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Certain to appeal to all parents-whether they are expecting or raising their first new addition, in-the-trenches veterans or empty-nesters- this delightful Chicken Soup book offers a collection of inspiring and entertaining stories that relate to the triumphs, tribulations, challenges and joys of raising a family. Chapters include: The Joys of Parenting; A Mother's Love; A Father's Love; Special Connections; Special Moments; Insights and Lessons; Overcoming Obstacles; Surviving Loss; Across The Generations; and Letting Go.
With contributions from celebrity and "ordinary" parents alike, each story speaks to the range of emotions and experiences of all types of parents-single parents, foster parents, parents of adopted children, or part of a two-parent family with biological children. By sharing the personal experiences of others, this book will offer inspiration and advice to parents going through a difficult time; provide reassurance to those who worry that they're not living up to the Supermom or Superdad ideal; and share a wealth of experiences that show why being a parent is such a worthwhile and rewarding vocation.
This book is a must-read for any parent or parent-to-be!
JACK CANFIELD and MARK VICTOR HANSEN are professional speakers who have dedicated their lives to enhancing the personal and professional development of others. Their Chicken Soup for the Soul series includes sixteen New York Times bestsellers
KIMBERLY KIRBERGER is the coauthor of the Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul Journal, the #1 New York Times bestsellers Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II, and Chicken Soup for the College Soul. She is president of Inspiration and Motivation for Teens, Inc., and frequently speaks at high schools and youth organizations nationwide.
RAYMOND AARON is a professional speaker and
RAYMOND AARON is a professional speaker and business coach who has mentored thousands of people to achieve success. Through the Raymond Aaron Group, Inc., he offers a worldwide coaching service, The Monthly Mentor, which teaches how to double your income by doing what you love. He has been on almost every major radio and TV talk show, and has delivered over 4,000 seminars. He is featured in Canada's Who's Who and is the father of a teenage daughter.
Jack Canfield had been traveling around delivering key note speeches and organizing workshops to help audiences build their self-esteem and maximize their potential when he had an in-flight brainstorm that changed his life. While flying home from a gig, Canfield realized that the very same advice he had been delivering during his in-person addresses could potentially form the basis of a book. Canfield used inspirational stories he'd gleaned over the years as the basis of his speeches, and he thought it would be a terrific idea to gather together 101 inspirational stories and anthologize them in a single volume. Upon returning home, Canfield approached friend and author Mark Victor Hansen about his concept. Hansen agreed it was a great idea, and the two men set about finding a publisher. Believe it or not, the mega-selling series was not an easy sell to publishers. "We were rejected by 123 publishers all told," Canfield told Shareguide.com. "The first time we went to New York, we visited with about a dozen publishers in a two day period with our agent, and nobody wanted it. They all said it was a stupid title, that nobody bought collections of short stories, that there was no edge -- no sex, no violence. Why would anyone read it?"
Canfield wisely practiced what he preached -- and persisted. Ultimately, he and Hansen sold the first Chicken Soup for the Soul book to a small press based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, called Health Communications. The rest, as they say, is history. There are currently 80 million copies of the Chicken Soup books in print, with subjects as varied as Chicken Soup For the Horse Lover's Soul and Chicken Soup For the Prisoner's Soul. Canfield and Hansen ranked as the top-selling authors of 1997 and are multiple New York Times bestsellers. Most important of all, the inspirational stories they have gathered in their many volumes have improved the lives of countless readers.
This year, expect to see Canfield's name gracing the covers of such titles as Chicken Soup For the Scrapbooker's Soul, Chicken Soup For the Mother and Son Soul, and Chicken Soup For the African American Woman's Soul. He and Hansen have also launched the all-new "Healthy Living" series and 8 titles in that series have already been released this year. There is also the fascinating You've GOT to Read This Book!, in which Canfield compiles personal accounts by 55 people each discussing a book that has changed his or her life. The most compelling of these may be the story of young entrepreneur Farrah Gray, who read Deepak Chopra's The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success at the age of 11 and made his first million dollars at the age of 14!
With no sign of slowing down, Canfield continues to be an inspiration to millions, who fortunately refused to give up when it seemed as though he would never even get his first book published. "Mark and I are big believers in perseverance," he said. "If you have a vision and a life purpose, and you believe in it, then you do not let external events tell you what is so. You follow your internal guidance and follow your bliss, as Joseph Campbell used to say."
Writing the first Chicken Soup book was a lot more daunting than Canfield expected. After the first three years of research, he and Mark Victor Hansen had only compiled 68 stories -- 33 tales shy of their goal of 101 stories.
Along with co-writing dozens of full-length books, Canfield also publishes a free biweekly newsletter called Success Strategies.
