Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Modern Parents, Vintage Values

I am in love with a man I just met yesterday! It's my new nephew Arden Edward Bunn. He was born yesterday afternoon (after giving his mommy a very difficult delivery) weighing 7 lbs 8 oz and is 19" long. He looks a bit like his daddy, my brother Jeremy with light reddish blond hair and for now has deep blue eyes. If they stay that color, they will be breath-taking. We are all so thrilled to have a baby in the family again. Mia has been the youngest, but she's eager to embrace her new role as elder cousin. She'll finally have someone who will have to look up to her. I'm just happy to have a baby to buy teeny-tiny clothing for, and I fully intend to spoil him completely rotten!

Modern Parents, Vintage Values by Melissa Trevathan & Sissy Goff is  a powerful resource for parents in a world when values seem to have gone by the wayside. Both authors are counselors at Daystar Counseling Ministries, so they bring a wealth of anecdotes about bad behavior and ideas to raise children in a Christian way in a secular world. The chapters focus on various virtues: patience, kindness, compassion, etc, that our children can be taught. Of course the most important lesson they impart is that our children learn through our example. When we act in a hypocritical manner, we can't expect them to get the message. Each chapter ends with a "Sunday drive" which are realistic exercises to use at home with your children to encourage growth in that specific area. The authors also break up the chapters into sections about younger children and then teenagers, because what works with one group won't necessarily work with the other. I appreciated how the authors never made me feel like a failure as a parent. The book is always encouraging, and while the authors have high aspirations for their readers, they are also recognize that parents are human and therefore fallible. It's a book I would recommend to anyone with children, regardless of age, as I found advice for my seven-year-old as well as my two teenagers.

Thank you to B&H Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

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