Parent Up: Inspire Your Child to Be Their Best Self

by Kelly Rippon

Raise your kids through positive parenting, understanding, and leadership...and be the ultimate influencer in their lives.

How do you raise a champion? After her son Adam Rippon, medaled in the 2018 Olympic Games, single mom Kelly Rippon found herself being asked this question all the time. Kelly had six children—what did she do to inspire them to their achievements and how did she raise confident, self-driven, emotionally intelligent children? Kelly realized that her unique parenting ideas shared the same leadership influence model she presented to audiences across the country as a motivational and professional development speaker.

Her philosophy is simple: a parent has the greatest opportunity to be the most significant influence in a child's life. Kelly shares ten key types of influence—from Optimism to Accountability—that will inspire your kids and build your own sense of purpose and self-worth. Illustrating her influencer philosophy with relatable anecdotes from her own life and raising gifted children, Kelly invites you into your own journey of self-discovery in one of the best books on parenting and child development. No matter the challenges, you can improve your life and empower your children when you Parent Up!

Foreword by Olympic medalist Adam Rippon.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2020

Reviews

[Kelly Rippon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the author and appreciate every person who has invested their time in reading my book. Thank you. I hope that you will find (or have found) ideas in its pages that you'll make your own and realize your own sense of purpose as a leader on this planet. Feel free to send me your questions or comments on my author's page. Why did I give my own book 5 stars? It's simple. I hope after reading Parents Up you will come away accepting that we must be our own strongest advocate. Before we can lead we must know what we stand for and be willing to stand up for it. I believe in the messages offered in my book that remind us about the power of our words, and that empathy, fairness, and kindness invite confidence. I also believe that these ideas are communicated in an accessible way. Self development books should be an easy lift because our curiosity and desire to improve offers the resistance that strengthens our growth. Achieving big dreams begins with taking small steps. I truly believe that when we lift others we create a force so great that we rise with them. I am rooting for you. Thank you and thank you again for helping me move toward my best self!

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so proud of Kelly. We grew up in the same hometown and both raised “champions”, albeit in very different fields. We grew apart over the years, but as it turns out, our parenting styles were similar. I’ve also practiced a similar style in business and it’s been very effective in leading teams/nurturing staff. Kelly puts words to it and shares her techniques. These are very learnable, and you’ll be pleased at how common sense they are too, as I was. Kelly is a remarkable storyteller and her book is as riveting as a great novel. It will help many aspects of your life, whether you are a parent or not. This is a no-brainer read.

[Jennifer Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read if you: Want an engaging and positive approach to leadership, particularly if you interact with children as a parent or other type of leader.

Although this is marketed as a parenting book, Rippon's advice is excellent for *anyone* who has regular interactions with children/teens, whether it's as a teacher, Scout leader, after school activity leader, etc. With concrete examples, wit, empathy, and understanding, she has created a parenting/childcare/leadership that's truly enjoyable to read.

Librarians/booksellers: This is a unique alternative to parenting books; she has a chatty and inviting writing "voice" that your patrons/customers will likely enjoy.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks and Edelweiss for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Nazee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conclusion was everything!

[Caren Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parent Up by Kelly Rippon is a parenting book that is one part self-help book and one part practical parenting guide. It took a bit to get into it but there are some solid points that resonated.

The author talks about her divorce and how she had to parent differently after that. I wonder if some of her enthusiasm for making sure her kids were okay (she’s got six and they’re all two years apart) was also to avoid thinking about her personal life. Because those early sections read like corporate consultant buzzword soup (she was a motivational speaker before). It’s not until she gets into actual anecdotes of things she did for her kids to make them more accountable as well as make them more emotionally intelligent that bring the book together.

I’m not sure this is better than Bringing up Bebe but it was a fast read.

[Kim McGee · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does a single mom of six raise her children to be independent and confident individuals with a sense of purpose and pride? It takes an incredible amount of energy and equal parts family team building with individual attention and most of all - love. Kelly Rippon knew that she was in 100% to help her son Adam achieve his goals of becoming an Olympic figure skater but she did not count on needing to be available 24/7 for his other five siblings. Since she was newly divorced that left little time for herself but she realized early on that in helping her kids become confident and successful that she would gain that same success and confidence. Each chapter highlights the type of influence that a parent has on their child including - perspective, confidence, accountability, optimism and empathy. Kelly Rippon speaks from the heart and offers advice that any parent can try in their own household. It is easy to see why she has such a huge following and has been influential to a wide audience - she radiates positivity. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

[Kristen Otankis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best parenting books I have read, ever. This is a book that I checked out from the library but I wish I would’ve bought so I could’ve highlighted all of the helpful information. Kelly Ripon is a wealth of knowledge, encouragement, and positive thinking to help parent in the best way possible. I recommend this book to any parent, teacher, coach or leader. The book is broken up into manageable chapters – speaking about the influence of optimism, words, perspective, confidence, empathy, grace, loyalty, habits, I kind of Bility and kindness. A must read!

