The Natural Family Where It Belongs emphasizes the vital bond of the natural family to an agrarian-like household, where the "sexual" merges with the "economic" through marriage and child-rearing and where the family is defined by its material efforts. This agrarianism is alive and well in twenty-first century America and Europe. Allan C. Carlson argues that recreating a family-cantered economy portends renewal of the true democracy dreamed of by Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Critically well received, this paperback edition makes The Natural Family Where It Belongs available to teachers and students of twentieth century American social history and the American family system. It will also be welcomed by practitioners involved with the "new agrarian" revival of the last twenty-five years. As Carlson demonstrates, agrarian households represent the touchstones of a sustainable human future. Written by one of the most prestigious and respected scholars in the field, The Natural Family Where It Belongs will influence how today's family life is viewed in America and abroad. This volume is the latest in Transaction's Marriage and Family Studies series.

From preconception to adolescence to creating a healthy family lifestyle, this guide covers health during pregnancy and natural childbirth; healthful eating for the whole family; uses and abuses of TV, computers and video games; discipline issues; and more.

If you've tried Natural Family Planning and have discovered that your life is now awful - or if you feel judged or judgey, or if you trust NFP but your doctor doesn't, or if you're just trying to figure out how the heck to have a sex life that is holy but still human - you'll find comfort, encouragement, honesty, wit, and, most important, practical advice in The Sinner's Guide to NFP.

If you asked the average Catholic to list ten tips to build a better marriage, chances are Natural Family Planning (NFP) would not make the cut. Most Catholics, if they think of NFP at all, think only of those three troubling words, "Not tonight, dear." But more than a means of regulating birth, NFP is first a means of building communication, affection, respect and a sense of joyful freedom in a couple's sexual relationship. As the nineteen couples in this book make clear, NFP not only helped them plan their families, it improved their marriages. Many speak of a renewed grace in their lives when they made the switch from contraceptives to NFP. All agree that the benefits outweigh the occasional challenges, and none long for the days when they used artificial means of regulating birth. If you're interested in strengthening your marriage, forget the magazine articles and self-help books.

The Couple to Couple League's Art of Natural Family Planning Student Guide explains the Sympto-Thermal Method of Natural Family Planning. Features: large format; easy-to-read and understand; information on breastfeeding, cycle irregularities, miscarriages, family size, effectiveness, pharmaceutical products and NFP, and much more.

Sixty years ago, the UN declared the family to be the "natural and fundamental" unit of society. Today, many people are unsure as to what the word "family" even means. In response to this confusion, The Natural Family: Bulwark of Liberty defines the family based on universal human experience. Insisting, without apology, on the reality of the "natural family," the manifesto issues a personal call to men and women to rediscover this fundamental source of life, joy, and freedom.Carlson and Mero frankly admit that those who should have defended marriage were asleep when the full-scale assault on the family began in the 1960s. Even more seriously, most of them joined the assault by eventually adopting the very assumptions--philosophical, social, and economic--which almost extinguished the family's traditional legal and social privileges. "Family values" is now an empty slogan for those with some nostalgic attachment to the family, but who have no idea what the family really is.Carlson and Mero examine why the family is in crisis, the ways in which the natural family is the source of culture and freedom, and what families can do to preserve the most fundamental and wholesome relationship on earth. Assured that human nature is on their side, Carlson and Mero can be both realistic about the family's plight and relentlessly optimistic about the future. The Natural Family is a road map, especially for the young, for rebuilding a culture of freedom, joy, and love. "Perhaps the most succinct, thorough, and impressive pro-family argument yet made."BOOKLIST

What's wrong with Natural Family Planning? Taking a Catholic perspective on the subject, Dr. Jay Boyd explains that the use of NFP to avoid pregnancy is often promoted as "God's family planning". But is using NFP to prevent pregnancy really trusting God? If we take control of spacing births, how can be sure this is "God's plan", and that the children came "in God's time"? And most people fail to "read the fine print" that says that NFP is to be used only when a couple has serious reasons for avoiding pregnancy. The reason many people think of NFP as "Catholic birth control" is because that's how it is used by many well-meaning couples. Claiming that a couple using NFP is "open to life" while they abstain from sex during the woman's fertile period in order to intentionally avoid pregnancy - well...that's a contradiction in terms. It can easily be argued that using NFP to avoid pregnancy is an expression of a lack of trust in God's will and provision. It's an active effort on the part of the couple to second-guess God's timing for the family's new members. Dr. Boyd takes a close, objective look at NFP from the standpoint of the teaching of the Catholic Church. She examines the basic problems with NFP, along with its philosophical underpinnings; and she delves into the important concepts of marital chastity and trust in Divine Providence.