Many parents, especially Christian parents, worry about the teen years. They know those are the years when their kids will start making independent choices about their faith and their morality. The secret to relatively calm teen years is working with your children when they are very young.
Unfortunately, many parents don’t understand how much time and effort they need to put into Christian parenting. Often parents don’t realize they need to make some adjustments in their parenting until their teen begins making poor choices. The good news is that it’s never to late to do the things your kids need to build strong faith foundations and develop to their godly potential. It may be more difficult if you have waited until your kids are teens, but it’s not impossible.
The new book Raising Successful Teens by Jeffrey Dean is a great primer for parents who are still struggling a bit with Christian parenting. The book covers most of the basics including the roles of parents in the lives of teens, cell phone usage, communication and more.
I appreciated the editing of the book. Although the paper quality is not as good as many books, the editors took the time to add headlines to the various sections within a chapter. It makes it much easier for a busy parent to quickly skim to find the sections they need the most.
The advice itself is basic, but practical. There’s nothing particularly novel about the author’s suggestions, but that’s okay. Successful Christian parents understand it’s the basics that make most of the difference. Raising a child to become an active, productive Christian who bears fruit isn’t a mystery. Research is showing there are several specific concrete things those parents do that strengthens the faith foundations of their kids. This book covers quite a few of them.
If you are looking for a book to help your teen who has already made some life changing poor choices, this book may be a bit too basic to help. For average Christian parents – especially those who haven’t focused on the spiritual growth of their kids – this book will give you a lot of great suggestions for ways to “help your child honor God and live wisely.”
This book was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review. An affiliate link is included for your convenience.