[Autumn]

I'm not entirely sure how to rate this. There was a lot of good advice in here, but it also seemed... too happy. Her kids didn't have faults. There was also a lot of emphasis on the child who won the olympics. This makes sense since his success was a major factor in the motivation behind this, but what if he didn't make it to Olympic levels? What if he was just a really good skater? After all, there can only be so many skaters that reach the Olympics. And so much of her advice seemed to hinge on "This got Adam to the Olympics!" Which... is great, but, again, only so many people can reach the Olympics, can be the best of the best, so what then? It might have landed better if she focused more on the all around success of ALL of her children - something that was never confirmed entirely. There were also multiple times throughout where she shared her sacrifices for Adam without ever mentioning that she was forcing her other children to make sacrifices *for Adam* and how the other children dealt with that and how she navigated any tensions that arose between her and her children and her children and their siblings. I was the kid who had to sacrifice everything for my brother's success and it sucked. A lot. So while I have a bias there, never acknowledging the ways her other children would have been negatively affected by some of her parental decisions left a sour taste in my mouth.
There were also bits that made me wonder how the advice - at least how she interpreted it - translates to neurodivergent children. My family is lacking neurotypical people and some of the strategies wouldn't have worked for us, even though the idea behind it was good.

So this wasn't my favorite, but the advice inside is, in general, good advice. Some of it is just good advice in general, not just for parents. I feel that it was worth the time it took to get through it - possibly because it was such an easy read - but there's probably better books out there (probably because I am just starting to bulk up on parenting books). Because it was an easy read, it might be good for someone short on time or who is feeling mentally drained and doesn't have the concentration for more in-depth books and definitely creates a good mindset for tackling the challenge that is parenting.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love parenting books and regularly read new ones that have come out, so I was a bit surprised that I didn't love this one.

To be fair, there were some things that I did enjoy about the book, and I loved some of the ideas that she utilized in her home to provide a positive environment for her children. The book felt really autobiographic though. I'm not familiar with her son, who was apparently in the Olympics, but it seems to be her claim to fame and reason for writing this book. I, unwittingly, thought parenting was the main focus. It felt like she used the phrase "After my divorce" at least one hundred and fifty times throughout the book and I just had a hard time relating to a lot of her situations and feelings. This is much more typical of autobiographies, versus parenting books, which gives more general advice instead of relaying how she was driving her child like 4 hours back and forth to skate practice daily.

I think single moms who also happen to be super into pushing extra curriculars would relate and enjoy hearing from someone on the empty nester side, but, I did not feel like the read was really worth it for me. There was a smattering of advice throughout, and it was generally good advice, but again, it was mainly stories about her and her family. Autobiographies are fine, but this book felt like it was more marketed as a parenting book, so that certainly wasn't what I expected.

I would probably rate it a 2.5, but rounding up since I feel like some people may be able to relate to her stories a little better than I did and I found a few gems of advice that I found especially helpful.

[Casey Medeiros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Calling all parents, coaches, leaders, corporate management. This is a book you need to read. This is so much more than a parenting book. It’s a guide on how to raise, coach and lead with the core values so many of us regard so highly. Instilling and teaching kindness, confidence, empathy & grace to all who depend on us for leadership. All while showing us how to lead by example and use our influence as parents and leaders to do so.

This book is not “how to raise an Olympic athlete” it’s a book on how to raise and lead good people to be productive and successful members of society, all while being kind and empathetic human beings.

[Stephanie Spaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kelly Rippon writes in such a way that you feel like your sipping coffee with a close friend discussing your children. Her approach to parenting encourages empowering your child, not punishing them. She has an inspiring philosophy of giving children all the tools they need to be successful by promoting their strengths and not exploiting their weaknesses. Her stories will make you laugh, cry and most of all cheer for yourself; for being your child's best champion!

[Megan Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book flowed really well and brought up valid topics for me as I continue my parenthood journey. I would argue that people without kids would be wise to read this book because it applies to relationships beyond mother/child. Kelly Rippon's take away from my perspective is that relationships are all about communication and the human perspective.

[Lexie Bussler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting when I picked this book up to read - it talks a lot about her experiences with her children and more so of her son Adam and his experiences as an Olympic medalist - which was not my cup of tea. However, the last 5 chapters really dive deep into great advice for parents, leaders, or even just for yourself.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

I very rarely do not finish a book but this is the exception. I am not sure if it is because her freestyle lifestyle could not be related or if her son was not an Olympic champ, she would never have been given the opportunity.

[Sarah Martino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was such a great combination of parenting book and leadership book with personal stories intertwined! I took ideas for my parenting and business! Must read for anyone that is trying to motivate children every day in a positive way!

[Lindsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it-nothing earth-shattering, just reminders on how to get your kids (and you) to be their best selves. You don't have to be a parent to get something out of this book-the ideas can easily be applied to working with your colleagues or anywhere you are seen as a leader.

[Amber Launstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great ideas to raise motivated, positive kids

[Katelynn Batzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 there are some great quotes and concepts in this book that I really enjoyed, but the main focus didn't seem to be on parenting