All of us want to raise good kids. And we want to be good parents. But what exactly do we mean by "good?" And is "being good" really the point?<... read full description
reviews
Feb 12, 2012
Steph
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"Give Them Grace" was incredible. I will probably go back and read it again. It was sometimes impossible to read more than a couple paragraphs at a time, because I would just have to stop and re-read, then savor what I had read. I wanted to share with you just a taste.
My children are beautiful, precious gifts from God. I wish I were a better parent. They need grace and more of it. I need grace, too.
Do you have high moments where you feel like you have things { More...
My children are beautiful, precious gifts from God. I wish I were a better parent. They need grace and more of it. I need grace, too.
Do you have high moments where you feel like you have things { More...
Sep 26, 2011
Christie
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To be honest, I have put off writing this review for a long time. I took my sweet time reading this book, not on purpose but because it was like reading in a foreign language. I identified with the concept that the authors were basing the book on, but I couldn't fully comprehend it. The mother and daughter authors, Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson, drew from their experiences to point out that the common methods of Christian parenting are lacking something very important--grace.
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Jul 19, 2011
Stephen
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Are you a parent who wants perfect kids? Adjust your parenting style to any number of the hundreds of books on parenting currently in print and you’ll be the successful parent you’ve always wanted to be with the successful children you’ve always wanted!
Sadly, this is the message of many parenting books that draw the hopeful and discouraged to their pages with each new publication. In Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus, mother and daughter team Elyse Fitzpatric More...
Sadly, this is the message of many parenting books that draw the hopeful and discouraged to their pages with each new publication. In Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus, mother and daughter team Elyse Fitzpatric More...
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Jun 03, 2011
Pastoralmusings
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Elyse M. Fitzpatrick and her daughter, Jessica Thompson, team up to write an amazing book on parenting.
Give Them Grace is not a parenting manual, however. Give Them Grace is a book that reminds us that parenting manuals don't do the job that we need them to do.
The premise of this book is that the goal of parenting is not to raise good children, but godly children. If we train them to be good, there is a great possibility that they will rebel against the rules, or turn out to be hyp More...
Give Them Grace is not a parenting manual, however. Give Them Grace is a book that reminds us that parenting manuals don't do the job that we need them to do.
The premise of this book is that the goal of parenting is not to raise good children, but godly children. If we train them to be good, there is a great possibility that they will rebel against the rules, or turn out to be hyp More...
Dec 27, 2011
Keren
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Give Them Grace seems to be making waves as the latest, greatest book on parenting in the conservative evangelical world. It is certainly paradigm-shifting, turning from moralistic parenting to more application and displaying of grace over law in the way we interact with our children. Overall, it was a helpful book. I am immensely thankful for the shift in teaching that I perceive to be more aligned with Scripture than some pretty much all of the other parenting books written for this particular
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Jan 21, 2012
Jessica
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I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It came highly recommended, although I believe it probably was more highly recommended for its themes than for its quality of writing. The reason I only gave it three stars is because I didn't really enjoy how it was written; in fact I really struggled to make it through.
That aside, I loved the theme and main point of the book. This book drips with Gospel Truth. Parenting can be a scary thing for a Christian parent in this More...
That aside, I loved the theme and main point of the book. This book drips with Gospel Truth. Parenting can be a scary thing for a Christian parent in this More...
Jul 11, 2011
Jacqui
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The author has a conversational style which makes it easy to read. The theology expressed in the book is sound and has a great focus on the Gospel and how to teach it to your kids in both correction and encouragement. But the examples of how to practically apply the Gospel are long winded. Even though the author tells the reader they shouldn't follow the examples rote, the length of them makes it hard to apply shorthand. This is would become tedious to children if followed from the book and
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Feb 15, 2012
Travis
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I have to confess, I did not know whether or not to expect to like Give them Grace. I’ve read so many parenting books as a biblical counseling student and as a pastor that I could not imagine wanting to read one more. Elyse Fitzpatrick surprised me. This is an excellent little book that puts a well-defined, biblically-rich gospel presentation at the center of how we parent our children.
Fitzpatrick does not write her book as another how-to-parent guide. She instead centers all that More...
Fitzpatrick does not write her book as another how-to-parent guide. She instead centers all that More...
