While I am the first to be unhappy if a man thinks I am somehow inferior merely because I am a woman, I think we have lost a lot of important things in our quest to be politically correct. Perhaps one of the most important is recognizing the legitimate differences between men and women and the way God created them. One is not better or worse than the other, just different. In fact, as you know our strengths are also the gateway to our weaknesses.
As parents, it is vital to understand the uniqueness of how God created each of your children. Each of them will have a different personality and different gifts from God. They also have different needs from you as a parent. Some of these are common to all children and some are framed by the gender of your child. Knowing how to meet these needs in a manner that will help them learn and grow in healthy, godly ways is critical to your parenting.
I was really interested to be given a chance to review the book Mother and Son: The Respect Effect by Emerson Eggerichs. The main principle behind Eggerichs book is that men, and in this case, your sons, need respect to grow to be the men God wants them to be. He believes many moms don’t understand this principle or how to meet this need in their sons. As a result, they unintentionally say and do things that strain their relationship and hinder their sons from becoming men.
It would be easy to label this as another mom bashing book. I don’t think that is the author’s intent, but if you are sensitive, you may walk away feeling a bit chastised. Instead, I believe Eggerichs is sincerely trying to better equip moms to reach their sons in ways they can be heard. He gives lots of rationale behind his points and many specific examples to illustrate them as well.
My main problem with the book is the way it is organized. The beginning felt redundant as he continues to state his case for sons needing respect from their mothers. Then he organizes his advice into acronyms. I agree they can help you remember things, but it just felt forced as they were used over and over. The chapters themselves had some great advice and he chose to break much of it down by the age of your sons and particular topics touching their lives. While, I understand that is essential because of growth and development stages, it just made the later chapters feel cluttered.
I hate that it was organized the way it is, because there are some awesome points in the book. There is great practical advice and he refers to the Bible quite a bit. I am just afraid that some readers will got lost in the shuffle. Frankly, with better editing, this book would be excellent. As published, it has some important advice I think you need to read, understand and practice, but it may bore or frustrate you at points. I think the importance of hearing this message you won’t hear anywhere else in our world makes it worth the potential hassle.
This book was given to me for free in exchange for my honest review. An affiliate link is included for your convenience.