About the Book

Book: Unison Parenting: The Comprehensive Guide to Navigating Christian Parenthood with One Voice Author: Cecil Taylor Genre: Parenting/Family, more specifically Christian Parenting Release date: September 17, 2024

Singing in unison is when all voices sing the same note, at the same time, to emphasize the text. Similarly, families need to parent in unison to emphasize the message they want to send to their children. Cecil Taylor uses his personal parenting experience, and those of the families he’s taught and ministered to over decades, to create unique foundational strategies for unison parenting within a Christian context. Learn how to stay on the same page throughout the trials of parenting, provide children with a solid faith foundation, and balance loving nature with firm boundaries to create a warm, stable environment where the child and parent can eventually collaborate to bring the child to full, responsible adulthood. Whether in a traditional or nontraditional family structure, Unison Parenting leads parents through the ages and stages of childhood into mature adulthood. Additionally, Cecil lays out parenting fundamentals to manage your child’s growing need for independence during their teen years, while gradually building trust through incremental decision-making.

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About the Author

With more than 30 years’ experience as an adult Sunday School teacher and as many in youth ministry, Cecil Taylor has impacted lives in local churches throughout his adult life. He founded Cecil Taylor Ministries to broaden that impact, teaching Christians to live a 7-day practical faith through books, video studies, and speaking engagements. His ministry is cross-denominational, focused on the common struggle Christians face in putting their faith into practice and applying scripture and faith principles to life situations. Cecil has written three previous books, all of which have been awarded across international, national, and regional contests. For each book, Cecil has created a study guide, a video study, and downloadable free leader guides.

More from Cecil

Would you like to know the surefire, guaranteed way to get your teen to open up and talk to you? You’ll find it in my new book, Unison Parenting: The Comprehensive Guide to Navigating Christian Parenthood with One Voice. Unison Parenting is the culmination of my fifteen years leading parenting classes in my church, my thirty years of youth ministry, and my raising of three children (one adopted) to adulthood. I taught and tested the parenting advice with seven hundred families that attended my classes, so I am convinced the structure and tips you’ll find in the book are well-proven. One of those tips is how to get your teen to talk to you. I have never had anyone return to me to say that the technique doesn’t work; in fact, they laughingly complain that the technique works too well, and they can’t get their teen to stop talking! An overarching theme of the book is, of course, getting and staying in unison as parents, but not only as parents – as a family. Another way to put it is a spirit of collaboration. You begin building this collaboration when the children are young, and as they grow, you expand the collaboration to partner with them on the common goal of helping them become mature adults who make good decisions. I can tell you from experience that the collaborating spirit of such a family continues into adulthood, fostering solid on-going relationships and a desire for family community, even across distance. This is not to say that my wife and I were perfect, nor that our children were perfect. We all made regrettable mistakes along the way. Our learnings, plus the positive and negative experiences of families I encountered over decades, will help you avoid pitfalls as you create a unison atmosphere among parenting partners and with your children.

Interview with the Author

Why do you think this topic is needed? Good parenting is so important. I believe good parenting is most attainable by parenting in unison, singing from the same sheet of music. It’s really hard to do in execution, but it’s an achievable goal that starts with intent and strategy. I want to come alongside parents to educate and encourage them. The world needs great kids that become great adults.

What did you learn from writing this book? Honestly, my biggest learnings came from going through the entire publication process with a more traditional publisher than I’ve used in the past. I learned the value of a professional proofreader. I learned a new grammatical style than I had learned in my journalism background. I learned more of the behind-the-scenes details that go into publishing a book. I also learned that I should never have three books being worked by three different publishers at the same time. That almost broke my head.

What is one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you? Even though I write in a teaching and serious manner, in real life I’m a nice blend of serious and silly. I have a quick wit, better at telling stories than jokes, liable to pull a small prank on you if you’re not alert, and ready to laugh loudly in an instant. I smile a lot, I love people, and I truly enjoy working the room. I’ve been known to work the room at funerals. But I can also snap back quickly into a serious mode.

If you could sit down with someone for five minutes, what would you say to them? This is a good follow-up to working the room. I’ve always said that I can talk to anyone in the world for five minutes. Having traveled to twenty-two countries, I have indeed talked to a lot of people for five minutes. I’m good at finding out quickly what we might have in common; that commonality builds a quick bond.

What is your favorite hymn and why? “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” I feel like the lyrics were written about my life. I can’t sing it without tearing up. I’ll request that hymn to be played at my funeral to honor and glorify God.