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A Focus of Her Own
It wasn't always easy being raised by one of the world's greatest parenting experts, but now Danae Dobson is drawing on her heritage to help a generation of girls in need.
Marcia Ford
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For more than a quarter century, Dr. James Dobson has dispensed advice on child rearing and Christian living to families across America. Through radio, magazines, best-selling books, and an array of multimedia resources, Dobson's Focus on the Family ministry has reached tens of millions of parents and children. But what evidence is there that his advice actually works?
Danae Dobson has a ready answer for that question: If the proof is in the pudding, then she and her younger brother, Ryan, are the pudding. And two of the main ingredients include their unwavering faith in God and their faithfulness to the scriptural principles that guided their parents in rearing them.
Now Danae Dobson is passing her family's legacy on to another generation. Since age 12, she has produced more than 20 children's book, and last year Tyndale published her first title aimed at teenage girls—Let's Talk! Good Stuff for Girlfriends About God, Guys, and Growing Up. The book has prompted several invitations to speak to teen girls, and Danae's 2004 calendar quickly filled up with engagements at churches and events sponsored by ministries like Virtuous Reality and Living Out Loud.
"If you try to build your self-confidence through boys, good looks, or hot bodies, you're never going to be satisfied," she tells her young audiences. "Long-term fulfillment is not something that you can buy at the mall or achieve through a thin body; it's about who you are as a child of God."
Through conversations with teens and her own research, Danae determined that the three main pressures girls face are boys and dating, eating disorders and body image, and conflicts with parents. It's a list that's nearly identical to what other Christian researchers have discovered.
James and Shirley Dobson insisted on family devotions and prayer, something that Danae appreciates even more today.
As a result, Danae came to the conclusion that God wanted her to focus her speaking on issues of self-esteem and finding one's identity in Christ. "Everybody wants to be popular," she says, "so naturally kids want to buy the cool clothes, use the lingo other kids are using, go to the 'right' movies, listen to the 'right' music, and all those things relating to pop culture. All of this is okay, as long as it doesn't contradict their Christian faith and commitment. They need to have the courage to take a stand for what they believe."
Taking a stand is something both Danae and Ryan have learned to do well. Throughout Danae's and Ryan's childhood and adolescence, James and Shirley Dobson insisted on having family devotions on Saturday mornings, something Danae "wasn't always in favor of" as she got older and wanted to go out and do things with her friends.
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