converted the Bear Family from nominal Judaism to evangelical Christianity, which makes my job even easier. I can hand over my kids spiritual formation in addition to their personal, social and emotional formation.

It is such a sweet sense of relief to be able to let go of the sense that I had to try and explain anything to my children. I think I'll make Bear Country, My Country.