Thursday, April 5, 2012

Book Review: Faith Training

I snagged this book super cheap with a CBD order. If you check the title link it is $2.99 right now. Faith Training: Raising Kids Who Love the Lord by Joe White caught my eye simply based on price and topic. I love reading so why not another parenting book?

When you read as much as I do, many points are repeated book to book. However, I notice God uses these to drive home a point in an area I am struggling with or being lazy about.

This book clearly spells out the high calling we have as Christian parents. It is our job to Faith Train our children. "Faith does not get passed along genetically like brown eyes or freckles. It must be handed from runner to runner, generation to generation. Every child of God must receive it, grasp it tightly, and run the race that cannot be run by anyone else" (pg 4).

The author parallels our raising of children now to war. I appreciate his acknowledgement that everyday is a battle and as parents we must be prepared for hand to hand combat.

A little over half the book is full of tools to use. There is a section of devotionals to use as a family. World religion comparisons. Quiet time reading plans. The list goes on.

The encouragement I received from this book is found on page 44...
"Custom-make your commitments to move you as far from the Jonses as you can stand. Their kids are the statistics in tomorrow's USA Today. Your kids will rise up and call you blessed."

Book Review: Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl

A friend of mine read the book, Six Ways to Keep the Little in Your Girl by Dannah Gresh and asked me if I'd pick up a copy to read. As moms of girls in that "tween" stage we often bounce things back and forth as we both enter this season for the first time.

I happily agreed to pick up another good book to peruse. I have heard much of the author, Dannah Gresh but somehow I haven't realized that I really am heading into this bracket of mothering with our oldest.

The gist of the book is that as Christian moms we have to take the opportunity to teach our girls the truth in relation to their changing bodies. If we as moms don't do this then the world will. While that concept wasn't new to me, her timing was. Dannah recommends that the best time to talk to today's girls is 9 years old! Now that I wasn't ready to hear but she has a good argument as to why.

She talks about how our relationship with our girls is the key factor to being open and able to share with us. She talks about modest dress and the importance of monitoring friendships. She covers the medias influence on our kids. She shares research studies that correlate media exposure to sexual activity, drinking, and the like. All sorts of good nuggets but I really found value and new information in what she had to say about sharing the (physical) developmental years in a timely and exciting way.

Here is a quote from the book...
"The most sensational scenarios are not what's robbing our little girls of their innocence. It's the slow drip of value-ingraining shows where girls dress up and go on dates, and our little girls are pressed to identify with older more mature characters and life scenarios. It's what culture has deemed the "norm"- that probably shouldn't be if you want to keep the little in your girl" (pg 93).

So, for any more out there looking to take their daughter into the "tween" years I highly recommend this book.