GFI Parenting Conference 2024
April 19 - April 20
Gary & Anne Marie Ezzo, Rich & Julie Young, and Dr. Robert & Gayle Bucknam
For the first time, the minds behind Growing Kids Gods Way, Babywise and The Life Series will be coming together to share new insights!
Plan to join us for a very special parenting conference with these compelling presentations:
Rich & Julie Young
Waiting for the Second Marshmallow
In our society today, many children are being raised with a sense of entitlement, and self-control is viewed as an intrusion on happiness. This approach leads to many negative outcomes that conflict with the results we are striving towards.  Is it possible to do it differently and still raise a happy child? Yes! Not only is it possible, but it’s rewarding for both parent and child! We can teach our children self-control and delayed gratification while teaching them how to have a vision for an exciting future full of hope. Rich and Julie will share how, as parents, we can champion our children’s dreams, teaching them the character lessons necessary to carry them to greatness in the eyes of the Father who loves them abundantly.
Dr. Robert Bucknam & Gayle Bucknam
Two Presentations
Unplugged
Anger, depression, anxiety and the generation of emotional turmoil. How are so many great families getting derailed?  Our culture’s quest for more information, more productivity and more entertainment has created a digital dilemma for responsible parents. Based on the latest research and his 30 years of practicing pediatric medicine, Dr. Bucknam will discuss the dark side of digital media, the connection between screen time, poor behavior and mental illness, and the resulting moral abyss. He will also present common sense solutions to this parenting conundrum that will be an encouragement to concerned and worried parents.
Parenting Without Fear
Fear is the best word to describe the condition of parents today, who seem bound up in anxiety and worry over the way they are raising their children. Frustrated parents click away on Google to find solutions to alleviate either their own anxiety, or that of their children. The awareness of mental health and the crisis of our youth today seem to paralyze a parent from enforcing any real discipline. Gayle Bucknam will share how there is hope though in the tried and true principles that have led so many successful parents in the generations before. These principles don’t require therapists or drugs, but they do require parental resolve and intention.Â
Gary & Anne Marie Ezzo
Frontal Lobe Parenting
Over the past three decades the values based parenting initiative of Growing Families has influenced more than three million households and twice as many children, creating family/marriage success stories that push the boundaries on statistical norms within our society. Typically and predictably, children of character become very successful adults. But how does character training interact with a child’s developing brain? How does character training maximize a child’s neural network of healthy cognition? This session explores the relationship between heart training and mind training. Which comes first?