Some fun and fascinating outtakes from our interview with Canfield:
"My inspiration for writing comes from my passion for teaching others how to live more effective lives. I started out as a history teacher in an all-black inner city high school in Chicago, graduated to a teacher trainer, then psychotherapist, then trainer of therapists, then large group transformational trainer and then a writer and keynote speaker. All along the way, my desire was to make a difference, to help people live more fulfilling lives. That is what I still do today. Most people don't know this but I was not a good writer in college. I got a C in composition. Nobody would have ever believed I would grow up to be a bestselling author."
"I play guitar, and I am learning to play the piano. I love movies and some TV shows. My favorites are Six Feet Under, Grey's Anatomy, House and Lost. I love to play Scrabble, poker and backgammon with my in-laws, nieces and nephews. We really get into it. I love to travel. I have been to 25 countries and try to add two or three new ones every year."
His heritage to his children wasn't words or possessions, but an unspoken treasure, the treasure of his example as a man and a father. --Will Rogers
As far back as I can remember, the large pickle jar sat on the floor beside the dresser in my parents' bedroom. When Dad got ready for bed, he would empty his pockets and toss his coins into the jar. As a small boy I was always fascinated at the sounds the coins made as they were dropped into the jar. They landed with a merry jingle when the jar was almost empty. Then the tones gradually muted to a dull thud as the jar was filled. I used to squat on the floor in front of the jar and admire the copper and silver circles that glinted like a pirate's treasure when the sun poured through the bedroom window.
When the jar was filled, Dad would sit at the kitchen table and roll the coins before taking them to the bank. Taking the coins to the bank was always a big production. Stacked neatly in a small cardboard box, the coins were placed between Dad and me on the seat of his old truck. Each and every time, as we drove to the bank, Dad would look at me hopefully. "Those coins are going to keep you out of the textile mill, son. You're going to do better than me. This old mill town's not going to hold you back." Also, each and every time, as he slid the box of rolled coins across the counter at the bank toward the cashier, he would grin proudly. "These are for my son's college fund. He'll never work at the mill all his life like me."
We would always celebrate each deposit by stopping for an ice cream cone. I always had chocolate. Dad always had vanilla. When the clerk at the ice cream parlor handed Dad his change, he would show me the few coins nestled in his palm. "When we get home, we'll start filling the jar again."
He always let me drop the first coins into the empty jar. As they rattled around with a brief, happy jingle, we grinned at each other. "You'll get to college on pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters," he said. "But you'll get there. I'll see to that."
The years passed, and I finished college and took a job in another town. Once, while visiting my parents, I used the phone in their bedroom and noticed that the pickle jar was gone. It had served its purpose and had been removed. A lump rose in my throat as I stared at the spot beside the dresser where the jar had always stood. My dad was a man of few words, and he never lectured me on the values of determination, perseverance and faith. The pickle jar had taught me all these virtues far more eloquently than the most flowery of words could have done.
When I married, I told my wife Susan about the significant part the lowly pickle jar had played in my life. In my mind, it defined, more than anything else, how much my dad had loved me. No matter how rough things got at home, Dad continued to doggedly drop his coins into the jar. Even the summer when Dad got laid off from the mill, and Mama had to serve dried beans several times a week, not a single dime was taken from the jar. To the contrary, as Dad looked across the table at me, pouring catsup over my beans to make them more palatable, he became more determined than ever to make a way out for me. "When you finish college, son" he told me, his eyes glistening, "you'll never have to eat beans again unless you want to."
The first Christmas after our daughter Jessica was born, we spent the holiday with my parents. After dinner, Mom and Dad sat next to each other on the sofa, taking turns cuddling their first grandchild. Jessica began to whimper softly, and Susan took her from Dad's arms. "She probably needs to be changed," she said, carrying the baby into my parents' bedroom to diaper her.
When Susan came back into the living room, there was a strange mist in her eyes. She handed Jessica back to Dad before taking my hand and quietly leading me into the room. "Look" she said softly, her eyes directing me to a spot on the floor beside the dresser. To my amazement, there, as if it had never been removed, stood the old pickle jar, the bottom already covered with coins.
I walked over to the pickle jar, dug down into my pocket, and pulled out a fistful of coins. With a gamut of emotions choking me, I dropped the coins into the jar. I looked up and saw that Dad, carrying Jessica, had slipped quietly into the room. Our eyes locked, and I knew he was feeling the same emotions I felt. Neither of us could speak.
