Customer Reviews

Spiritual Parenting: An Awakening for Today's Families

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony stands out amongst the crowd of Christian books by grounding parenting in discipleship. Instead of focusing parental energy on sin management, Anthony urges parents to share their lives transformed by the gospel. "The goal of spiritual parenting is that our children would learn to hear and know God's voice, desire to obey it, and obey it in the power of God's Spirit, not their own strength."

With a goal of passing down a vibrant faith, Anthony describes environments and values that we should consciously cultivate in parenting: storytelling, identity, faith community, service, out of the comfort zone, responsibility, course correction, love and respect, knowing, and modeling. I found each chapter encouraging. Though Anthony is not coming from a covenantal perspective, I found her ideas and examples compelling and easy to comport to a reformed theology of children.

As twenty-first century evangelicals reconsider how to do church, the way we raise children in the faith must be part of that conversation. Anthony's book is a good start for parents to consider some of the fundamental concerns of raising children who share an authentic and transformational faith. It also serves as a necessary reminder that parents are responsible for the spiritual formation of their children, and how they live is much more important to that development than anything that happens for an hour or two a week.

It is a temptation for parents to look for someone to tell them just what to do, and this book is not structured to feed that. Anthony encourages parents to know their children, embrace the way God made them, and parent them as individuals. Without a formula to follow, parents are better reminded of their eternal focus. "What is our job then? The joy of parenting can be spent on cultivating environments for our children's faith to grow, teaching them how to cultivate a love relationship with Jesus as we cultivate our own, living our lives authentically in front of them so that they become eyewitnesses to our own transformation. " (8.5/10) [I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.]

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Not since Parenting is HEART Work has there been another parenting book that I really liked. Most parenting books annoy me. Why? Because I find them gimmicky or filled with tricks and cliche's that don't treat children as unique creations of God wired by Him for a purpose. I'm passionate about this because as a boy I was one of those boys that drove my teachers crazy - I wasn't rebellious, disrespectful, mean or insubordinate - but they might have called me a "bad boy" when I was out of ear shot. Because I didn't come out of a cookie cutter. But if they could see me now, they'd understand, I'm a leader, a visionary, a creative innovator, inventor and initiator. An entrepreneur. A mover-and-shaker. I still can't sit still.

That is why I was hesitant when I was offered a free copy of Spiritual Parenting to review, because it was a new "parenting" book, and I hate parenting books! Parenting books teach parents how to get their kids to behave, and if you've been to any of my discipline workshops, you've heard me say,

"I have absolutely NO interest in children behaving."

After the shocked faces recover, I assure them, behavior will improve, but what I'm interested in is shaping their character and their hearts. If you change their behavior - you succeed in making little Pharisees out of them. Training them how to "act" when adults are around. And what happens when the adults are no longer around. Uh, huh. Exactly!

Very easy read, and filled with good spiritual foundation, common sence, that helps bring daily living to a managable level.

Read this book. If Christ is the center of my life, He will be in my kids' lives too, right? This book helped me to realize that is my TRUE role as a parent. Then it showed me some awesome ways to prepare them to know their God who loves them. The satisfactory behavior is just a side effect! :)

I posted this on My Kids Eat Candy ([...])

In any field, the best pros doing their homework. Occupational therapists attend seminars to get re-certified. CPAs stay on top of tax law changes. Florists attend trade shows, scout the competition, and dog-ear magazines to stay on top of trends. As a Modern American Homemaker, I want to do my own homework. I confer with moms who are in the same season of parenthood as I am, I tap the been-there-done-that wisdom of moms I admire, and I read at least a half-dozen parenting books every year.

Fortunately, my discernment for what information is right for my family and in keeping with our values has gone up considerably since my first son was born. Like an over-eager freshman, I gobbled up everything I heard and read as a new mom nine years ago, resulting in a big contradictory mess. I quickly learned that the "experts" aren't--by a long shot--always right. Sometimes, though, you find someone whose ideas and examples are inspiring, encouraging, and fortifying.

One of the best books I've read in an long time is Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony. In a candid, warm, mother-to-mother delivery, Anthony talks about concepts that resonated with me big time: initiative, industriousness, service to others, and having a teachable heart. For example, I loved what she said to her teenage son after he and his friends had been using foul language:

"Son, I am most concerned about what is in your heart. This is what God is most concerned about too. So I don't want you to use bad language simply because everyone else is doing it and you want to fit in, but I also don't want you to not swear only because your father and I say not to. You're old enough to determine what is in your heart and then to speak words that are congruent with who you are."

The "who you are" part is about character formation: placing more--much more--emphasis on nurturing our children's hearts than on nurturing their minds.

What an incredibly important responsibility. We better keep doing our homework. (From [...])

Six years ago when my daughter Isabel was born and I held her for the first time, I remember praying that she would grow to know and love God. Since then I often pray for God's help and direction for me as a dad. How will I answer her tough questions about God? What's the best way to foster her relationship with the Creator? How do I respond to her choices? How can my wife and I become the parents God wants and our kids need?

Certainly reading God's Word, praying hard, and building a strong connection to the Body of Christ have been the cornerstones for our growth as parents. But along the way I have come across resources that remind me of the importance of my role in the spiritual development of my children and guide my wife and I to create the structures to nurture that development in the best ways possible. Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony is one of those resources.

The book is built around ten environments that nurture spiritual growth: Course Correction, Faith Community, Identity, Knowing, Love and Respect, Modeling, Out of the Comfort Zone, Responsibility, Serving, and Storytelling. Michelle Anthony tells stories and draws upon Scripture to unpack each environment. It is a rich book, appropriate for parents to read and study together. The only drawback I found is that the stories Michelle tells often do not include the father role, so this book may leave dads with the idea that spiritual parenting is for moms only.

This summer, the entire children's ministry staff at my church read the book Spiritual Parenting and we found that the principles inside it to be both Biblically sound and critically important for spiritual development within families. Since it is part of our role to support and equip families to know Jesus and become more like Him, we have made the book our first official recommended resource for parents at our church. Buy the book on Amazon, read it, and get parents fired up about it!

You can connect with the author, Michelle Anthony, on her website and on Twitter.
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I think that Michelle has really captured the coming zeitgeist in regard to child spirituality and parenting. Anthony's work is really about the margins that surround our family life and how to capture those moments for Christ. You will come away with a fresh perspectives on making every moment count. If the Deut. 6 call to make God a part of every environment you are living in inspires you, then buys Michelle's book!
Give Your Kids the Keys: Navigating Your Child to a Personal and Sustainable Faith

I'm only a chapter in and the content is good so far. However, buyer beware that the kindle edition has no table of contents. When I download a free kindle book I don't expect to have a table of contents, but when you pay nearly the print price there is no excuse. Now it is difficult to navigate quickly and easily between chapters. Buy the print version if you want the whole thing. Spiritual Parenting: An Awakening for Today's Families

Super good book for those wanting to let the Lord and his Spirit lead the parenting of their children.
This left a huge impression on my perspective and outlook of parenting.
It helped take the onus off of me to merely raise good kids and believers to taking on a posture of shepherding these children (who are ultimately his anyway) back into his fold.

I'm glad I found this book while my kids are young so I could utilize some of these ideas and approaches in my parenting style.
Very sound logic throughout and more importantly than that a lot of scripture (adding a firm foundation) to base her thoughts and ideas off of.

It will be a blessing to your family.

Are you wanting to create a family enviroment that really is an authentic faith life? Go beyond the church, prayer, good behavior checklist with your kids and really reach their hearts with what it means to live a God centered life. A must read for all families interested in passing their faith to the next gen.