Book Reviews – Page 43 – Parenting Like Hannah

Being the Message for Your Kids

Being the Message for Your Kids - Parenting Like Hannah Sometimes Christianity can be confusing. There are so many churches, looking at the Bible in so many ways. Frankly, some seem so far removed from what God teaches, it is hard to imagine they consider themselves Christian. Yet, as Christian parents, we not only have to figure out how to teach everything in the Bible to our children, but help them learn how to actually live what they read.

Recently, I was given the chance to review the new book Be the Message: Taking Your Faith Beyond Words to a Life of Action by Kerry and Chris Shook. Throughout, the authors attempt to help readers understand what living God’s Words – being the message in their terms, looks like on a day to day basis.

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Praying For Your Son

Praying For Your Son - Parenting Like Hannah Normally, I am not a huge fan of scripted prayers. I know the Holy Spirit provides the words I may not have and I tend to trust the process of prayer. Sometimes though, I believe parents want to feel more organized in their prayers. Even though they may firmly believe the Holy Spirit is providing words, on some level they want to be able to think clearly about what concerns them.

Rob & Joanna Tiegen have already published a book of prayers for daughters. Their latest A Mom’s Prayers for Her Son: Praying for Every Part of His Life is a parent’s companion for understanding how to best pray for her son. The book contains seventy-seven prayers covering a wide range of subjects.

Within each prayer, the authors give several verses of scripture they believe address the topic. The prayer is written as much as a way to direct a parent’s thinking as it is to help the parent pray. While not “preachy”, the prayers do make a point of teaching parents how the authors believe God would want them to address certain topics.

Perhaps the most encouraging parts of the book are the personal stories of various mothers and sons. Many are written by mothers whose sons struggled very badly in one or more areas. The accounts are honest about the struggles and the prayers. I especially appreciated the fact that the authors of each of the accounts made it clear God does not always supply an immediate “yes” to our prayers. They often shared that sometimes it may take years for us to see the “yes” God provided.

I don’t have a son, but if I did, I think I would find this book helpful and encouraging. If nothing else, it helps you understand your son is not the only one struggling with some of these issues. Whether you read this book or not, I hope you are encouraged to pray often and specifically for your son. It can make an enormous difference in his life.

A copy of this book was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest review. I do not have a son, but plan to share this book with a friend who does.

Asperger’s and Church

Aspergers and Church - Parenting Like Hannah If you keep up with health news, you know about 1 in every 68 children is somewhere on the autism spectrum. The odds are even higher for boys – 1 in 42 boys will be diagnosed with autism or Aspergers. This means if you attend a church of a couple hundred people, several families may have at least one member who has been diagnosed with autism (New research is showing a strong hereditary link.)

While some congregations are starting to reach out and make their classes and services more inclusive, many don’t know how to help. Some may even be wondering why they should. I have talked with many families who have children with autism or Aspergers who go from church to church looking for Christians who will make them feel at home.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If we are truly reflecting God’s love, everyone should feel welcome, accepted and loved when they walk through the doors of our church. This may mean your church needs to educate itself on how to minister to families dealing with autism and Aspergers. Even if you studied special education in college, the information available has changed drastically over the last twenty years and you may need to get more accurate information.

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Why Every Child Needs Your “Momtention”

Why Every Child Needs Your "Momtention" - Parenting Like Hannah Over decades of working with children and teens, I have seen what happens to kids who don’t get enough positive, meaningful parental attention. Whether it is upper middle class children with parents who work so much they barely see their children or children who are abused or abandoned by their parents, the resulting brokenness in the child never fails to break my heart.

I thought I had seen and heard it all until I begin to learn about sex trafficking. What I learned has broken my heart and increased the urgency I feel to encourage fellow moms (and dads) to take the time to pay attention – I mean real, meaningful attention – to their children and every child they meet.

If you have not read much about sex trafficking, you may be under the mistaken idea that it happens only to kids growing up in poverty. You may believe it is rare and only occurs in cities like New York, or overseas. You may think these boys and girls are somehow wanting to get into prostitution. And you couldn’t be more wrong.

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Teaching Kids to Make Good Choices

Teaching Kids to Make Good Choices - Parenting Like Hannah Life is full of choices. Lots and lots of choices. Some of them are insignificant and there really isn’t a good or bad choice. Other choices can change the path a life takes for years to come. As parents, one of our biggest challenges is teaching our children how to make consistently good, godly choices.

Unless you become intentional about teaching your children how to make good choices, they will most likely go one of two ways. They will either copy whatever you currently do when you are faced with a choice or they will figure it out on their own – possibly by making decisions based on feelings or some other potentially unreliable method.

Jeff Shinabarger’s new book Yes or No: How Your Everyday Decisions Will Forever Shape Your Life can give you a framework for teaching your children the essentials of making good (and hopefully godly) decisions.

Shinabarger realizes some decisions are easy and have few consequences, The focus of this book is helping people know how to make decisions when they are confusing, difficult or have life-changing consequences. He divides the twelve chapters into three major sections – choosing decision making, your philosophy of choice and the decision making process. Each chapter ends with discussion questions if you want to read and discuss the book with others.

Shinabarger doesn’t necessarily introduce any radical new ideas into the decision making process. What he does is often take his personal journey with the non-profit Plywood People and show how his suggestions work in real life situations. His ideas are solid and provide a good framework for teaching a child or anyone else how to consistently make better decisions.

While this book is not what I would call a Bible study, Shinabarger does interject his Christian beliefs from time to time. Probably not enough for those wanting scriptures for every principle, but enough to make seekers know he believes God is an important part of the process.

My favorite part of the book was actually his discussion of problem solvers. I had never quite looked at leadership in that way, but what he said fit what I have experienced over the years. He emphasizes the need our world has for Christians who are willing to make the tough decisions and attempt to solve the world’s problems.

Although I wish Shinabarger had written more strongly about the importance of including God in the decision making process, this is basically a strong book on decision making with a Christian slant. While I personally would not use it in a Bible study, it can help provide a framework for skills you may want to teach your children to help them make good decisions. Personally, I am keeping it on my shelf for his quotes and thoughts on our responsibility to make the hard decisions to change the world.

A copy of this book was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review.