Parenting by The Book: Biblical Wisdom for Raising Your Child

An excellent read in understanding parenting and the needs of children.

I can only speak from my own experience raising two sons with very different personalities. My husband and I read this book when it was first published and have applied its principles ever since. I found the book empowering, enlightening, and very funny. My overall understanding is that children need their parents to be wise, benevolent, and loving LEADERS - NOT FRIENDS. Additionally, I learned that even children in the same family need to be raised differently - what works for one may not work for another - some (usually the more headstrong) need definite boundaries to feel secure. To follow is a conversation my younger, formerly wild, son and I had about a year ago. After he and I had observed a younger child misbehaving horribly the previous evening at an event, my ten-year-old brought up the situation out of the blue the next day. The conversation went something like this: Son - "That kid was acting really bad last night." Mom - "Yes, he was." Son - "I used to act that way sometimes, didn't I?" Mom - "Yes, you did. That's why I was so hard on you. I didn't want you to grow up to be a jerk." Pause. Son - "Thanks for being hard on me." Big hug. It was a good day. Thank you, thank you, thank you, John Rosemond!

John Rosemond is, hands down, my favorite parenting "expert." I graduated with a B.S. in Child Development, and have heard my share of many postmodern psychological parenting theories, such as, but not limited to, behavior modification, love and logic, attachment parenting, etc. Rosemond cuts through the babble and gets to the point - is your child rearing rooted in Biblical principles? The fact is, most, if not all, recent parenting theories are not, and they ultimately demand and cause more fatigue, over involvement, and frustration for the parents and children involved. Rosemond is polarizing in this book, and for good reason. He will tell you plain and simply that your children should not be sharing your marriage bed - from day one. Your children should not be throwing tantrums and crying unnecessarily in public past the age of three. He's right - a lot of people just don't want to hear it. Arguing about whether the grass is green and the sky is blue is not "cute," and he explains why.I am so grateful for Rosemond's clear voice in these foggy, loud, tumultuous, and social-media driven times of parenting.

First let me say that I am not a huge fan of child pyschologist. I believe one of the worst things to happen to society was Dr Spock. I was raised as my parents were and they did it like "Grandma". I like Rosemond, well lets face it, because he agrees w/ me. Don't abuse your child, but if they need to be spanked--spank them. I always use the one about "The Dr Says..." on my children. If they are whining, the doctor says they must be tired and need to take a nap or go to bed. When they try to argue I say "It is out of my hands, it is what the doctor says".. You know they never argue about what the doctors says, they just sigh and go lay down. He has several good points. None of them are new. They just remind you of how it should be. It kills me when I am somewhere & the parents keep trying to reason w/ a 2 YO over & over. Most 2 Yos don't reason. I enjoyed this book and found it very useful & reminded me of my parents raising me. I had to smile in many areas thinking "Oh yeah, I remmber that." Not to mention the teachings ae in the Bible. What more do you need.

This book is easy to read, understand and apply. It has workbook type applications at the end of each chapter. It is a good read to apply biblical principles to parenting. It relieves a great deal of stress and guides toward a great amount of pleasure in training children.

If you need help with discipline and how to raise your child this is definitely the book for that. I myself am not a religious person, and I don't know if I'll ever be but this book has some great advice, on how to help your child become a good person, an independent person. I will definitely be using these tactics when raising my child, well at least some of them because some I don't quite agree with and that is why I'm giving this a 4 star review instead of 5

This is the best book I've read in parenting. It matches up exactly to my understanding of biblical parent and child rearing. The only question I have is John Rosemond's definition of "The Rod." I'm fairly sure that Scripture means what it says. The Rod is not "leadership", as Rosemond defines it, but a corporal means for discipline. Perhaps Dr. Rosemond is concerned about child abuse and so minimizes how scripture defines the rod. Other than this very minor detail, PARENTING BY THE BOOK is the most accurate of parenting books and helps clarify the mealy-mouthed advice of our so-called child rearing experts and their psycho-babble of PPP (Post-modern Psychological Parenting). A psychologist himself, he explains aptly why are society has so failed proper rearing of children in the past 63 years.Dr. John Rosemond changed his views on the rearing of children from worldly advice to a diametrically opposed one of a biblical worldview when he became a Christian believer late in life. His book illustrating the frustrations of parenting is hysterical while painful because they are true. Excellent.

I’m anxious to read this