Almost every new parent wishes their baby came with a manual. Thankfully, as steep as the learning curve feels at the time, those early days and weeks of parenthood are relatively simple. It’s mostly a matter of learning what your baby’s cries mean, how to get him to sleep, when to feed, and how to change a diaper (of course, notice that I said “simple” not easy).
However, as your baby grows and becomes a toddler and then a preschooler, gradeschooler, and one day a teen, the challenges grow with him. And the desire for a manual becomes greater.
Enter The Christian Parenting Handbook: 50 Heart-Based Strategies for All the Stages of Your Child’s Life. While it doesn’t address every situation (like what age should you buy your child a cell phone), it does give great guidance on some of the most critical issues in parenting – in particular, how to guide your child’s attitudes and heart and not just his behavior.
My husband & I took a parenting class when our children were young. It equipped us with a solid foundation and philosophy for parenting. And in the years since, I’ve gained a lot of support and coaching through a mom’s group affiliated with the parenting curriculum. So I could have brushed off The Christian Parenting Handbook figuring I’d already gained all I needed. But I’m glad I didn’t.
Turansky & Miller’s book echoes much of what I had already learned, but in different words and targeted to situations I hadn’t considered. I had previously read (and loved) their book, Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes… in You and Your Kids. So some of the material was familiar. But since I’m in a new phase of parenting with my eldest entering high school, even the overlapping ideas felt fresh and useful.
Like any good manual or handbook, the 50 brief chapters make this a book you can pick up at will and browse for the topic you need. You could try to read it cover to cover, but it really is meant to be ingested in small bits at a time. Each chapter is packed with tools and tips that address small slices of parenting and family life. It’s worthwhile to just take one chapter, read it, absorb it, and apply it before moving on to another. I’m not sure if it’s easy to find an answer to a particular problem – the ARC I received as a reviewer for Faith Village didn’t contain the index. But it still is a book I will refer to over and over and will flip through for an answer. Even just today I gained some insight on how I can change my approach to sibling spats.
What I love best is that Turansky & Miller don’t prescribe a set methodology for parenting. They acknowledge that every family is different and so is every child, thus the need to adjust approaches appropriately. They offer sound thinking and philosophy, based on the Scriptures (hence “Christian” in the title) from which parents can tailor their approach.
So while Turansky & Miller’s advice isn’t earthshaking – several other authors share many of the same sentiments, I highly recommend this book for any Christian parent. The wording is fresh, the chapters are brief, and it probably offers enough of an answer to any challenge you face with your kids to make you feel equipped and encouraged in the next step you’ll take. It may just be the parenting manual you always wished you had.
