Review of Connecting With Your Kids
(Connecting With Your Kids: How Fast Families Can Move From Chaos to Closeness was provided to me free of charge by Mind and Media, who received it from the publisher for the purpose of being reviewed.)
I started reading this book the same evening Kevin and I decided not to enroll our boys in pee-wee wrestling. Yes, they would probably excel at it. Yes, our town has a great wrestling program. Yes, the coach is a wonderful person. Yes, Noah's best friend is participating. But we still decided not to do it.
We're faced with guilt at every turn of this parenting journey, aren't we? I feel guilty when we're doing too much, so we cut back on our activities. Then I feel guilty because maybe our kids are missing out on valuable opportunities.
And yet what would we have been missing out on if we had said "yes"? Two and a half months of enjoying the unhurried lifestyle that our family values. Two and a half months of evenings spent at home resting and re-charging. Five Saturdays - in a row - of family activities like trips to Canada and swimming and just being together. Not to mention $15 enrollment fee, $25 for wrestling shoes, $18 for headgear, and $30 in tournament fees - for each boy.
We knew we had made the right decision. Timothy Smith's book affirmed our choice. He has written an intelligent book that encourages families to slow down and let go of the guilt.
The first section, Breathless Pounding, talks about our society's tendency to run fast, just for the sake of running. He then explains the why: our society values success, and we equate success with material, financial, and occupational achievement.
In section two, Check Your Pulse, he gets to his point: if we want to win our children's hearts, we have to stop. Stop running, stop over-scheduling, stop striving. He shows the difference between the world's standards of success, and God's standards. We were made for rest and for connection. Our busy-ness denies us both.
In section three, Discover Your Heartprint, he describes the four basic "heartprints": the Cruiser, the Runner, the Walker, and the Biathlete. He shows the characteristics of each and how to determine which heartprint is yours.
In the fourth section, Making Your Heartprint Work for Your Family, he gives advice on how to parent each of the different types, and how they blend in a family. He shows us how to be grace-filled, toward our children and toward ourselves.
Most of all, Mr. Smith shows the value of the family, and that it needs to be preserved at all costs. We won't regret the "enrichment activities" we skipped, but we will regret the time we missed just being with our children.
I started reading this book the same evening Kevin and I decided not to enroll our boys in pee-wee wrestling. Yes, they would probably excel at it. Yes, our town has a great wrestling program. Yes, the coach is a wonderful person. Yes, Noah's best friend is participating. But we still decided not to do it.
We're faced with guilt at every turn of this parenting journey, aren't we? I feel guilty when we're doing too much, so we cut back on our activities. Then I feel guilty because maybe our kids are missing out on valuable opportunities.
And yet what would we have been missing out on if we had said "yes"? Two and a half months of enjoying the unhurried lifestyle that our family values. Two and a half months of evenings spent at home resting and re-charging. Five Saturdays - in a row - of family activities like trips to Canada and swimming and just being together. Not to mention $15 enrollment fee, $25 for wrestling shoes, $18 for headgear, and $30 in tournament fees - for each boy.
We knew we had made the right decision. Timothy Smith's book affirmed our choice. He has written an intelligent book that encourages families to slow down and let go of the guilt.
The first section, Breathless Pounding, talks about our society's tendency to run fast, just for the sake of running. He then explains the why: our society values success, and we equate success with material, financial, and occupational achievement.
In section two, Check Your Pulse, he gets to his point: if we want to win our children's hearts, we have to stop. Stop running, stop over-scheduling, stop striving. He shows the difference between the world's standards of success, and God's standards. We were made for rest and for connection. Our busy-ness denies us both.
In section three, Discover Your Heartprint, he describes the four basic "heartprints": the Cruiser, the Runner, the Walker, and the Biathlete. He shows the characteristics of each and how to determine which heartprint is yours.
In the fourth section, Making Your Heartprint Work for Your Family, he gives advice on how to parent each of the different types, and how they blend in a family. He shows us how to be grace-filled, toward our children and toward ourselves.
Most of all, Mr. Smith shows the value of the family, and that it needs to be preserved at all costs. We won't regret the "enrichment activities" we skipped, but we will regret the time we missed just being with our children.
posted by Carrie @ 3:38 PM
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