Information for Brochures, Flyers and Bulletin Inserts

About the speakers/authors:

• Featured presenters are author and speaker Dr. Donald Partridge and his wife, Jenetha. Don received his Master's Degree in Theology from Fuller Seminary and Doctorate Degree from Oxford Graduate School, focusing on issues involving remarriage. Jenetha is a registered nurse and regional consultant for a National Home Healthcare Agency.
• For the past eight years, Dr. Partridge has devoted himself to exclusive work with single parents and blending families. Don is the founder and president of the Institute for Family Research and Education, a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing quality educational assistance to dating single parents and stepfamilies.
• Together, Don and Jenetha have hosted countless speaking engagements and are currently conducting conferences and workshops throughout the country. 
• Their unique real life experiences, interwoven with scriptural guidance, provide realistic and wonderfully workable solutions to the numerous challenges facing dating single parents, future stepparents, and blending families. 

• Dr. Don Partridge and wife, Jenetha, parents and stepparents of a highly successful blending stepfamily with seven children, have been together for over 20 years.
• Ph.D. from Oxford Graduate School, Valedictorian at Commencement
• Three-hour audio taping at Focus on the Family
• Named one of the top five workshops among 70 workshops at the National Conference of SAM (Single Adult Ministries)
• National keynote speaker and conductors of keynote workshops at the National SPFM (Single Parent Family Ministry) conference
• Named one of the top conferences among the 35 conferences per year held at Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs, Colorado
• Keynote speaker at major conferences presented at churches throughout the country

Who should attend the workshops? 

• All single parents whether divorced, separated, or widowed.
• All parents currently in blending families (stepfamilies).
• All stepparents.
• All single adults who may in the future date single parents.
• All single adults who are currently dating single parents.
• Everyone who has an ex-spouse.
• All grandparents who have single parent children or who are in blending families.
• All grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.
• Everyone who may know a single parent or someone in a blending family.
• You!

Who should attend the engagement classes? 

• Adults who are engaged and about to blend their families
• Any seriously dating single parent and partner
• Anyone who is dating a single parent
• Any blending family who may have missed this engagement class

What people are saying: 

• "These guys are good!"

   "I realize I've been damaging my children. I'm stopping immediately."

   "I finally know what to do and finally am going in the right direction."

   "I have hope I never had before for my family."

   "I can make these changes right now."

   "If we had known this information before, we probably would not have ended our blended family."

   "I've been to many programs and workshops but this one was the best."

   

• The proof that (these) principles work can be witnessed in Dr. Partridge's own thriving stepfamily and the testimonials of the hundreds of families he has helped find peace and stability. ? William T. Follette, M.D., Chief of Psychiatry (Ret.), Kaiser Permanente - San Francisco, CA

• Boy, I'm glad I saw this now. I am engaged and never thought of these difficulties / Extremely important if the subsequent marriage is to last! / Wish I had known all this before our marriage / Fantastic! / This information should be presented as part of a pre-marriage class."
• "This should be a required study for all parents / This is what is missing in the lives of today's youth / This was awesome. I wish my spouse and I would have done this with our child / I wish our ex-spouses knew these principles.we could all work together."
• "I've been allowing my children to speak against their mom. I need to stand up for their mom / I'm going to make a more concerted effort to make my daughter more respectful toward her father. / I have been brain dead - have never seen these principles before. Wow! / Paradigm shift in thinking -everything changes / Awesome / The light is on."
•  "I would give you all I own if the divorce process required both parents to hear this lecture. The deepest agony of my life was powerlessly watching my ex excoriate me to our 4 yr old, turning a tender happy child into a confused and miserable child for a good part of a decade."  J. Bowes, Conference Attendee
• "In 14 years as a single parent, I have read it all and heard it all.  There is nothing that exists today that is dealing with the complexities of this dynamic environment as what I experienced in Dr. Partridge's conference.  Finally, a fresh new approach that truly understands these issues."  P. Walker, Conference Attendee and Elder at Community Presbyterian Church - Danville, CA
• "This program is a "must" for anyone who is dating if they have a child or if they are dating someone who has a child."  Trisha G., Conference Attendee
• "In the area of family ministry, few understand the issues as well."   Dr. Sam J. Earp, Senior Executive Pastor, Calvary Church, Los Gatos, CA
• "You've opened my eyes by giving me a life-changing perspective I never had before."   Christopher B., Nat'l Conference Executive
• "In my twenty years of ministry, I have not known anyone who is more highly qualified to address the complexities of the modern family with the myriad of challenges facing contemporary family systems." 
• Dr. John Merritt, Senior Pastor, CrossWinds Church, Dublin, CA
• "I thought just because I had been a stepchild, I would make a good stepparent. Had I known what I know now, I wouldn't have taken such a simplified view to entering the family of my now ex-husband." Conference Attendee

General Statistics: 

• Most blending families don't last. Nearly 60% fail. Are you next?
• If you are a stepparent, or if you intend to be one or to marry one, chances are your marriage is seriously at risk.
• More than half of all Americans are in a blending or single parent family.

