Former spy turned stay-at-home mom Christina Hillsberg provides a possible antidote for anxious parents in LICENSE TO PARENT: How My Career as a Spy Helped Me Raise Resourceful, Self-Sufficient Kids, a groundbreaking guide to raising resilient, self-sufficient children based on Christina’s experience as a CIA analyst.

"If Mr. and Mrs. Smith had kids and wrote a parenting book, this is what you'd get: a practical guide for how to utilize key spy tactics to teach kids important life skills--from self-defense to effective communication to conflict resolution." --Working Mother

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Parents today have never had more reason to be concerned for the safety and security of their children. Former spy turned stay-at-home mom Christina Hillsberg provides a possible antidote for anxious parents in LICENSE TO PARENT: How My Career as a Spy Helped Me Raise Resourceful, Self-Sufficient Kids, a groundbreaking guide to raising resilient, self-sufficient children based on Christina’s experience as a CIA analyst. This unparalleled approach to child-rearing provides both an inside look into one of the world’s most clandestine organizations and a practical guide for how to utilize key spy tactics to teach kids important life skills—from self-defense to effective communication to conflict resolution.

Christina Hillsberg was a single, successful CIA analyst with a burgeoning career in espionage when she met fellow spy, Ryan, a hotshot field operative who turned her world upside down. They fell in love, married, and soon they were raising three children from his first marriage, and later, two more of their own.

Christina knew right away that there was something special about the way Ryan was parenting his kids, even if initially their obsession with surviving end-of-world scenarios and their ability to do everything from archery to motorcycle riding gave her pause. More than that, Ryan's kids were much more security savvy than most adults she knew. It wasn’t long after they married that she realized the secret to Ryan’s parenting success: he was using his CIA training and field experience in his day-to-day child-rearing. And why shouldn't he? The CIA trains its employees to be equipped to deal with just about anything. Shouldn't parents strive to do the same for their kids?

As Christina grew into her new role as a stepmom and later gave birth to their two children, she got on board with Ryan's unique parenting style—and even helped shape it using her own experiences at the CIA. Told through honest and relatable parenting anecdotes, Christina shares their distinctive approach to parenting and gives practical takeaways rooted in CIA tradecraft along the way. LICENSE TO PARENT aims to provide parents with the tools necessary to raise savvier, well-rounded kids who have the skills necessary to navigate through life.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Christina Hillsberg is a former CIA intelligence analyst, writer, and mom of five. She is the author of License to Parent: How My Career as a Spy Helped Me Raise Resourceful, Self-Sufficient Kids.