To Train Up A Child

I just finished this book and it is officially a staple in our home. I wrote about it a while ago, but just finished the last bit of it yesterday. If you are a Christian parent, here are some reason you need to buy this book right now: 1. there is scripture EVERYWHERE. They use scripture well and a lot. 2. It covers all ages and tons of practical situations. 3. It is concise (100 pages). He says what he means and is not repetitive in the least. That's how he can write a 100 page book and cover so much. 4. He is not an emotional, flaky parent. That's annoying. I mean we're all emotional sometimes right? But I don't think it's good to base your parenting theology on emotions. 5. He is in tune with the heart side of parenting. A lot of the book is about training and behavior. But he has two of the best chapters I've ever read on the heart side of parenting. One is about tying the heart strings of your family together and the other is about our inner joy which flows into the joy of our family and our kids. 6. He explains things very well. He gives the reasoning behind things that can be hard to swallow at first. I like that because I'm logical. If things don't make sense in my head I can't see their value. It's not always good...just saying that's how my brain works.

A few warnings though. Sometimes when reading books like this it's easy to think of myself as a failure. My kids are not perfect. And sometimes the authors make it seem so easy to train a child. But I have to keep in mind that they parented 5 children and all of their kids are grown. To me, that means that they learned all these things over time and got better as they went. They do address this sentiment at the end of the book and I was glad. They encourage readers to be consistent and persistent and they can see the fruit of their labor. This is the thing I like about the book most. Sometimes it's easy to look around and think that crazy children and disorder in the home is OK, even normal. Maybe it is normal for our culture, but it doesn't HAVE to be that way. That's refreshing and good to know. I mean, if a home is 90% psycho and 10% peace...that is not a blessing to anyone. But again, it doesn't have to be that way. God created order and I'm pretty sure He likes it. If you aren't convinced take some time to observe the natural patterns in any given day. A home can be a peaceful place for everyone to enjoy. With really young kids that can be a challenge, there's no way around it, but it's possible.

Another warning is that sometimes they can go to extreme measures to train. He always explains his reasoning and heart behind it though. Just got to give him the chance! So there's my plug. If you are wondering why I'm posting this so early, it's because I had a large cup of ice cream last night and I woke up with a stomach ache around 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Worth it.