Dec 03, 2011
Sally
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This was an excellent book about avoiding moralism in parenting by pointing our children (and ourselves) continually to our need for God's grace. If I had read this ten years ago (impossible, since it wasn't written then!), I would have probably given a nod to its truth and gone on about my self-reliant way. Now, faced with my utter inability to make my children turn out the way I want, I embrace this book wholeheartedl!. It's not about my efforts; it's all about God and His goodness. I would r
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Sep 16, 2011
Mark
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Preface to Make a Long Review even Longer
I have an 18-month-old. He usually behaves pretty well. For an 18-month-old. I think. You see, I’ve never had one before, I haven’t made a whole lot of observations of 18-month-olds, and I don’t ever remember being one.
So should you take my review of this parenting book with a grain of salt? Maybe more than one grain? Sure, yes. Always do that. I try to season my words with salt already, so it shouldn’t be too hard.
But here at the outset
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Sep 04, 2011
Sarah
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As a mom I was told as long as I laid down rules and laws to my children they would grow into being Christian adults. This isn’t true – just because I lay down rules and enforce them does not make my children any more likely to become and stay a Christian than if we were any other religion. Even those who don’t follow Christ can have morals and laws to follow and be ‘good’ but it doesn’t make them Christian. Instead of rules, they need grace, like what God gave us when He sent His Son to eart
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Feb 02, 2012
Erika
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This book came highly recommended from a friend. I felt that the book taught an incredibly Biblical lesson, which is to give kids (and really, everyone) grace, which - I took - as synonymous with Jesus.
I have taken that idea and started using it, and feel so much better about the way I am parenting. I like giving my kids grace, which means I bring up Jesus taking away our sins, if we ask Him.
For example, "No, you can't love your sister right now, because only Jesus More...
I have taken that idea and started using it, and feel so much better about the way I am parenting. I like giving my kids grace, which means I bring up Jesus taking away our sins, if we ask Him.
For example, "No, you can't love your sister right now, because only Jesus More...
Jul 06, 2011
Kara
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I've always been a researcher. When I found out I was pregnant for the first time, I read everything I could get my hands on about pregnancy and birth. When I decided to homeschool, I did the same. It's just how I operate. In my 13 years as a parent, I've read literally dozens of books on parenting, discipline, and so on, and I must say that Give Them Grace stands out from them all!
This book truly represents a paradigm shift in how we approach obedience and discipline with our kids. If More...
This book truly represents a paradigm shift in how we approach obedience and discipline with our kids. If More...
Jan 23, 2012
Christine
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This book was very helpful to me: it dovetails beautifully with the book of Galatians reminding me that I am not the one who saves. Jesus is my righteousness and Jesus is the one who transforms lives. No amount of training can make my kids turn into who I want them to be.
I liked this book because it gave many different scenarios of how I can discipline my kids well and train them in the gospel, not just rules and morality. Why am I teaching them morality? Because I love Jesus and want More...
I liked this book because it gave many different scenarios of how I can discipline my kids well and train them in the gospel, not just rules and morality. Why am I teaching them morality? Because I love Jesus and want More...
Aug 17, 2011
Doug
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Very good book. Parenting is one area where we are all really prone to fall into the "it's all about the rules" mentality and this book is one resource that can help us get beyond that (and understand the proper place for rules and boundaries). I think the most helpful chapter, though, might be the one about understanding how God's grace applies to us a parents.
The practical application might be a bit of a weakness. Often what is given as a example of what to say to your ch More...
The practical application might be a bit of a weakness. Often what is given as a example of what to say to your ch More...
Feb 09, 2012
Greg
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Well, I have to say that this is now my number one book for Gospel Centred Parenting. This book covers it all. Written by a mother and grandmother team, who look at the mistakes they have made in their parenting to help us to avoid those mistakes with our kids. There are some very helpful tips on practical ways to implement the timeless Biblical principles that are paramount if we are wanting to parent as Christians. So many “Christian” parenting books miss More...
Well, I have to say that this is now my number one book for Gospel Centred Parenting. This book covers it all. Written by a mother and grandmother team, who look at the mistakes they have made in their parenting to help us to avoid those mistakes with our kids. There are some very helpful tips on practical ways to implement the timeless Biblical principles that are paramount if we are wanting to parent as Christians. So many “Christian” parenting books miss More...
