I meant for this post to go live last week, but I didn’t finish this book as quickly as I wanted, and it took me quite a while to get this post to where I wanted it to be. It still isn’t perfect, but I hope it will touch you and make you want to read this book, and re-focus your time and energy on your family.
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As you probably know by now, Kyle is a counselor, and his degree is a Master of Counseling, with an emphasis in Marital, Couple and Family Counseling. I graduated with a B.S. in Family Life and Human Development, so we’re often discussing families, parenting, and all that jazz. We believe there is nothing more important than the family unit.
Richard and Linda Eyre believe this, too. Have you heard of them? They are an amazing couple who have dedicated their lives to educating others about the importance of family, parenting, and values. And when I was presented with the chance to read and review their latest book, The Turning, I jumped at the chance!

This book was amazing.

We’ve probably all noticed the deterioration of not only the family, but of society in general. Social and economic problems such as violence, addiction, poverty and more are sweeping across the world. But what is the cause? Through statistics and other research findings, the Eyres make the case that the turning of our hearts away from the family is what is causing these problems to arise.

The book is separated into 2 parts, Part One is entitled “Turning Away” and talks about why and how our hearts have turned away from family in the last few years. Part Two is entitled “Turning Back” and talks about how we can start a movement to turn our hearts back and heal the world.

I wouldn’t be able to do the book justice if I tried to summarize it. It has too much material for me to even skim the surface of – there is just so much good this book has to offer. I urge everyone to seek out a copy and read it. (You can buy it here.) Start in your homes, make your family the priority. And together, family by family, home by home, we can turn our hearts back.

You should also check out these two websites – Familius and The Turning – to learn more about the book and what we can do to join the movement. You can even download the first 30 pages of The Turning for free. And if you visit the Eyres’ website Values Parenting, you can learn more about how to teach your children values and strengthen your family.

The book teaches of Seven Focuses for Strengthening the Family. I felt that they were important enough to share with you.

1 // Recommit to Marriage and Family
2 // Substitute Correct Principles for False Paradigms
3 // Reinvent Time-Management and Balance with Family and Relationship Emphasis
4 // Teach Kids the Selective Use of Larger Institutions
5 // Insist on Communication
6 // Create Identity, Security, and Motivation for Children
7 // Use “Values Therapy” to Build a Self-image for Life

Again, I urge you to find this book and read it. Even if you don’t have children yet – or even if your children are almost grown – there is something in this book for everyone. Please read it, and let’s help make the world realize that family is the most important element in our world.

And lastly, I just had to share some of my favorite quotes from the book with you. There are so many, and I worked really hard to narrow it down to just these few. I hope you enjoy them, and that they make you think. And they do a lot better job telling you what the book is about than I do 🙂

// “The family is the nucleus, making everything else possible, providing the building blocks of procreation and nurturing from which all else is formed.” (pg 10)

// “The decline, demise and disappearance of functioning families is simply the biggest crisis facing the developed world today.” (pg 28)

// “The way we will save our society is one family at a time. The way we will save our economy is one house at a time.” (pg 38)

// “Family are the epicenter of emotional experience, proving and allow higher, more selfless lives of love and deeper more teaching levels of pain. We need our children as much as they need us. We are completed by them. They are our most lasting source of joy. They should be our most welcome burden.” (pg 57)

// “This earth and our lives upon it is about families. In being children and parents as well as brothers and sisters, we learn life’s most valuable lessons, feel life’s deepest emotions, and are given life’s richest joys.” (pg 58)

// “Today’s core challenge is not to make the family more like the word; it is to make the world more like a family.” (pg 58)

// CS Lewis said, “The home is the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose and that is to support the ultimate career.” (pg 95)

// “The challenge for parents is to realize how dependent they really are, how far their own skills and insights fall short, and how much they need God’s help to raise God’s children.” (pg 118)

// “Marriage when it is worked at and committed to, brings the peace and security most people long for, and can product a miraculous kind of synergy where two people become more than the sum of their parts. And romance of the mind and spirit – courtship that saves physical union until the time of commitment and marriage – still exists, still works, and still thrives.” (pg 150)

// “We believe that our mission statement of celebrating (and loving) commitment, popularizing (or prioritizing) parenting, validating (and teaching) values, and bolstering (and living by) balance is not only the best lifestyle, it is the happiest lifestyle.” (pg 198)

// “We have become so busy with what we are fighting against that we start to forget what we are fighting for.” (pg 173)

// “The interesting thing about marriage and parenting and family is that no one ever fails until they give up.” (pg 186)

{PS, my page numbering might be a bit off. Since I was reading a PDF version, there are times I might have noted the PDF file page number instead of the actual page number in the book. Sorry!}
Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.