I have been cutting down my product reviews and giveaways drastically as I wanted to focus more on our kiddos and also getting some sort of rest as much as I can while I'm preparing for the arrival of our 3rd child in September this year. However, being passionate with books and what more, Christian parenting books, I just can't say no to reviewing this book!!! And I was glad I am able to review this book as it has been an eye opener and taught me a lot of things on how to parent more effectively the Christian and biblical ways. Read on for my review...
Title: The Christian Parenting Handbook
Author: Dr. Scott Turansky & Joanne Miller R.N.
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (April 30, 2013)
ISBN-13/-10: 978-1400205196 / 1400205190
Paperback: 240 pages
Dimension: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
Description from the product page:
"This is a book of ideas. As parents, we need all the ideas we can find. Each child is unique, and the same tools don't work with every one. Furthermore, parenting ideas that had an impact last year may need some tweaking, because your child continues to develop and change. The suggestions in this book will help you be a better parent. But you need more than ideas. In the parenting field, ideas are a dime a dozen. Everyone has an opinion of what's best when it comes to parenting. You probably have more ideas now than you can use. What you want to know is how. I'm sure you'd take a cup of implementation over a bucket of ideas any day. Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard, because that's where things get complicated.
Every child is unique, and every family has its own set of dynamics. Parents are eager to know how to take ideas and put them into practice. In this book we help you with that. But do even more than help you apply the changes. Each chapter in this book can contribute to your biblical philosophy of parenting. A philosophy is a way of thinking, a framework of ideas and theories. Our goal is to help you develop a biblical structure from which you'll be able to pick and choose from the advice and suggestions you'll receive in order to determine the best strategy for your home.
By weaving together God's Word with practical applications, you'll begin to develop patterns that will make a tremendous difference in your life and the lives of your children. Paul warned in Colossians 2:8, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." That warning is important for parents, because our world is full of ideas, and many of them are unhelpful, resting on tradition instead of godliness.
Instead, you can develop a parenting philosophy that's based on a solid theology of God and his plan for life. Some elements of a biblical philosophy of parenting will be the same for every parent. Relying on God's Word as the authority, passing faith from parents to children, and teaching kids to live lives that follow Christ are important in every home. But many elements of a biblical philosophy of parenting will differ from parent to parent. Some will emphasize a more relational approach, where others are more firm. Some children need more structure than others to move them forward. The formation of a unique, yet biblical approach to parenting provides parents with a way to think and act that's best for their family situation.
The ideas represented in the chapters of this book will guide your thinking. You may choose to emphasize some more than others. Let the Holy Spirit guide you to develop your own unique approach. The common factor is reliance on God's Word for the development of your own philosophy of parenting. Furthermore, you'll make adjustments along the way as you grow in Christ. In fact, before you get too far into this book, we suggest you create a quick action list, a reminder of what you want to do as you read through the chapters. Alongside your to-do list, though, we hope you'll create a think list, identifying key principles and concepts you'll use to guide your thinking over time. Each item on these lists represents a piece of your strategy, a biblical way of thinking about parenting and working with children. Together they'll help you formulate your own biblical philosophy of parenting.
In essence, you'll develop a mission statement and a vision for your home and for each of your kids. As you consider the principles in this book, you'll find yourself carving out a parenting style. You'll take your personality and allow it to be molded by a biblical framework and a grace-based, heart-based approach to parenting.
In the end you'll find yourself growing faster than you had imagined in your ability to parent effectively. Bear in mind that a heart-based approach to parenting involves strategic thinking, planning, and implementation. An idea is only an idea until it takes wings and flies into your home. It's not enough to have a good idea. You'll want to plan for its implementation as well. That's why many of the chapters contain specific words you may use in your family. "
This book comes with 50 biblically-based strategies for raising Godly children.I love how each tips are separated into its own chapters, and short and simple (few pages for each tip), fast enough to read and understand.
I bookmarked a lot of helpful tips in this book and even shared one of them in my Facebook page. I'm currently trying out some of the tips in the book with my 4 years old boy - especially how to react/respond when he is in a tantrum. So far, we are still working on perfecting the approach.
In page 146, "Be careful about disciplining only one child when two kids are fighting. Both are usually at fault in some way. Trying to figure out who started it rarely leads to peace. Victims are often instigators. Teach children how to respond to offenses, and when they make a mistake, teach them how to admit it and ask for forgiveness.", so yes, definitely agree with the statement here. Will definitely be trying the approach suggested in this chapter and see how it turns out after this.
In page 189, "Unfortunately, many parents encourage their children to defend themselves or blame others because of the way they approach the confrontation. When you enter a room and ask the question, “What happened here?” or “Who started it?” you’re encouraging kids to rationalize, justify, blame, or defend their actions. When you ask, “Who started it?” do you ever have a child say, “It was me.” No. Instead they tend to blame." Currently, whenever I found out one of my 2 kiddos crying, I tend to look at my older child and questioned him what went on (since he's the one who can answers me back as my 1.5 years old girl will just cry and looked back at me with her pityful face). So point taken for us to learn from this approach.
A lot of the tips touches on how we as parents should learn to control and manage our anger, definitely not lashing out in front of our kids and not using anger to punish or revenge.
In summary, this is a must have book for parents who are seriously looking for ways to raise their children according to God's way.
Buy The Christian Parenting Handbook between April 29 and May 5 and get a package of free resources valued at more than $400. In addition, you can get The Christian Parenting Handbook Companion Guide (This is a workbook with audio clips that will help you apply the material in The Christian Parenting Handbook.) for free if you purchase 5 copies or more of the book. Simply make your purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, BAM (Books A Million), CBD or Parable.
I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a PDF copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"
