Parents' Guide to the Spiritual Growth of Children (Heritage Builders) [Hardcover]

John Trent (Author), Kurt Bruner (Author), Rick Osborne (Creator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2000 | Series: FOTF Complete Guide

This lead product from Focus on the Family provides parents with a resource to help their children develop a personal faith. The book provides an overview of children's spiritual capacity and understanding at different age levels. It also includes practical advice to help parents be the spiritual “trainers” of their children through engaging activities, exercises, and projects that can be completed individually or as a family.

FEATURES

• Overview of children's spiritual capacity and understanding at different ages
• Offers rationale for teaching specific spiritual principles and disciplines
• Equips parents to train children by providing engaging activities, exercises, and projects to complete individually or as a family
• Great tool for parents and educators of children ages 0-12
• Shows parents how to make a spiritual training plan

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For many Christian parents, the responsibility of spiritual leadership in the home can be daunting. Never fear! Focus on the Family's Parent's Guide to the Spiritual Growth of Children outlines the basics of successful Christian parenting for parents with children ages 12 and under. Each of the book's three levels provide assistance and guidance: Level One addresses the apprehensiveness of some parents who feel unequipped to initiate spiritual leadership. By giving an overview of the "what, why, and how" of spiritual training, parents will feel confident and prepared. Level Two--"How To Pass On Your Spiritual Legacy"--focuses on pinpointing the character and interests of your particular family. From helping the parent identify the personality types of their children, to explaining what can be expected from them at a particular age, ideas and methods are given for making daily life a spiritual experience that honors the Lord.

Level Three is meant to be a resource that parents can refer to throughout the years as their children grow. Over 100 pages are dedicated to identifying how to teach the essentials to children in the four specific age groups (0-4, 5-6, 7-9, and 9-12 years old). Topics such as "Jesus has always been with God and is God" are followed by tips on how to creatively assist in your child's learning. While attempting to remain nondenominational, theological questions that children may ask are answered, and an entire reference section gives ideas for further reading both parents and children. While there is no formula to ensure that your child will grow up to love the Lord, parents can exemplify spiritual leadership by saturating their children in the truth of the Bible through the material provided here by Focus on the Family. --Jill Heatherly

About the Author

Dr. John Trent is president of the Center for StrongFamilies and StrongFamilies.com, an organization that trains leaders to launch and lead marriage and family programs in their churches and communities. John speaks at conferences across the country and has authored or coauthored more than a dozen award-winning and best-selling books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.; First Printing edition (July 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156179791X
• ISBN-13: 978-1561797912
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #293,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick Osborne is a best-selling author and speaker committed to encouraging, helping and equipping Christian parents to raise their kids God's way.

For the last 20 years he's been teaching Christian parents how to get the job done through his books and seminars.

The parenting books that he has written or co written include Focus On The Family's Parent's Guide To The Spiritual Development of Children, which he co wrote with Dr. John Trent and Kurt Bruner. His parenting books have been well received!

Rick's approach has always been to not only teach parents but also to equip them. So he has also produced, written and/or co written many award winning and best selling tools that help parents teach God's Word to their kids. Each of these tools was designed specifically to help parents in a different aspect of their task.

He has written and/or co-written over 46 books and been part of the development of over 100 other church and parenting tools, books and programs, all dedicated to raising children God's way.

Rick has worked with Focus on The Family, Dr. John Trent, Larry Burkett, Josh McDowell, Campus Crusade For Christ and many others.

He, his programs and/or resources have been featured on pretty much every major Christian radio and television show and magazine that deals with parenting.

His Story of Jesus presentation book, The Most Important Story Ever Told, has had over 50 million copies distributed worldwide in 110 different languages.

Rick is currently working on Partnering With Parents, a Children's Church and Parenting program that puts home and church together in a Biblical partnership. He's also now online where he can encourage, help and equip more Christian parents everyday. rick-osborne.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Focus on the Foundation of the Family, July 31, 2000

By 

David Robinson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parents' Guide to the Spiritual Growth of Children (Heritage Builders) (Hardcover)

"Parents' Guide" offers parents an excellent resource for developing the spiritual life of our children. As a pastor and father, I'm glad for Trent & Osborne's research. If the foundation of a healthy society is found in the home, then the foundation of a healthy home is found in our spiritual life with God through Jesus Christ. For another book on Christian spiritual parenting, look into the recently published book, THE FAMILY CLOISTER: BENEDICTINE WISDOM FOR THE HOME, by David Robinson (New York, NY: Crossroad, 2000; 192pp., trade paperback). God bless you in your holy calling of raising spiritual children!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference!, July 13, 2005

By 

NancyK "NancyK" (Galveston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spiritual Growth of Children (FOTF Complete Guide) (Paperback)

I found this book to be an excellent reference and a wonderful tool for Christian parents. First of all, the authors lead you to discover key characteristics of your unique family, including your general interests, family pace, and Christian heritage. Then you are shown how to assess the personalities of each individual in your family, along with strenghts, weaknesses and teaching tips for each type. As a result, you compose a family plan that will be the most effective way to communicate your faith to your children. The next section of the books guides you in topics that are readily understood by each age level, as well as tips and ideas for teaching those concepts to your children. I was extremely impressed with the amount of useful knowlegde contained in this book, and within days of reading it and implementing it my 5 year old daughter cannot get enough of the Bible and her questions about God!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource for Parents, July 18, 2005

By 

Connie Banack (Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parents' Guide to the Spiritual Growth of Children (Heritage Builders) (Audio Cassette)

I have read several books on teaching children about God, but this one by far exceeded my expectations! The wealth of information this book contains in supporting children spiritually and teaching them in many different ways, while acknowledging each child's learning style (and your own!) and your family's pace is amazing. It helps you develop a plan for spiritual growth in your family, not just tells you how and when and where to "teach" children. The only flaw, which I called Kurt Bruner about, was that their many references to "forms available online at www.heritagebuilders.com" was not true because the don't have them on that site any longer. I would have thought that having the forms pdfed on their site would have been an important support of this book... or at least a link to where the forms are.