--A. W. Cobb
Copyright ©2000. All rights reserved. Reprinted from Chicken Soup for the Parent's Soul by Jack Canfield, Marc Victor Hansen, Kimberly Kirberger, Raymond Aaron. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the written permission of the publisher. Publisher: Health Communications, Inc., 3201 SW 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442.
| Acknowledgments | xiii | |
| Introduction | xvii | |
| Share with Us | xix | |
| 1. | The Joys of Parenting | |
| The Pickle Jar | 2 | |
| Geraniums of Love | 6 | |
| The Tooth Fairy | 8 | |
| The Good Stuff | 10 | |
| Let's Go Fly a Kite | 14 | |
| My Second Birth | 17 | |
| The Photograph Album | 22 | |
| The Spinner Plate | 26 | |
| Coffee Milk and Oreos | 28 | |
| Daddy | 32 | |
| Comic-Book Solomon | 33 | |
| Driving Me Crazy | 35 | |
| I'm Okay | 39 | |
| 2. | A Mother's Love | |
| On Becoming a Stepmother | 42 | |
| The Other Mother | 46 | |
| Daddy's Hair Is Red: The Best of Bits & Pieces | 48 | |
| I Live with an Alien | 49 | |
| A Time for Love | 52 | |
| When He Sleeps | 55 | |
| Defining Love | 58 | |
| Housewife's Prayer | 61 | |
| My Wife Doesn't "Work" | 64 | |
| The Gift of Life | 67 | |
| A Mother's Love Revealed | 71 | |
| Cyberstepmother | 77 | |
| 3. | A Father's Love | |
| My Ray of Hope | 82 | |
| Hidden Green Words | 86 | |
| Hey Son, I Love You, Too | 90 | |
| My Dad Henry | 93 | |
| It Takes a Special Man to Fill a Stepfather's Shoes | 97 | |
| The Toaster | 100 | |
| A Letter to the IRS | 104 | |
| Advice from the Groom's Dad | 109 | |
| 4. | Special Connections | |
| Against All Odds | 114 | |
| A Hundred and One Atlantic Nights | 118 | |
| From the Heart | 125 | |
| The Navy's Baby | 128 | |
| Embassy of Hope | 135 | |
| What Odds? | 138 | |
| The Bungee That Binds | 143 | |
| Joey Comes Home | 148 | |
| 5. | Special Moments | |
| Something to Make Me Happy | 154 | |
| A Father's Day Phone Call | 157 | |
| Monsters Under the Bed | 162 | |
| The Special Olympics | 164 | |
| Keeping the Magic | 165 | |
| Love of a Child | 166 | |
| Self-Esteem at Five | 168 | |
| The Window | 169 | |
| "You're Having a Baby!" | 175 | |
| Welcome, Levi! | 177 | |
| There Is So Much to Learn | 180 | |
| 6. | Insights and Lessons | |
| True Generosity | 188 | |
| Maya's Smile | 191 | |
| I'm Not Your Slave | 194 | |
| The Millionaire | 198 | |
| Teen Wisdom | 199 | |
| What Parents Say/What Parents Actually Mean | 201 | |
| The Naked Patient | 203 | |
| Man Plans and God Laughs | 206 | |
| Message from a Guardian Angel | 210 | |
| Daddy's Day | 213 | |
| I believe in Angels | 216 | |
| 7. | Overcoming Obstacles | |
| The Light at the End of the Tunnel | 222 | |
| My Son, My Grandson | 227 | |
| Tough Love Wins the Day | 231 | |
| A Voice for Elizabeth | 236 | |
| My Daughter's Smile | 241 | |
| A Heart in the Shadows | 247 | |
| 8. | Surviving Loss | |
| Erin's Legacy of Love | 254 | |
| My Message | 260 | |
| Forgiveness | 264 | |
| Held in Our Hearts Forever | 267 | |
| A Dolphin Wish Fulfilled | 271 | |
| I Miss You Most at Christmas | 275 | |
| The Day My Daughter Died | 280 | |
| Cori's Beads | 283 | |
| Rachel's Gift | 287 | |
| 9. | Letting Go | |
| Watching Me Go | 295 | |
| The Video of Life | 298 | |
| The Parting | 300 | |
| Dancing in the Street | 302 | |
| The End of Childhood | 303 | |
| A Gift from Brandon | 307 | |
| Words That Bind | 310 | |
| Mapping Life's Journey on the Refrigerator Door | 315 | |
| 10. | Across the Generations | |
| Bedtime Stories Across the Miles | 321 | |
| Miriam's Umbrella | 323 | |
| Grandma Meyer's Gift | 326 | |
| From Mother to Daughter to Mother | 330 | |
| More Chicken Soup? | 337 | |
| Supporting Parents and Children of the World | 338 | |
| Who Is Jack Canfield? | 342 | |
| Who Is Mark Victor Hansen? | 343 | |
| Who Is Kimberly Kirberger? | 344 | |
| Who Is Raymond Aaron? | 345 | |
| Contributors | 346 | |
| Permissions (continued) | 359 |
Overview
Certain to appeal to all parents-whether they are expecting or raising their first new addition, in-the-trenches veterans or empty-nesters- this delightful Chicken Soup book offers a collection of inspiring and entertaining stories that relate to the triumphs, tribulations, challenges and joys of raising a family. Chapters include: The Joys of Parenting; A Mother's Love; A Father's Love; Special Connections; Special Moments; Insights and Lessons; Overcoming Obstacles; Surviving Loss; Across The Generations; and Letting Go.
With contributions from celebrity and "ordinary" parents alike, each story speaks to the range of emotions and experiences of all ...