I collect parenting books. It doesn’t mean I read them all. But I do collect them. Maybe it makes me feel like a better parent just owning them? Maybe I’ll learn by osmosis?
Anywhoo.
I got an email from Tommy Nelson a few weeks ago about a new parenting book. I wasn’t going to review it because I knew it would join stacks of parenting books waiting for me to finish. But the title got me: Raising Your Kids To Love the Lord. I mean, that’s it. That’s all I want to do. I don’t care about my kids’ GPA, if they make the Varsity team or have a bunch of friends. I just want them to love the Lord.
The chapter is simply about prayer. I’ve written about prayer on my blog before. I update our Facebook page with prayers every morning (well, at least as often as I can. And have you seen my photo prayers this week?!). I am all for praying for our kids. This book, however, got me thinking more about teaching our kids to pray for themselves!
The author, Dave Stone tells a story about his 8th grade daughter wanting to transfer to a different school. They discuss it and finally decide to pray about it–and let their daughter pray about it. And ultimately do whatever their daughter thought the Lord was telling her.
Whoa.
Letting an 8th grader decide on her school?! It seems insane! Their daughter took this assignment seriously and came back to her parents saying that God told her to stay at her original school. She ended up being the Class President and very influential in her school!
Stone says, “If that sounds mystical…think about Samuel…he answered God’s call, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.'” That was a sucker-punch to me (and where I started crying). We JUST read that story (in our The Story Bible) last night and the kids thought it was awesome that God was calling Samuel. I even prayed during bedtime prayers that Lydia and Asa would respond to God’s voice just as Samuel had.
So for me to read, the very next morning, about a real 8th grade example of this? To see a child actually seek the Lord, hear Him and act on it is so encouraging! Stone finished with this, “Maybe your children need to practice self-control or show kindness to a sibling. Perhaps they need courage to make wise and God-honoring choices. Teach them to pray. Trust them. Trust God. Give it a try. You’ll be amazed.”
That last paragraph put tears streaming down my cheeks. These last few days (our first week of summer vacation!) I have been so excited about just chilling with my kids–relaxing, reading, cleaning the house, going on adventures and more. Instead, these last 3 days have been FULL of whining, complaining and disobedience. I sent Lydia to her room the other day simply because I could not, for the life of me, think of the right way to discipline. I felt like she didn’t even recognize that what she had done was sin.
I had never thought to ask my kids to pray about their behavior. When Lydia needs to have self-control? When Asa needs to stop whining? When they need to stop arguing? Maybe I should stop and pray with them? Maybe lead them in a prayer to ask Jesus to help and lead them away from sinful behavior?
I’m really intrigued by this idea. I think it would help them confront their sin issues head on with prayer. I want their first response to sin (or any problem) to be to turn to the Lord anyway. Maybe this is good for those things that I just can’t seem to get through to them? The issues that I know are sin and could take over if we don’t stop them?
What do you think? Do you help your kids pray for repentance and guidance even at a young age?
Sounds like a great book. I also have a collection of parenting books.
Prayer was always an important part of our family life. Teaching Biblical principals & prayers about all decisions were far more effective in helping them become responsible adults than rules and demands ever would have.
I’d like to win or borrow your copy when you finish. 🙂
Really took your thoughts about having the kids pray about their sin (whining, selfishness, etc) to heart. It is so true to show them how to apply pray in their lives. Thank you!!
I feel like I beat my head against the wall when disciplining my 3 y.o. son. We constantly deal with the same issues every day, all day. I’ve just begun to pray with him after discipline to ask God to help him have self-control and make decisions to love others and be kind to others. With speech delays, I tend to pass on letting him do much. I would really like to explore the concept of allowing God to work in His little heart and trusting God to understand his words and heart even when I can’t.
My 2 year olds prayers are so simple and true, they remind me to have faith like a child. Yesterday she stopped me and said ” mommy I want to talk to God” so I paused from getting ready and said “ok, what do you want to talk to God about”. Her response was simple, but one that I pray for everyday without her knowing. She replied ” I want to ask Him to keep me safe”. How sweet is that! Then my little one prayed a simple but trusting prayer:)
Sounds like a great book and one I should definitely read for my boys! Hope I win! 🙂
The first of the year we decided to have a devotional time each night with our 3 sons. They LOVED it and we loved seeing how they reacted to the devotion and watching each of them grow in prayer. Unfortunately, live got busy and we stopped doing it. I am planning on starting again once school lets out (tomorrow) and would love to have a copy of the book. It sounds like it’s full of encouraging and creative ideas to keep you on the right track.
I would LOVE to read this book. My sweet little boy is only 7 months old, but I think it’s never too early to start learning! I can’t wait to teach him about Jesus.
Looks good for my grands!
