I was thrilled to get a chance to review What Every Child Should Know Along the Way Teaching practical life skills in every stage of life, by Gail Martin, book from Parenting Made Practical. To my surprise, I also received a DVD -
- Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think (Video) (for parents of kids ages 8-college)
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- Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think (book) (for parents of kids ages 8-high school)
- Why Can't I Get My Kids to Behave (book) (for parents of kids ages 2-12) -
- Navigating the Rapids of Parenting (Video) (for parents of kids from age 2 through college) -
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- Dating, Courting & Choosing a Mate... What Works? (Video) (for parents of kids ages 9-college)
What is What Every Child Should Know Along the Way?
- Book - I received a book intended for parents of preschoolers to college-age children, by Gail Martin, who is a homeschooling mom with a Nutrition and Home Economics degree and is married to an elder in their church who oversees marriage, family and parenting ministries. The paperback book is 151 pages and addresses parenting tips from a biblical perspective. It includes helpful charts that you are free to reproduce as needed. The book begins with chapters about family unity and devotions, gets into details about talents and gifts, and discusses biblical character traits and manners. Then, it moves into practical living advice which includes chore charts, and finally discusses safety guidelines.MY THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK - I really appreciate that all of the information is presented as suggestions and not as a must-do approach. I also love how it is all rooted not only in the practicality of how to apply it to my life as a parent but also in scripture. I really love how right from the start, the author included one of my favorite scriptures from Isaiah that says how God will gently lead those who have young. Isa. 40:11. I love how it suggests how to set up family devotion time and even includes a family prayer journal where you can record answers to prayers.
DVD - To my surprise, I also received a Taming the Lecture Bug DVD by Joey and Carla Link, a married couple who has raised children. Carla has a Social Work degree, and Joey has experience with pastoral work with youth and approaches the topic using scriptures from a Christian perspective. Ironically, the DVD is recorded in a lecture/convention style format with Carla and Joey, and at one point their daughter helping them with a demonstration.MY THOUGHTS ON THE DVD - I loved how they addressed lecturing by suggesting when it's more appropriate to ask questions and what questions to ask. I also loved that I was able to identify my children's temperament from watching the DVD. I loved that the Why questions are easy to remember with the 3 C's, and they actually go through a list of questions to ask our kids to replace lecturing, but the list of questions is to be used as a starting point, not as an exhaustive list. I also noticed that when I visited the Parenting Made Practical website, there were more resources there, including a PDF download of study notes that corresponds with the DVD.
How Did We Use It?
I sat down with my cup of coffee to enjoy reading the book, and also watched the DVD. I wanted to watch the DVD privately, but two of my daughters ended up being in the room with me which ultimately turned out to be ok.
What Did We Think?
I appreciate that the materials are approaching the topic of parenting from a biblical perspective. I was pleasantly surprised to see I was also given the DVD when I opened my package. Unfortunately, the center tabs had broken in the mail, and the disc was cracked. I figured it wasn't going to play at all and wasn't sure what to do, but to my amazement, it played all the way through with no real issue. So, yay! As far as the content of the DVD, I mostly agreed, though also being a human services/social work major and a parent of teens and one pre-teen, there were a couple areas I may not have agreed 100% with how the scripture was applied in every scenario, but overall it offers sound advice for parents.
The book is wonderful, especially if you love a resource with plenty of scriptural references to rely on. I guess I should point out one small typo, but it's on the back cover of the book in the first question where it says, "ever" instead of "every". But, don't let that throw you off from reading what is inside. It is laid out in a really easy-to-follow manner. You can go straight through chapter by chapter or jump around to the sections you need to focus on now. As a family whose dad/hubby is a musician, I really wish I could tell you that we are sitting around applying the family devotional section of the book and singing praises to God all day long. But, somehow finding the time to sit down and do it has always been an issue with us. I love how the book explains that, while it gives suggestions of applying a structured devotional time with your family, it also realizes that a lot of devotional time comes spontaneously as well as we are just going about living. I also love how the section about cultivating your children's gifts and talents focus on how this is not about puffing them up or building self-esteem for selfish reasons. Included is a list of talents/gifts as well as a list of spiritual gifts. LOVE LOVE LOVE this! It even includes lists, complete with scripture references, of biblical traits and characters in the Bible who exhibit them. And..... I love the section that includes scripture references of Godly traits for men and Godly traits for women. When the book moves into the practical living section, it includes chore charts that are broken down into the child's age and what they should be able to handle. It gets specific, even listing how an 11-year-old should be able to make a green salad and add dressing. I love how these are also made available to copy to post on the fridge or wherever else you want to post them to check off the chores as they're completed.
Ultimately, I love the book because it didn't make me feel like a failure as a parent or lay out a list of must-do's or else. I also love how, as a parent, I can use quite a bit of the helpful advice and scriptures to apply to my own behavior, and doesn't present the material in a way as if the parent knows everything and must be obeyed now! But, rather, it offers a plethora of great suggestions that are biblically based and ready for you to apply the ones that need the most focus.
The book is wonderful, especially if you love a resource with plenty of scriptural references to rely on. I guess I should point out one small typo, but it's on the back cover of the book in the first question where it says, "ever" instead of "every". But, don't let that throw you off from reading what is inside. It is laid out in a really easy-to-follow manner. You can go straight through chapter by chapter or jump around to the sections you need to focus on now. As a family whose dad/hubby is a musician, I really wish I could tell you that we are sitting around applying the family devotional section of the book and singing praises to God all day long. But, somehow finding the time to sit down and do it has always been an issue with us. I love how the book explains that, while it gives suggestions of applying a structured devotional time with your family, it also realizes that a lot of devotional time comes spontaneously as well as we are just going about living. I also love how the section about cultivating your children's gifts and talents focus on how this is not about puffing them up or building self-esteem for selfish reasons. Included is a list of talents/gifts as well as a list of spiritual gifts. LOVE LOVE LOVE this! It even includes lists, complete with scripture references, of biblical traits and characters in the Bible who exhibit them. And..... I love the section that includes scripture references of Godly traits for men and Godly traits for women. When the book moves into the practical living section, it includes chore charts that are broken down into the child's age and what they should be able to handle. It gets specific, even listing how an 11-year-old should be able to make a green salad and add dressing. I love how these are also made available to copy to post on the fridge or wherever else you want to post them to check off the chores as they're completed.
Ultimately, I love the book because it didn't make me feel like a failure as a parent or lay out a list of must-do's or else. I also love how, as a parent, I can use quite a bit of the helpful advice and scriptures to apply to my own behavior, and doesn't present the material in a way as if the parent knows everything and must be obeyed now! But, rather, it offers a plethora of great suggestions that are biblically based and ready for you to apply the ones that need the most focus.
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