It is book review time! One down about childrearing 200 million to go...or something like that. There are many many books written about exactly what you should and shouldn't do when raising a child and what your likelihood is that you are going to permanently mess them up and some of these books seem to hinge all of this on things like...swaddling vs. no swaddling or blue sheets vs. animal print....
I guess my initial thoughts are (and the are probably relatively useless since I'm not ACTUALLY a parent...yet) it depends...on everything.
This being said, I just recently finished one of the aforementioned books: "To Train Up A Child."
Here's my review:
Reasons for Thumbs Up:
1. He is a huge advocate of CONSISTENCY and EXPECTATIONS. That little ones understand and thrive with structure and responsibility in their lives in ways appropriate for their ages. YES. I agree.
2. He thinks family time is also very important-that everyone shares in making everything run smoothly.
3. Hubby/Wife relationship ALWAYS comes first-this is the core of a successful family
4. No one gets punished in anger-any punishment comes from failed obedience and is handed out in a reasonable way...(speaking of which, I always just tried to make my mom laugh if i was going to get in trouble...laughter ALWAYS works....)
Reasons for Thumbs Down:
1. He thinks homeschooling is the ONLY way to properly educate your kids and you are kind of a bad person if you send your kids to any type of big school (Christian, secular, private, public-didn't matter)
2. He also thinks no women should ever work outside the home and trains his daughters to be homemakers-expecting them to know how to cook, clean, etc as their primary responsibilities.
3. His favorite tool? The switch...yeah.
Ok so that's the brief synopsis...thoughts?
2 comments:
I'm 100% down with his thesis on switching - you gotta read it to know exactly what he's saying though.
Also, the biggest insight from the book to me is the idea that you actually have to TRAIN your kids - not just discipline. That means intentionally putting them in situations where they will be tested and, yes, switching them if they fail so that they'll be trained to do right. To me, that's the golden nugget in the book - the differentiation between training and disciplining.
Love your comment, Amelia! A sense of humor does wonders both for parent and child. You still make me smile!!!
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