I have added the book on my must read list! 🙂 I have been challenged at teaching my kids how to pray. The other day my 2 yr old was in time out and she kept saying, “Dear God..Amen”. It brought a smile to my face that she knew she could go to her Heavenly Father when in trouble! 🙂
I would love to have a copy of this book! I feel so immature in my ability to pray with my boys, that I would love some more encouragement.
The book sounds wonderful! I make every effort to have prayer be my first response in stressful situations, to model that for my boys. It’s so tough sometimes though! My seven year old is just starting to pause and have prayer be his first response at times. It is so rewarding to see him practice what we have modeled!
I would love to have this book! I will definitely be buying it – but I hope I win first! :0) I strive to “live out” my Faith for my kids and know that it is hard to explain and show them the truths in everyday life all the time. I’m excited to get some insight and encouragement from this book!! Thank you!
It sounds like a great book. I would love to share this book with my daughter who has an almost 2 year old and is expecting her second daughter in June.
I love good parenting books too. My daughter has a tender heart for prayer. My son on the other hand.. not so much there yet. I’m striving to raise them in the Lord. Appreciate all the help we can get.
First let me say that I LOVE YOUR BLOG!! you have such a heart for Jesus and it is so encouraging! I so want mynkids to turn to the Lord and pray for help when they sin…. but my 5 year old refuses to pray! She doesn’t want me to pray for her either- any suggestions? Does the book mention this? Thank you a million times over for how you serve the Lord through this blog- it is honey to this mama’s heart:)
Would love this book!
Your blog has been such a huge blessing to my family, thank you for all the hard work you put into it! I have a collection of parenting books too, this ideas seem so simple and could make a remarkable change in your child’s and family’s life.
Hey, I love it. For the last year or so I have felt strongly to teach the kids how to pray, so at night that is part of what we are really practicing. If I pray about something in my private time and i Feel strongly about how I prayed then, I teach them that night and use the scripture to show then how to pray and pray the scripture. It is exciting!
would love to read the book…. even if i borrow your copy 🙂
Ms. Amanda~
How timely is this.,I was just in B&N this am and actually considered many of the books pictured in your blog post. Needless to say, I left empty handed and disappointed. The limited selection left me feeling defeated. However, as you so eloquently stated, “that’s all I want to do.” As a first time mom to a 16 month old, African American male, I am desperate to get it right.
We taught about praying for japan in our home the day before the earthquake. My 6 year old still prays for them daily, no matter how many other countries we explore.
When my daughter, who is now 8 1/2, was about 2 years old, she taught me something about prayer. We were in the car and about 3 minutes away from our house coming back from a trip to the grocery store. She suddenly announced that she had to go to the bathroom “right now!” I told her that we were almost home, but she was sure she wasn’t going to make it to the bathroom. She panicked then started praying. “Jesus please help me hold it! I can’t do it without You!” As a mom of 4 who has cleaned up many accidents, I knew that if she didn’t make it, it wasn’t that big of a deal. While it may not have been that important to me, right then it was very important to my daughter. She took that need that was fairly unimportant to me to Someone who cared about the little things that made a difference to her. We made it home in time and got her to the bathroom where I listened to her shout a very sincere “thank you Jesus!”
Our oldest is three years old, and is really starting to understand the foundations of prayer. I would love to read this book, as I need all of the advice and help I can get! Thank you so much for this blog and all of your resources. My husband and children still talk about our devotions and activities from The Truth in the Tinsel! You are a blessing to us!
That is my heart’s desire as well… just that they love the Lord and follow Him! What more could a mother want. I am truly intrigued by this book. What a great tool to add to “the box”~ Thanks for the opportunity and info. I will certainly be looking for this one!
When my second son reached puberty, he began struggling with depression and extremely low self esteem. He was crying every day, and it became obvious that Satan was attacking him. I prayed over his room daily and I taught him how to pray scriptures. We wrote them down on note cards and he prayed them every morning and every night. It made such a huge difference in his life!! Prayer is very powerful!! Thanks for your post. I can’t wait to read this book!!
I relate to having stacks of parenting books waiting to be read, but this one sounds great! I’d love to read it. 🙂
wow. Sounds like a book every parent should have.
I love to pray with my kids, especially on our drive to school 🙂
Sounds like an interesting book! Would love to win it!
Sounds amazing!!! Would love to win!!!
I also collect parenting books and teach parenting in a secular high school . . . and incorporate as much godly parenting as I can. I love a good title too, and this sounds like a good read! If I do not win it, I will no doubt buy and read it! Thanks for introducing it to us.
I am a professional children’s minister, which means I pretty much have this stuff figured out. Right? Ha! When w suit down to eat, my teri year old son starts singing “Gods Our Father”. Depending on how excited he is about a meal he will sometimes sing in double time. But one of the best decisions I’ve made about prayer is diving the mic to the kids for our opening prayer on Sunday mornings before kid’s church. Hearing the sweet, honest, heartfelt prayers of these youngsters has been an amazing investment in giving up control and asking God to do something special. Thanks for the great blog and another incredible resource!
