Lori Jo Kemper is not a therapist. She’s a parent coach.

And please don’t compare what she does as the founder and president of The Parenting Path to the reality show, “Nanny 911.” Kemper doesn’t believe in negative reinforcement when helping parents raise or discipline their children.

“I’m nothing like ‘Nanny 911,’” Kemper said. “You’ll never see me sit parents down and make them feel so bad about themselves that they would cry like on that show. I want people to feel better about how they are doing as parents, not worse.

“And I’m not a therapist,” continued Kemper. “I wanted to do something positive with parents that starts with the now and moves forward.”

The Parenting Path has been around for four years. Kemper coaches as many as 20 parents per week on a variety of issues. She also has a Blog talk radio program called “Parent Chat” that is streamed on the Internet every Monday at 1 p.m. The 30-minute interactive show can be heard at www.theparentingpath.com.

             Lori Jo KemperKemper has two sons, a 17-year-old senior at Burnsville High School and a 23-year-old. She started her career in the corporate world working in food management and sales for General Foods and General Mills, but her true passion has always been parenting.

Kemper found herself spending much of her spare time working with parents, whether that was at her children’s school or at her church. One day, she decided to make it her career.

“About six years ago, I realized I needed to switch vocations and make this my life’s work,” said Kemper, who has lived in Savage for 12 years and has been married for 27 years. “My passion has always been focused on parenting. God just gave me the heart for it, I guess.”

Kemper went back to graduate school at Seattle Pacific University to become a certified parent coach. She’s now an instructor for the Parent Coaching Institute, an upper-level graduate program. Kemper is also speaker for the National Center for Biblical Parenting and for the National Center for Media and the Family.

“When I started this journey, I had no idea I would end up being a national speaker,” said Kemper. “This career path has sort of taken on a life of its own. But I really love what I do. I love working with parents. If I had my way, every parent would have a parenting coach.”

 Kemper said raising children today is much different than when she grew up in Bloomington in the 1960s and early 1970s. Back then, she said children’s view of the world often supported the morals and values of their parents. Today, she said, it’s often the opposite.

“The underlying or overriding fear today on the part of many parents is the tremendous influence of the world on their kids,” said Kemper. “I call it a respect-deficit world and that makes it hard for parents to raise respectful children. The biggest thing I do is try to build the confidence of the parent. I want them to feel like they are gaining a strong foothold on what they are doing and not to worry about the world around them. The parents I work with have all of the skills. I just help them find what I know they already have.”

Kemper said parents need to keep up with the fast-paced world of technology. In fact, Kemper will help parents who don’t know how to text message learn it during a coaching session.

“It’s almost essential to communicate with teens today,” said Kemper. “That’s the world they live in. In order to reach out, that’s one sacrifice we can make as parents. You may not like it, but if it helps build a better relationship with your kid than you do it.”

Kemper also helps mothers balance work and raising children. She helps parents deal with pre-adolescence, teen issues, sibling rivalries, creating boundaries and dealing with school issues like bullying. She even has started working with couples who are expecting their first child. She’s also trying to start a program to work with military families, who have one parent overseas.

Through it all, Kemper’s objective is simple – to help create strong families and positive, healthy relationships with parents and their children.

“That’s what I want and that’s why I love what I do,” said Kemper. “This is what I’ve been meant to do. It’s very rewarding.”