Review: Motivate Your Child: A Christian Parent's Guide to Raising Kids Who Do What They Need to Do Without Being Told by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller

When I got the chance to review this book, I was going through a bit of a struggle with my daughter. We had given her chores to do, but she wasn't doing them consistently without being reminded. I thought that a book like this could help me get her to do that. As I read the book, I discovered that this book is more about helping your child find her conscience and listen to it so that she is motivated to do what needs to be done. As I read this book, I understood that my eight-year-old daughter may not quite be there yet, but there are things I can do to help her get there. Though I don't think I will take all the advice in this book, there are some good points. For example, parenting requires strategy. This is so true. You must think about what you are going to do before you do it, think about what you are going to say before you say it. You must think about how your children are watching everything you do and you are setting an example for them with everything you do and say. The chapters that I really like in this book have to do with spiritual development in your child. I read to my daughter from the Bible when I can, I take her to church, we talk about things that happen in the perspective of our being Christians. But I still feel that I need to do more. The chapters in Part 2 of this book explore how to expose your child to faith by practicing faith in your home. They explore how to help lead a child to Christ, how to talk about the Holy Spirit with your child, and how to help your child connect with the Bible. If you struggle in any of these areas, this book might help to give you some ideas of what to do.

As a little addendum to this post, though, I have to think about something the pastor of my church said regarding parenting books and magazines. Essentially, she said why do we need all these parenting books? Are we not good enough? All these books tell us is that we are not good enough? Will we ever be good enough? My answer is, no. But who are these experts to tell me what to do for my own child? They write these words down without ever having met my child or my family. So I am convicted. I have decided that I am not going to rely on the "experts" anymore for advice about parenting my child. The only experts I need are myself, my husband, and the Holy Spirit. I will be guided about what is right when it comes to parenting my child, and only I know that for sure.

So...no more reviews of parenting books from this blogger...I'll be going a different route.

An Adorable Bible for Little Ones!

I received the book Tiny Bear's Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Igor Oleynikov by Zondervan Publishers for free through the BookLook Bloggers program in exchange for my honest review.

I had already reviewed a similar Bible book by different authors, Little Bunny's Bible and my kids sure loved it! So I decided to take this opportunity to check out Tiny Bear's Bible. My boys loved this book.

The smiling, soft bear captures a toddler's attention right away! My 15 month-old, who is learning more and more words, saw the book and immediately said, "BEAR!" I told my 2 1/2 year old that since the bunny book was his, the bear book was for his brother. We sat down and read this book probably four times in one evening. The illustrations are so cute and each Bible story ends with a reminder for Tiny Bear about what this means for him and how this story shows God's love for him. For example, the story of "God Keeps Moses Safe" reminds Tiny Bear that "just like Baby Moses, we are always in God's care - He will love us and keep us - now and always, Tiny Bear!" The rhymes are cute and they sum up the stories well. Some of them are even a little humorous. My husband had a good chuckle when "The giant laughed - and then fell dead" after David said he would fight him.

This book contains several Bible stories from both the Old and New Testaments. The stories included are God Makes the Whole Wide World, God Promises to Rescue Noah, God Keeps Moses Safe, David Fights a Horrible Giant, God Protects Daniel in the Lions' Den, Jesus is Born, Jesus Stops a Scary Storm, The Lord's Prayer, The Friend of Sinners, and God Makes Jesus Alive Again. These story choices are a good summary for a very young child to learn more about God. I liked this book even better than Little Bunny's Bible and I definitely recommend it for your toddler!