Shepherding a Child's Heart

Half-Way Review! (This is where I review a book, from the halfway point...why? I don't know)

If you have not read Shepherding a Child's Heart, take if from me you are missing out! Being the parent of a special needs child I have read A LOT of parenting books. I have never read a parenting book like this one - ever.

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp is a clearly Christ centered guide for raising children to have an understating of a righteous and loving God, the law as well as the consequences of sin. It seeks to instruct parents on how to not only discuss the things of God, but, rather, "demonstrate the freshness and vitality of life lived in integrity toward God and your family." (Tripp, Introduction Page xxi)

On a more personal level: This book has completely changed the way I view parenting. Strangely enough, this book helped me to realize that my son is a sinner. In my head, I always knew that we all are sinners, that we're born into sin...that's the plague of humanity but something inside me was in denial about the state of my son's heart.

He goes on to teach us about biblical and unbiblical goals for our children. Let me give you a heads up: be ready to have your toes stepped on. Seriously. I thought a good education and a functioning member of society were good goals, but I was wrong. He then, leads you to what are biblically considered good goals.

After hurting your feelings and giving you a band aid, he goes on to give you instruction on good communication as well as the rationale and use of "the rod". I'm not quite to the point of learning about the rod, but I will be there very soon, you'll hear more about that when I get to The End of the Book Review.

At This Point

I am on chapter 9 of the 13 chapters in part one, part two gets into shepherding through the stages of childhood (the book totals 19 chapters). I feel that this book is filled with biblical wisdom and is grounded in Scripture. Although Tedd Tripp is very gracious he does not sugar coat the tough stuff. Like I mentioned before, we have to realize that our children are lost and it's our jobs to direct them in the ways of the Lord.

Since my son is special needs (this post, HERE, covers only ONE of Ethan's disorders) I am having a hard time incorporating all of the information from this book into practical everyday living. Not only does Ethan have ODD (see link above) but he also has some very significant developmental delays which hinder our ability to communicate with him like you would any other 4 year old. Communication is one of the key elements to biblical parenthood, as learned from this book.

When comparing this book (so far) with other parenting book there is one thing that stands out most to me: this book cares for the SOUL of your child not just fixing unruly behavior. It wants to know the "why" when it comes to the things that our children do...it wants to know what is at the root of your child's behavior so that there can be change in the heart, rather than just modification in behavior.

Bro. Tedd speaks out against bribing your children, against humiliating them, against manipulation and pretty much every system that pop psychology has deemed "appropriate". All discipline promoted in this book teaches children about the fear (not scared fear, more like respect fear) of God rather than the fear (as defined previously)of man.

I would highly recommend this book to any Christian parent concerned with raising their children to have a God-ward orientation. However, it does lack in assistance for parents who want help raising special needs children biblically.

On Thursday I e-mailed the author suggesting he write another book geared for kids such as mine and also to find out if they know of any resources that could help. I haven't heard anything back yet, but when I do you know you'll hear from me!!!