‘Nate’: When Good Parenting Fails

Dennis Mansfield had all answers. The God-fearing man knew how to parent. He was in control of everything. He was the voice of Idaho’s religious right. He was arrogant. He was selective in choosing his friends … he was political. Today, Dennis Mansfield is a broken man, “loved by unloved people,” and he’s poured out his heart in a very personal book entitled “Beautiful Nate.” “I‘ve learned I don’t have all the answers. … My past bravado in posing and pretending may have looked good, but it was not good.” I knew Dennis Mansfield as a lobbyist and a politician. And I know a different man today. We met for hot chocolate at the Flying M in Nampa Thursday to talk about his book. Fresh off the press, I had just read it the day before. Mansfield has relived his son’s March 11, 2009, death again and again … as he wrote it, as he read it in a recording studio for the audio version and yet again as he talks about the book that will be released Monday/ Vickie Holbrook , managing editor, Idaho Press Tribune. More here.

DFO: Do you have a problem child who caused much heart ache? This book by former Idaho congressional candidate Dennis Mansfield may be for you.