Parenting Is Your Highest Calling: And Eight Other Myths That Trap Us in Worry and Guilt (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Why am I not a more joyful parent? Why aren’t my kids turning out as I expected? Why do I always feel as if I’m not doing enough for my children?

Is Parenting Supposed to Be This Difficult?

As a mother of six, author Leslie Leyland Fields knows firsthand the insecurities and questions that come with rearing children. In this provocative book, she explores with refreshing honesty the myths that can lead to unrealistic expectations and distract us from God’s purposes for our children and for us. These nine myths include:

• Children make you happy and bring great fulfillment.
• You will always feel love for your child.
• Your success as a parent can be measured by your child’s behavior.
• There is one “right” biblical model for family life.
• Good parenting will result in happy children.

Through a close look at God’s own life as a parent as well as stories from real-life families, Fields highlights the transforming biblical truths that release parents from the grip of mistaken assumptions. Fresh, provocative insights will lead you to a deeper understanding of God and yourself–an understanding that lifts the weight of guilt and fear and frees you to love your children as God intended.

Includes “going deeper” questions for individuals, couples, or groups.

About the Author

Leslie Leyland Fields is the author of six books, including Surprise Child: Finding Hope in Unexpected Pregnancy. She has received the Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Writing and nominations for the Pushcart Prize and has written for journals such as Christianity Today, The Atlantic Monthly, and Today’s Christian Woman. The mother of six children, Leslie divides her time among parenting, writing, commercial fishing, and teaching in Seattle Pacific University’s master of fine arts program. She and her family on Kodiak Island, Alaska.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press (December 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400074207
• ISBN-13: 978-1400074204
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,843 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where was this book when my children were growing up... , January 3, 2009

By	Readers Favorite "Readers Favorite" (Hawesville, KY USA) - See all my reviews

Where was this book when my children were growing up...
A very wise woman once shared with me the phrase she often used with her children: "This is my first time experiencing this--just like it is yours. I don't have a tried and true method for parenting you, but through God we will both survive." What wonderful advice.

Children do not come with instruction manuals. Neither do parents come with the wisdom to know how to handle every situation. Leslie Leyland Fields writes from experience. She looks closely at the nine myths of parenting:

1. Having Children Makes You Happy and Fulfilled.
2. Nurturing Your Children Is Natural
3. Parenting Is your Highest Calling
4. Good Parenting Leads to Happy Children
5. If You Find Parenting Difficult, You Must Not Be Following the Right Plan
6. You Represent Jesus to Your Children
7. You Will Always Feel Unconditional love for Your Children
8. Successful Parents Produce Godly Children
9. God Approves of Only One Family Design

Where was this book when my children were growing up? I felt so inadequate. They are now grown and still, at times, I wonder if I let them down. Fields writes in a simple, easy-to-understand style. There are questions for discussion and reflection. Parenting Is Your Highest Calling would make a great small group study.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on parenting I have ever read, next to the Bible., February 23, 2009

By	Robin Shaw (Charlotte, North Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. It gave me a renewed confidence in God's mission for me as a parent. It is the most Biblically sound parenting book I have ever read.
I am an information junkie, and have spent most of my parenting years devouring information on the best way to raise my children. What ultimately happens to someone who reads and tried to apply information is that much parenting advice is someone's opinion or experience, particular to their child or someone they know. It is impossible to combine those opinions about other children into a parenting philosophy for mine!
"Parenting is Your Highest Calling" is unique for one reason: Ms Fields seeks to honor and glorify the first Father in her own life, which in turn leads her to trust Him fully in parenting her children. It sounds so simple, but we baby boomers grew up in a culture of self-sufficiency, and we want so much to be the best parents WE can be, as we forget that we are called to be the best parents God can MAKE us. That can only happen as we lean completely on Him.
The book does not rely on Ms Fields' expertise: she refers us to God's holy and inerrant Word over and over! What she does so beautifully is to integrate what God says into personal stories of her own and others as we all struggle to parent well. Every page of this book has something Biblical to offer a parent, whether you are successful or struggling. Because if you are currently successful, get ready: there's a struggle coming.
This book will free you from doubting yourself and your decisions to parent as God intends: at peace in knowing the HE is sovereign, and will guide us as we parent. It has freed me to love my children more completely, as I prayerfully commit them (and me) each day to His wisdom.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, January 16, 2009

By	Barbara Warren - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

We all know the myths. If we're good parents we'll have good children. Having children makes us happy and fulfilled, we'll love the little darlings all the time, and if we find parenting difficult we're going about it the wrong way. Our success as parents can be measured by the way our children behave. Obviously the person who coined that bit of wisdom has never been in a crowded department store with a three year old overcome by extreme lust for a toy and pitching a king sized fit in order to cow her parents into gettin getting it for her.
As Leslie Leyland Fields points out, according to the Bible God has plenty of trouble with his kids too and he's not always a happy parent either. His children have made him angry, we've hurt him, and at times we've been ungrateful for our many blessings. God can understand a parent's frustrations, longing, and hurt. He's been there. He enjoys our successes too.
One by Leslie Leyland Fields tackles the myths, using common sense and the Bible to lead the reader to a greater understand of being parents. I fully enjoyed this book. It would make a great gift for any parent, grandparent, or for a baby shower. Strongly recommended.