Can I say that I am just so amazed by Jesus! He gives us the tools we need right when we need them. This week I have been posting on facebook and Life As We Know It about the new book out by Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller called The Christian Parenting Handbook. This week is their launch week for the new book. The National Center for Biblical Parenting has been offering a special deal to all of those interested in helping give The Christian Parenting Handbook some extra attention, by purchasing the book this week you can also receive $400 of parenting resources for free. Yes, that's right folks, free :) The authors provide real life examples of a heart based approach to parenting. Rather than reacting to the situation at hand, full swing, ready to fight, step back, think rationally and see how you might creatively approach the infraction committed so that instead of getting the stubborn mule look from your child you hit the heart of the matter and are able to work towards change and lasting results.
So here I was reading a few chapters of this great new book available in stores now at Christianbooks.com or Biblicalparenting.org at this time other stores are sold out and I run into a parenting moment that causes me to want to react and I seriously mean react. It is hard to give your child the benefit of the doubt and ask them calmly to explain what I see before me. This instance happened to just be a note with vulgar language on it. However, to me, this is big because the child is only eleven! But in reading just a few chapters of The Christian Parenting Handbook and with the Holy Spirit knocking on my heart, I am able to see that this particular child is very stubborn and will not respond well to an outrage due to their discretion. I am coming to know that if I want the whole story and I want the true whole story not a made up one, I must absolutely must be as nonchelant as possible and ask for our child to explain what we see before us. There could be a logical explanation.
I know that some may read this and think, it was just a misuse of language, no big deal. However, it is a big deal in our home because we are firm believers that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" which means something else is going on or this child doesn't fully understand the meaning of the words they were using. Either way, it needs to be addressed. I won't be doing the addressing. My wonderful, patient, and loving husband will speak with our kid about this because I am a matter of fact person and though that can work with some children, it will not work with this one. But I do know that the tools that I have gleaned from the aforementioned book have helped me to rethink my parenting. I do want to be an effective parent. I do not want my kids to close off from me and hide what is really going on. I need a new approach. I believe that with God and the tools offered in The Christian Parenting Handbook, we may see some change yet. And it may be more in my heart than in anybody Else's but where is a better place to start?
If you are a struggling parent just trying to figure out how to keep communication open with your young school age child, pre-teen, teenager, or even young adult, I suggest you give this book a thought. And this week you get free resources to go along with it if you email gift@biblicalparenting.org a copy of your receipt. The free resources are this week only, but the benefits of a new mindset are life long :)
Great review. Thanks for sharing so personally about how God is using the material in this book in your life. This kind of transparency can be very powerful. Let me share personally for a moment. This heart-based approach has been revolutionary in my life. It’s helped me as a father, husband, leader, supervisor, coach, and in other areas. Behavior modification is effective if your only desire is to get your children to act a certain way. If you want to shape their character, you need to work on the level of the heart. My sons are both adults now and they are fine young men of good character. We consistently focused on the character quality of honoring others in our family! We returned home from vacation in December to find our whole house cleaned and a Christmas tree in place in the corner of the living room. Now that’s honor! This is just one example of the great insights from this special book.
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