Raising Adults
Reading Report #2
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
CHMN 301 – D01
Foundations of Next Gen Ministry
Submitted to Dr. Steve Vandegriff
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
Summary
Conclusion
Introduction
Personal Response
Contents
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Introduction
Raising children is more nebulous today than it has ever been. Youth are more immersed
in a digital world than in their physical one and ever decreasingly prepared for the real-world
scenarios that present themselves once entering the "real world". Raising Adults is a humorous
attempt to map out a path for parents who raise children who become thriving adult society
members. The author, Jim Hancock, hopes to teach parents how to nurture adolescents into
independent and contributing adults.
In Raising Adults, the author attempts to address three thought-provoking questions
about parenting. Those questions are 1. Why is it so hard to raise adults these days? 2. What
does it take to raise 21st-century adults? 3. How do we get what it takes to raise adults? [Jim
Hancock (2018). (p. 11). Raising Adults divides into three sections that analyze and try to answer
those questions. While this is primarily a youth ministry-centric resource, this author found it
spoke more to the individual parents and practices that one could implement as a parent at
home.
Summary
Section one attempts to answer the question, " Why is it so hard to raise adults these
days?" with a long narrative that attempts to explain youth culture from a historical perspective,
starting in the 1920s and working through the 1990s. This section is primarily small-talk and
shallow personal anecdotes. Eventually, the author meanders toward more modern and
applicable facts regarding 21st-century youth.
Section two addresses the second question, "What does it take to raise 21st-century
adults?". Here the author presents more practical advice regarding how the raise independent
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children that develop into responsible adults. While speaking into the delicate balance of
affirming vs. demanding vs. praising, the author says that "Affirming looks at an action and
offers soberly generous appreciation. If you overstate the affirmation, you're trying too hard. If
you turn Affirming into Praising, you're really trying too hard [Jim Hancock (2018). (p. 53). This
advice helps parents manage the desire to praise their children while not setting the
expectation bar too high.
Section three attempts to answer the question, "How do we get what it takes to raise
adults?". This section has more personal antidotes and advice regarding how parents can
acquire the skills necessary to raise adults. In section 3.4, the author addresses the level of
anger that is present among modern youth. "Their anger comes out as contempt, outbursts of
rage, mean-spirited humor, stealing, vandalism and every once in a while, shocking acts of
violence." [Jim Hancock (2018). (p. 88). While unpacking and addressing this uncomfortable
reality in this section, Hancock helps his readers understand that parents need to help their kids
feel respected and safe, ultimately leading to less anger.
Personal Response
While this book is somewhat difficult to take seriously, there are many solid nuggets of
truth throughout. Jim Hancock takes his readers on a journey while answering the proposed
questions in a lighthearted and almost irreverent way. One of the personally convicting
challenges that this author discovered was the 30-day guarantee. It is here that the author
challenges parents to "do nothing for the next 30 days" [Jim Hancock (2018). (p. 37). This 30-day
guarantee is another tongue-in-cheek way to say "No Hijacking, No Fixing, No Bossing" [Jim
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Hancock (2018). (p. 37) among others. The guarantee is almost a "have you turned it off and
restarted it yet" method—a hard reset.
Conclusion
This lighthearted and non-threatening book provides several solid pieces of advice,
especially for the inexperienced parent. This author can see how this would be of great use to a
blended family where the parent is thrown into parenting an older child with little or no history.
Overall, this is a solid resource for helping parents raise children who develop and mature into
thriving adults.
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Bibliography
Jim Hancock (2018). Raising Adults: A Humane Guide for Parenting in the New World. Retrieved
from https://app.wordsearchbible.lifeway.com