I would love to read this book! The truth about God changing the actions of our kids and not US, as parents, is one that really makes sense and one that I want to learn more about and implement in our home. I would love to win a copy. 🙂
I model prayers to my four-year-old. Don’t know if it’s a valid technique or anything, but I see it as teaching her HOW to pray. I pray first and she repeats, “Dear Jesus – she repeats “dear jesus” – You see that I am having a hard time obeying right now – she repeats it – please help me obey – she repeats, etc”. Sometimes she’s simply repeating, but other times I can hear that she actually prays it. I think it helps her now how to pray and what one can pray about.
I love this post…just put that book and his other book into my cart on Amazon. I am always striving to better myself in this area. Your words about praying with your child reminded me of a Bible I just got. Have you seen this? http://www.childtrainingbible.com/ I recently ordered mine and am anxious to get it put together to use.
Just a couple more recommendations on books that I’ve been enjoying on parenting (I’m looking over your list and seeing if I can get my hands on them.)
Intentional Parenting: Family Discipleship by Design by Tad Thompson
Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with God by Voddie Baucham
Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children into the Joy of Worship by Robbie F. Castleman and Ruth Bell Graham
These are wonderful quick, easy reads that are so hard for me to put down.
What an awesome sounding book! I would love to read this!
I am so completely humbled by this “evolutionary” idea!!! When my oldest 2 girls were little, I had them pray for forgiveness whenever they were having a hard time getting along…fast forward 2 more children, and I just let life get in the way!!! There was a time that bedtime prayers were a daily occurence…not as of late. Thank you for this post. It is encouraging to know that I am not alone!
Pray for my son each day when will leaving for school. If I put him to bed at night I ask him to pray for his friends and what he’s thankful for.
Sounds like a good book!
this sounds like a good book to read. I have “Praying the Scriptures for your children” by Jodie Berndt. It’s good too. I sometimes try to talk to my kids about praying but it’s usually a talk that goes kind of bland. I could use some good words of wisdom regarding this topic.
I have prayed with my kids on occasion in this way. It can often be difficult in the heat of the moment. Which makes it so great because you have to stop and think first for the appropriate words.
Nikki
I LOVE parenting books. This sounds amazing. I have tried this with my kidos at times with only so so results….I think maybe I should model this verbally to them. We all pray to get through our day…..but I don’t think our kids know we are doing it except for the obvious times like meals and bedtime. Just thinking out loud.
I was nodding throughout your whole post — I’m a collecter of parenting books and want my children to love the Lord more than anything else. This book looks great!
This is simply amazing. Everyday I struggle to find a way to teach my children about the Lord…. but just maybe I should leave it in God’s hand and have my kids pray for guidance just as I pray to the Lord for guidance. This seems so simple to do, but it makes complete sense… I love the 8th grade example…definitely moved me.
After some unacceptable behaviour at nursery, we now pray on the way so that God can help him to be nice to his friends and my son always finishes the prayer ‘Holy Spirit fill me’ as I’ve taught him that God is with him in all situations. It’s great to hear him pray and we’ve seen the results! I asked him to pray to ask God to help him the other day and he said he didn’t need to because Jesus lives inside him all the time. Still some work to do but we’re on the right lines! Sounds like a great book and you’re right – teaching them to love the Lord is the most important thing. It’s the prayer of my heart.
We’re doing prayer at night with our 2 year old and it’s amazing the things she thinks of to thank God for! The other day she thanked Him for the book, 4 Pups and a Worm. Sounds like a Great book!!
I LOVE this! Just yesterday my friend and I (our daughters are best friends, and so are we) were talking about how, don’t you just feel sometimes like you are saying too much, always “telling” them what to do and think in God’s way? This is good, and necessary, but we both felt God calling us to let our 8 year olds “go” a little. We decided to do a Bible study with them, and help them learn to help encourage each other toward Christ and making decisions that point them His way, too. Like me and my friend do! Go Holy Spirit for that idea! We are excited to start, and see what God has in store for all of us!
This book sounds SO good!
I’ve realized lately that its so much more peaceful for my children and I to deal with issues when I’m in the Spirit. (Not rocket science, I know…)
Then it’s not my flesh vs. their flesh, but my (God’s) spirit engaging with their hearts and speaking to their spirits and dealing with their flesh.
Thanks for sharing this book, I hadn’t heard of it!
My almost 4 yo has started coming to us throughout the day telling us things she was praying for. Humbles me! I wish I was better at praying all day and telling them that!
a new visitor and fellow proverbs linky :)…book looks worth reading….I totally agree grades don’t matter most, it’s what’s inside! God bless,
Michy