General Advertisement: 

• FIVE PRINCIPLES THAT WILL TRANSFORM YOUR STEPFAMILY

  create a stepfamily that works!

  Practice these principles and your family will grow and prosper...

  Violate just one, and your stepfamily will start to fail.

   

  DISCOVER:

  Principles that are imperative for family success

  High-speed solutions that will stabilize your stepfamily

  How to build working stepparent/stepchild relationships

  Reality-based solutions to child/stepchild discipline

  How to deal with difficult ex-spouses and their partners

   

  In Loving Your Stepfamily, you will find revolutionary principles and solutions that can bring peace and contentment into your blending family.

   

• If you are a single parent, or you will be marrying one (making you a future stepparent) or if you're already in a blending family, the breakthrough life lessons offered could be among the most important learning you'll ever attain for yourself and your loved-ones.  
• Finally, a ministry to help you take affirmative steps to detect, resolve and prevent hardships associated with stepfamily conflicts.
• You can learn proven and effective life strategies to protect and enhance your blending family relationships. 
• Join us for this critically important, refreshingly fun day that will make a difference. 
• If you have a desire to find real solutions that can bring peace to your often harried life, we offer you these bi-monthly forums with breakthrough principles that may contain the most important information you will ever hear.

New Answers for Single Parents and Blending Families: 

• Creating family and ex-family relationships that work.
• Building emotionally healthy children.
• Discovering hidden keys to stepchild & stepparent harmony.
• Avoiding costly mistakes in choosing the right dating and marriage partner.
• Preparing for love and intimacy that will go the distance.
  

Straight Talk Workshops for Single Parents: 

• What to do if your ex-spouse continually bad-mouths you to your children.
• What to do if your ex-spouse is a terrible and irresponsible parent.
• How to raise emotionally healthy children as a single parent.
• How to help your children deal with separate households.
• How to prepare your children for your future dating and marriage.
• How to avoid costly mistakes in choosing the right dating and marriage partner.
• How long to wait before you begin to date.remarry.
• How to win over children to accept a marriage or dating partner.
• How to create a stable family.
• How to enjoy your stepchildren, even if they are difficult to live with.
• Parental authority in blending families.
• Common myths and pitfalls encountered by dating single parents.
• How to avoid costly mistakes in choosing the right dating and marriage partner.
• How to build sustainable intimacy and lasting marriages.

Straight Talk Workshops for Stepfamilies: 

• How to help your children accept your marriage partner
• How to live peacefully with your stepchildren
• What to do if you disapprove of how your new spouse disciplines (or fails to discipline) his/her own children or your children
• How to manage authority in your household and issues of priority between your marriage and parent-child relationships
• How to discipline a child when the child is disrespectful to the new stepparent
• How to raise stable, emotionally healthy children in a blending family
• How to manage parental authority and unity in blending families
• How to build long-term couple intimacy

Dilemmas for stepfamilies: 

• Why stepparents and stepchildren frequently remain emotionally withdrawn from one another.
• Why children sometimes draw close to their parent's dating partner, then become mysteriously withdrawn when that person becomes their stepparent.
• Why children commonly defy the person their parent wants to date or marry.
• Why adults frequently feel guilty if they don't feel the same toward their stepchildren as they do toward their own children.
• What to do when dating or married parents are opposed to how their partner raises or disciplines their children and/or stepchildren.
• Learn proven principles that will enable your blending family to enjoy life-long success and happiness.

Building Healthy Children: 

• Learn how to merge your family cultures and life-styles successfully and create peace in your future blending family by synchronizing your households before moving in together.
• Family power structures, if not recognized, can and will undermine your single-parent or blending family relationships.
• Learn proven principles that will enable your blending family to enjoy life-long success and happiness.
• Discover the extraordinary, hidden, powerful forces that influence your actions and the actions of your children.
• Create emotionally healthy children by helping them deal successfully with separate households.
• Develop a successful strategy for maintaining discipline in your single or blending household.
• Raising healthy children as a single parent or in a blending family
• Helping your children deal with separate households
• Preparing your children for your future dating and marriage

Questions that have answers:

• Is it possible for you as a single parent to build a stable family with emotionally healthy children? Absolutely!
• Is it possible for you to have a stable stepfamily and peace among family members, even though your problems seem insurmountable? Yes, it's possible!

What to bring to the workshop:

• A pen and notebook and your spouse/dating partner/ and tell a friend
• Will literature for single parents and blending families be available? Yes! For your convenience, books and pamphlets will be made available for purchase.