Wednesday, June 24, 2015

"Parenting with Scripture" Book Review

I'm always looking for ways to help me parent better.  After all, parenting is HARD!  And who wouldn't want to be the best parent they can be?  So I'm always on the lookout for helpful parenting books.  Sometimes, however, parenting books give a lot of "fluff" and no "substance."  They don't give concrete advice for handling situations.  "Parenting with Scripture" is a different kind of parenting book!



Instead of "fluffy" information, this is an actual topical guide for common parenting situations.  Listed in alphabetical order, there are topics like: anger, confidence, discernment, honesty, hospitality, integrity, perseverance, and worry.  Each topic has a definition.  This really helps explain the word to your kids.  (A child may not understand when you tell them they are being "apathetic" or that they need to have "integrity."  These simple definitions help define the words!  Then there are several Bible verses relating to the topic.  These are great for the parents to teach their child how they need to behave.  For example, its not enough to tell your child that "pride" is wrong.  They need to understand what to replace that with.  Proverbs 11:2 tells us to have "humility" instead of pride.


After the list of Bible verses, there's a discussion section.  This has Bible passages to read and questions to answer to help you and your child both understand how to apply the Bible to that particular area of your lives.  Then there's a "Take Action" section that gives you several specific ideas for developing that particular godly trait or defeating that particular sinful behavior.  And lastly, with many of the topics, there is also a "Parenting Tip."  For example, the parenting tip on the topic of "Joking" says, "Be careful about using sarcasm when joking with children.  Young ones especially tend to take words very literally and may not grasp the intent of your meaning."  There are also some appendices in the back with well-known Bible passages, Bible verse memorization methods, and even tips for praying the Scriptures for your children.

All in all, I'd say that this is a very handy parenting book to have around!  The topical structure makes it easy to reference exactly what you need exactly when you need it!

I received a copy of this book, free of charge, from Moody Publishers, in exchange for my honest review.

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