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How to Raise an American: 1776 Fun and Easy Tools, Tips, and Activities to Help Your Child Love This Country | 
 enlarge | Authors: Myrna Blyth, Chriss Winston
Publisher: Crown Forum
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $3.93
You Save: $19.02 (83%)
New (37) Used (23) from $2.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 453934
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0307339211
Dewey Decimal Number: 649.510973
EAN: 9780307339218
ASIN: 0307339211
Publication Date: March 20, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Do you love America? Are you proud to call this country your home? Now, what about your kids? You want them to love America as much as you do, but when popular culture tells them it’s cooler to bash this country than to love it, how can you teach them to be proud and loyal citizens?
As mothers themselves, bestselling author Myrna Blyth and former presidential speechwriter Chriss Winston have struggled with the same dilemma. Shocked by the growing patriotism gap, they set out to create a real-world resource all parents can use to teach their kids about the greatness of America’s past, the promise of its future, and the important role each of us plays in this democracy. How to Raise an American shows you how to make patriotism a priority without it becoming a chore for you or your kids.
This practical guide offers tips, games, activities, quizzes, and information you can use to make patriotism part of your family’s daily life, including:
- 60-Minute Solutions that easily and seamlessly instill a love of this country
- Dinner Table Debate topics that will have the whole family talking
- Road trip ideas that bring America’s history to life
- Books and movies that exemplify our shared ideals
- Inspiring stories of American courage, honor, and ingenuity
- Fun and educational ways to celebrate American holidays like the Fourth of July and Veterans Day
Blyth and Winston consulted prominent historians, academics, military leaders, politicians, authors, scholars, film critics and parents around the country to bring you a truly useful guide. Part treatise on patriotism, part American history primer, part civics lesson, this book is the antidote to the virulent America bashing our children hear every day.
Inspiring and practical, How to Raise an American is a must for every patriot—parent and child.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 How to Raise An American August 31, 2008
This is an important book for all parents to read and use. All of the practical ideas and websites are very helpful. As a grandmother I read it and had to buy another so I could keep the copy as a resource and purchased another for the parents of my grandkids.
 Worth Reading Even If You Disagree With Authors' Politics June 27, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
"How to Raise an American" contains many excellent suggestions for how parents can help their children learn to appreciate this country's many blessings. Part 2 of the book in particular rates 5 stars for all the wonderful ideas for celebrating the holidays, field trip resources, book and movie listings, and suggestions for "patriot projects". I wish that the authors had devoted more space in the book to this section as it's wonderful.
Part 1 of the book is devoted to the the author's diatribes against the forces they see as destroying patriotism in this country. While I'm certainly no fan of the elite media, the entertainment industry, ivory tower academics, and so on, I found their arguments to be a bit on the partisan side. Patriotism shouldn't be a conservative vs. liberal thing but something that we should all be able to agree upon whatever our political leanings. The authors should have striven for a more politically neutral tone because their message is too important. I fear that only those who agree with the authors' politics will read this book, and that's really too bad :-(
Let's agree that some people WANT to raise Americans April 25, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sheesh! I read some of the negative feedback for this book. It doesn't seem as though those reviewers really read the thing.
*****
The title of the book is provocative: How to raise an American!
If you think that is part of your job as an American parent, then this is a great book to help you out.
The authors start with the knowledge that American culture is geared away from patriotism. Even if you live in a heavily Mormon area or on an overseas military base (I have lived both places), you are likely to encounter folks ignorant of American history, if not outright hostile to America.
And if you have kids, who knows what they are seeing on tv and in school? Certainly the news media, Hollywood, environmentalism, and the music industry are not going out of their way to portray America as a good and decent place. Just the opposite. But people are turning away... network news is losing viewership, newspapers and magazines are in circulation crises, and anti-war films are bombing at the box office. People *know* this anti-Americanism is wrong and untrue.
So what to do?
Let's start there. The authors specify some textbook horrors of anti-Americanism, to get you thinking. They give plenty of examples of stuff you wish your kids were not exposed to.
And then they turn it around to give concrete examples of what to DO. How to engage your kids in discussions about what is true about America? How to plan daytrips and vacations that expose kids to American greatness. How to select books, movies, and music that instills a sense of pride and encouragement in American kids. Ways to celebrate holidays and get involved in the community. How to get kids interested in the biographies of great Americans. How to make being an American a thing... worth being.
Because let's face it -- America is a shining city on a hill. It is the last, best hope of mankind. I owe it to my kids to let them hear the side of the story they are not going to get from the media.
I think the best part of the entire book (and it's a good book!) is the section that goes state-by-state and lists five (often more than five) great American destinations. I wish I'd had this earliler -- my kids have already been to 20 states, and now we'll have to go back. :)
And my rationale for giving only 4 stars is... I wish they had more movie/book/web page types of selections for younger children. If you have tweens or teens, tally ho! This book is for you.
With littler ones, I would recommend looking at some of the Lynne Cheney illustrated books, like "Our 50 States" (really good) or "America: A Patriotic Primer" (really really good) -- the illustrations alone are worth the price of the books. Your big kids will like those, too.
How to raise an American November 23, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
I look forward to reading the book. I was bless to hear hear speak. She truly loves this country and wants young children to understand and be proud to live in the greatest country in the world. Everyone who has children should own this book.
Great Resource for Parents (and teachers) November 9, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I liked this book.
The first half of the book is devoted to telling you why YOU need to teach your children patriotism. Included are ideas to do so. Then, the second half of the book gives ideas on how to teach your children about America.
The first holiday mentioned was election day. That was lucky for me, I read it at the end of October.
Very liberal people probably will not like the first half of this book. However, this book has excellent ideas about what to do for your children, ie. dinner discussion ideas, places to visit, holdiays to celebrate and ways to do so, etc.
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