Review~ Dating, Courting, & Choosing a Mate... What Works?

In a month, I will have two teenagers in the house. It's hard to believe! As they've gotten older, I've started to think more about their adult futures. College, dating, marriage, etc. are just around the corner. When I was given the opportunity to review Dating, Courting, and Choosing a Mate...What Works? from Parenting Made Practical, I knew I needed to watch this informative DVD. I want to help my children navigate the world of boys, girls, and dating. I want to help them find the mate that God has chosen for them. Of course, I have no idea where to begin!




Parenting Made Practical is a Christian company that focuses on helping parents raise their children in a Christian way. Their main goal is to guide, encourage, and equip parents with proper, yet practical, information to raise children that are obedient, responsible, respectful, and love God. This is not an easy task when the culture of society goes against that day in and day out. The offer parents a wonderful selection of videos and books geared for parents with children of all ages. Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think Why Can't I Get My Kids to Behave Navigating the Rapids of Parenting What Every Child Should Know Along the Way Whether you have preschoolers, elementary age children or teens Parenting Made Practical has a resource that can help you along the crazy, whirlwind journey of parenthood!

For this review, we received a physical copy of the Dating, Courting, & Choosing a Mate... What Works? DVD and workbooks.  The DVD is 108 minutes long and is broken up into two parts. Session 1: Developing Your Dating Philosophy (50 minutes) Session 2: How to Make It Work (58 minutes)
The workbook is a wonderful resource that compliments the DVD.  It takes the Sessions presented in the DVD and provides parents (and teens) with key notes. The diagrams used to demonstrate the key points are included. They are a great tool to teach your teen how to date "correctly." I feel the visuals help the lessons sink in and shows how things can work or get way out of control.  The workbook follows the DVD and is broken up into two sections. The session 1 section in the workbook is smaller, but its main goal is to hit the key points in developing your dating philosophy. The Session Two section goes into much more detail. This is where your teen and you will learn how to make it all work. You work together with your teen to decide on what your dating ideas are and hopefully come to an agreement.
The very first decision for parents and teens to make is are they ready to date. How do they know they are ready? How do parents know? After that is decided, parents and teens will work through four areas to figure out what type of relationship they will have.
Mental  Find more about the person, but don't share too much until a balance of trust can be made
Physical To be holy and pure before God, Keeping themselves pure until marriage
Spiritual Do they share the same beliefs and faith Are they spiritually compatible
Social Learn how they interact with friends and family How do they behave in social settings and are they compatible
At the very end of the workbook are a few pages of testimonials from parents and young adults. These were great to read. It was nice seeing what other families thought, what they took away from the DVD and workbook. I think it's especially important for young teens to read testimonials for other teens, so that they can see they are not alone. When live in a society were dating is pushed on children younger and younger. Teens get too serious and too physical way too quickly. Our teens are bombarded with images every day that glorify the cultural way of dating. It's nice for them to hear from other teens who have given friendship dating a try. How Did We Use Dating, Courting, & Choosing a Mate... What Works? I watched the video along with both of my children. They are not yet dating but are getting to the age where they will start to want to. I felt the DVD provided us with a wealth of information that could help them (and me) along this important journey. I loved how Joey and Carla Link stressed that this should be a decision that is made with the teen. They have to be mature enough to talk about dating or they just are not ready. I also was impressed with them stressing that each child has to have his or her own plan. No child is alike, so no relationship will be alike. I loved it when they encouraged the teens to keep a list of traits that they find attractive in another person. By keeping track of these traits, it helps them narrow done what type of person they like. I remember dating quite a few guys that I had nothing in common, but that was normal for my friends and me. I wish I had seen this DVD when I was a teen. It would have saved a few broken hearts. The idea of Friendship Dating presented by Joey and Carla is phenomenal. I love this term. I truly believe this is extremely important in today's society. We have become lost in the cultural world of dating and lost touch with finding someone that we can spend our lives growing old together. It's not about finding your soul mate, it's about finding a friend you love to go through all the ups and downs you face in life.
Michael enjoyed the humor of Joey. He laughed at the story of presenting his daughter's date with a resume to fill out. He admitted he lost track after that and then admitted his just not ready to date yet. 
Therese found the DVD filled with a lot of important facts. She agreed that most parents just joke about when they can start dating. Her daddy has joked around quite a bit about how she can't date until she's 30. She likes the idea of friendship dating and having a plan decided upon between her and us. She doesn't want us to pick her husband for her (not that I would) and we don't want her to go out blindly to pick out a husband. She also said she's not ready to date.
So, for now, we'll continue to talk about the good traits we find in others and then we'll come back to the dating when they are more ready!
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Till Next Time, Monique