Thursday, April 05, 2012

Parenting By the Book--A Book Review

For a while, maybe beginning in the mid-1990s, my wife and I did not spend as much time reading books about parenting as we had previous the decade or two, because our girls were grown. But recently circumstances have caused us to return to old reading patterns, as we are now raising two grandsons. And we've discovered is that boys are different from girls. So we thought we might need a few pointers on parenting them.

We re-read of our old favorite authors like Gary Smalley and James Dobson. Mpt long ago we read a book by an author we did not know until the book was recommended by a youth minister and father of two little ones. The author is John Rosemond, and apparently he has been well-respected for quite a number of years by some of those that we've held in high esteem. The title of the book is Parenting by the Book.

Dr. Rosemond is very adamant in his position that the best approach to raising children, boys or girls, is to raise them using the wisdom of Scripture. Rosemond was trained in what he now calls postmodern psychological parenting. His book vividly points out the damage that has been done to our culture by those methods and ideologies. I found a few of his points enlightening. It is very easy to see some of his conclusions all around us today, even among Christian parents.

Rosemond also gives some recommendations about the ways to glean biblical wisdom and then implement that wisdom to our parenting techniquess. He is very certain that biblical wisdom cannot be surpassed for successful child rearing. It is a very practical book.

I was so impressed with this book that, even before I finished it, I had ordered several copies. I believe it is the kind of book that I will want to share with others in the days to come. I have donated one to our church library in the name of my paternal grandmother, Marie Bryant. I believe she would approve of the common sense that Rosemond expounds. She would never have written it in a book, but I believe her methods exemplify exactly what Rosemond wishes all of us would use to bring up our children.

Add to Technorati Favorites