Book Review: Christian Mama's Guide

The Christian Mama's Guide to the Grade School Years
By Erin MacPherson
Thomas Nelson, 2013
English, 208 pgs

Book Description

Prepares moms for the time when their school-aged kids take their first few steps into the world and away from mama's nest.

Sending a child off to school is a whole lot more than stocking up on school supplies and packing a (somewhat) healthy lunch. This helpful guidebook walks Christian moms through:

• discovering a long-term vision for the person that Christ has purposed for your child to become
• instilling a sense of "who I am and where I came from" in your child
• choosing a school for your kids
• helping your kids to develop key attributes—courage, kindness, perseverance—that lead to success in school
• dealing with teachers, sports, and lessons
• navigating those difficult conversations that will come sooner rather than later
• a special feature includes sidebars "From the Principal's Office" with insights from a 35-year elementary school principal and educator

Moms will learn how to cover their children in prayer so that their launch into the world, and away from her control, is done with grace and wisdom—helping them grow into the men and women God intended them to be.

Review:
This is the second Christian Mama's Guide I've reviewed. I didn't really enjoy this one as much as  the one for the toddler years. She starts the book by telling you that she's not really experienced in the area of kids going to school and it really shows in the text.

There is a healthy dose of humor, but after a few chapters it starts to read as silly and condescending in some places. I found the From the Principal's Office sections to be particularly helpful. This is most likely because they were written by someone with lots of experience in schools.

The most helpful thing I read in this book is the 15 Factors list. This is a list of character traits and attributes that need to be developed in a child for them to be truly successful. The list includes Genuine Faith, Vision, Focus, Courage and Honesty. Yep, they sound like common sense things to teach your kids, but a focused concentration on them (I like her idea of one per month) will go a long way to becoming a behavioral pattern for you and your kids.

There is value to the book in that I'm sure there are parents who haven't read every book on the shelf and will pick this one. For that purpose, this book can be very useful. I've just read so many books that have these same basic ideas that I'm having a hard time thinking this is something new.

 I received a copy of the book from BookSneeze in exchange for a review. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.