Book Reviews – Page 47 – Parenting Like Hannah

Dads Praying For Their Daughters

Dads often get a bad rap, especially on television. If a dad is even present, he is often portrayed as stupid, uninvolved and totally clueless about his children and their lives. If a television dad should have a daughter, the dad is obviously uncomfortable even talking with her. The idea of being actively involved in her life would never occur to him.

Dads have such an impactful relationship with their daughters. Much of how a girl feels about her appearance, the men she chooses to date and more are often a reflection of her relationship with her father. Many dads are aware of this and spend time cultivating great relationships with their daughters.

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Help for Stressed Moms

Helped for Stressed Moms - Parenting Like Hannah — You’re Going to Be Okay by Holley Gerth

Our family has had a rough couple of weeks. My mother-in-law died, just when we thought she was getting better. The assisted living facility where she lived with my father-in-law informed me that the next morning I had to totally clean out their apartment and prepare my-father-in-law to move to the memory care unit or be prepared to pay an extra $150 a day. My grieving husband was trying to work out the details of an out-of-state funeral, while trying to keep up with unexpected assignments at work.

Did I mention that week our daughter had to go to a local high school to take a competitive test, but on the day of the test, we had no hot water and no electricity? Or that the water main break that caused the electrical outage sent several hundred elementary students to that same high school for emergency shelter?

We managed to survive the week, but life is just like that sometimes. With me it happens usually right after I have taken on a new challenge or just when I am about to catch my breath from the last one. It seems like sometimes we can barely survive, much less think about living an active Christian life or parenting our children pro-actively towards God.

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Quick and Easy Marriage Boosters

If you knew your marriage would improve by thanking your husband for unloading the dishwasher or going to work each day, would you do it? If your husband knew you would be happier if he just put his arm around you in Church or held your hand, what would he do? What if you knew your marriage would be happier if you and your husband just spent more time doing things together?

I was absolutely fascinated by Shaunti Feldman‘s new book, The Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages. Ms Feldman did some intensive research on what behaviors created marriages where both partners were highly happy. I am not an expert in research, but she goes into great detail on her methodology.

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Making Festive Memories With Your Kids

I haven’t done the official scientific research, but I am pretty sure some people are just born with a knack for entertaining. Others can entertain and be highly creative at the same time. For most though, entertaining and throwing parties can be very stressful. Involving children adds to the stress, because now you also feel the need to entertain as well as provide food, decor and a location. Many women give up and hope they can afford party places when the need arrises.

Some of the most special childhood memories are attached to the celebrations had with family and friends. Kids can often tell you very specific details about parties and dinners long after you have forgotten. There is a part in all of us that cherishes celebrating the blessings in life. How many of those memories are your children missing, because you aren’t sure what to do?

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Praying For Your Husband

Have you ever listened to various groups of people talk? Listen to a group of old people for very long and inevitably you start hearing conversations about various physical ailments. Men? It doesn’t take long for the talk to become sports oriented. Women? Well if they are married, once they finish discussing the kids and/or grandkids, often the talk turns to their husbands. And very often the talk is not at all positive. Complaints, derisive humor, anger and disdain often pepper these conversations.

Surely, that’s not what God intended for our conversations about our marriages to become? Yet, women believe they have a right to criticize and complain. And honestly, many of them are at least partially right. Their husbands are not at all acting the way God intended for husbands to act. Yet even when that is true, I don’t think the Bible condones our constant complaining and whining about our husbands.

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