This book is so great that I ALREADY gave my own radio interview review copy away to a friend who's dealing with a teenager's angst over thinking she's bisexual.
But Made This Way: How to Prepare Kids to Face Today's Tough Moral Issues isn't exactly a handbook for just raising teens or navigating puberty. It's a solid resource for parents of little and really little kids, too.
How can that be, that a book about moral formation can be just as useful to parents of teens as it is to parents of toddlers?
BEHOLD THE GENIUS of Leila Miller and Catholic Answers apologist Trent Horn.
I interviewed Leila earlier this year when the second edition of her great book Raising Chaste Catholic Men was released. She's a veteran mom of eight nearly-grown kids who has both the courage and the passionate conviction to share her strategies on preparing kids to face all the cultural landmines they'll have to navigate now, especially those related to sexuality.
In each chapter, Leila and Trent take an issue (say, transgender identity), then explain what the Church teaches on it. Then they give separate advice for what to say about this issue to little kids, and what to say to bigger kids.
Leila talked about this strategic approach (big kids vs. little kids) when I interviewed her for Coffee & Donuts with John & Mary--listen here or here.
I think a common problem faced by parents in my generation is that we've witnessed a vast--not to mention fast--erosion of the moral culture around us. Just three short years ago, gay "marriage" became the law of the land by way of the Supreme Court. It feels like the whole transgender bathroom mess has only been around for the last 18 months or so. And sure, we're the generation that "survived Roe v. Wade," but what fluency we've gained in speaking about pro-life causes, we definitely lack in speaking about and defending Church teaching on issues related to no-holds-barred sexuality.
When my generation was starting kindergarten, our parents weren't tongue tied, trying to explain why ladies can't marry ladies, why boys shouldn't be able to go into the girls' bathroom, and why IVF isn't an ok way to make a baby. These issues weren't even on the horizon.
All that's changed. I'm so grateful for Leila and Trent for writing such an accessible, practical, and easy to understand book, and I'm thrilled to have two copies to give away!
To enter to win, just leave a comment below (and make sure to enter your email when you post a comment, so I can contact you!). For additional entries, head over to the domestic apologist IG account and find the post for this giveaway (it has the same picture above of yours truly).
The giveaway will close on Friday, November 2, and the winners will be notified by email. Good luck!
