There’s an exciting new book for Christian parents I want to tell you about! “The Christian Parenting Handbook: 50 Heart-Based Strategies for All the Stages of Your Child’s Life” by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller comes out today.
I’m going to share a bit about the book with you and then tell you how to get $400 of FREE (and great) Christian parenting resources if you buy the book this week. It’s not a lottery or raffle – every single person who buys The Christian Parenting Handbook this week and provides proof of purchase receives the bonus package! It’s really a no-brainer. But first let me tell you why you would even want this book.
The premise of the The Christian Parenting Handbook is that parents focus too much on external behavior management, at the expense of helping their kids develop a truly transformed heart. Parenting in a way that changes a child’s heart rather than simply his/her behavior, however, requires some guidance because behavior modification tends to be our default approach. If our kids are doing something bad, we naturally gravitate to discipline that will make them stop behaving badly. But this book calls us to more than that. It calls us to do the tougher (but more important) work of changing the heart.
The Christian Parenting Handbook is an extremely easy read; it’s 50 very short chapters (3-4 pages each), each of which tackles a narrow topic. These small chapters are quick to digest, but filled with practical and biblically-based wisdom. The concepts are applicable for parents with kids of any age. Here’s a peek at the the first 10 chapters, to give you an idea of content:
1. Consistency is Overrated. A heart-based approach to parenting relies on more than behavior modification. An overemphasis on rewards and punishment actually increases selfishness in children. Other tools such as creativity, life experience, and dialogue are essential for motivating change in kids.
2. Build Internal Motivation in Kids. Children raised on heavy doses of external motivation develop attitudes of entitlement. It’s more effective to target areas of the heart than simply getting kids to change behavior.
3. Consequences Aren’t the Only Answer. Parents often overuse consequences and thus diminish their impact. There are many other tools besides consequences to change negative patterns in children.
4. Identify Character Qualities to Address Problems. Defining a heart quality for a child in practical terms helps kids know what to do more than simply punishing them for something you want them to stop.
5. Transfer Responsibility for Change to the Child. Parents should empower children to take responsibility in family life, admit when wrong, and work a plan that they help develop.
6. The Relational Side of Parenting. Children need firmness, direction, limit setting, instruction, and correction. But it’s important to not forget they need a lot of love, teaching, grace, affirmation, and appreciation.
7. Envision a Positive Future. Most kids spend their time thinking about the present: what they’ll do today or tomorrow. Parents can shape children’s thinking and build hope for kids by talking about how the present challenges and growth will contribute to future maturity.
8. Look for Heart Moments. The heart is where kids wrestle with ideas, come to new understanding, and then make commitments to moving forward. When parents create heart moments or are on the lookout for them, significant molding and guiding can take place.
9. Make Parenting Shifts. When kids go through developmental stages, parents must shift in the way they work with them. Those strategic adjustments can go a long way to reduce tension and maximize parent/child interaction.
10. Parenting is an Investment – Think Long Term. Parenting builds patterns in kids that will continue long past childhood. The solutions parents employ now have the potential to help kids for the rest of their lives.
There’s a lot to love about this thought-provoking book! As I mentioned earlier, if you buy “The Christian Parenting Handbook” between now and May 5, you’ll get a free bonus package worth more than $400.00! It includes resources with names you can’t resist, like Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids, Teach Kids to Listen and Follow Instructions, Correction Ideas that Touch the Heart, Addressing Bad Attitudes in Kids, and Everyday Parents CAN Raise Extraordinary Kids. You can see the full description of the package here.
To take advantage of the offer, you simply need to:
2) Email, fax, or mail your receipt to the authors. (Email: Gift@biblicalparenting.org; Fax: 609-771-8003; Mail: 76 Hopatcong Dr. Lawrenceville, NJ 08648)
I hope many of you will take advantage of this great offer. Do you know others who would benefit from it? Please share the post!