Nov 03, 2011
Heather
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Pastor Adam gently recommended this book to me when I used the term "annoying" a couple times while discussing my kids with him ;) He said it had rocked he and his wife's world and that was all the endorsement I needed to give it a chance. I really did get a lot out of this book. It is not a how-to parenting guide. It is a total viewpoint shift. One of the main things I took away is that I shouldn't be overly concerned with my children's rule-following. Of course, rules are super impor
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Feb 19, 2012
Kristen
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Give Them Grace asks readers a very important question: how does believing the gospel change the way that you parent? The authors assert that if the way Christians parent is the same as a devout Muslim or Jew, there must be something wrong. I think this is a paradigm shift that is very important for Christian parents, and one that I have been excited to see more and more of in the last five to ten years.
The overall message of the book will be a balm to many readers. Resting in grace, p More...
The overall message of the book will be a balm to many readers. Resting in grace, p More...
Sep 28, 2011
Mandi
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I have read so many parenting books and each one was so good and I just couldn't wait to begin implementing what I had learned....only to eventually fizzle out and go back to my same old ways, feeling like a failure. My kids can attest to this, they know how often they rolled their eyes at me with an "Oh boy! Here she goes again." This book is soooo different. It shook the very foundations I had laid all of my parenting success on and showed me that my problem all this time was not wro
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Jul 06, 2011
TulipGirl
rated it:
Recommended. Adds in book form to the conversation that has been going on among Christians about what grace and the Gospel looks like in our families. Full review coming soon!
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This is the book I wish had been published twenty years ago.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes as a mother, and I know I’ll make plenty more. Yet each year the Lord seems to help me see more clearly my need for the grace of the Gospel in my life and in my parenting. I’ve discussed w More...
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This is the book I wish had been published twenty years ago.
I’ve made plenty of mistakes as a mother, and I know I’ll make plenty more. Yet each year the Lord seems to help me see more clearly my need for the grace of the Gospel in my life and in my parenting. I’ve discussed w More...
Feb 20, 2012
I am enjoying this book a lot. I am only on chapter 4 and have had great discussions with other moms about it. Some moms feel that it is unrealistic, but I personally have been encouraged by it. I personally think it is encouraging a mindset and not necessarily a "how to". It lets me off the hook of feeling unattainable pressure to perform and allow my own personal walk with Jesus to be the source and hopefully then my parenting will be an overflow of what He is teaching me.
Jun 23, 2011
Dan
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What does it mean to parent as a Christian and how is that (or should that) be different than what secular culture or other religions teach? That is what this book seeks to answer. Anyone can simply give rules. But because of the cross, we need grace and we need to give grace. This book goes one step further than "Gospel Powered Parenting" by not just providing the philosophical framework but by demonstrating more fully how to translate this into everyday life.
Jan 17, 2012
Sarah
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This book is fantastic, and was a breath of gospel air to a mama who is prone toward a legalistic "if you raise your kids this way, they will automatically turn out well" method. Very gospel-centered with a strong emphasis on God's work, not ours. Very helpful.
Oct 10, 2011
Eric
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I have been looking for a helpful elaboration and expansion of Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart. This is it and more! Fitzpatrick had me alternatively laughing out loud, crying, rejoicing, and praying. My own engagement with my boys has changed as a result of working through this. I plan to read it again soon with Alice as this is by far one of the best books on parenting I could possibly hope to find.
Jan 25, 2012
Emmie
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This book was a breath of fresh air from other parenting books. Do not get me wrong, I enjoy a variety of books on parenting, but this one was different. From the beginning Elyse and Jessica are clear that we cannot parent alone. Without Christ in our lives it is impossible! Though the title appears to imply that we should just give grace all of the time and never discipline, it is quite the opposite. It was beautiful to see how we give them grace all the time and discipline. They go hand in han
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Jul 28, 2011
Rob
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I'll be brief. Great philosophy, poorly written book. Just read the introduction and the appendices, skim the rest as quickly as you can, making sure to ignore the first 2-3 pages of each chapter entirely and you should get everything you need.
Feb 16, 2012
Wishing4
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This book gave me much to think about. I thought that some of the authors explainations to small children were too long. However, I do want to teach my children about grace and why we try to live the way we do. It did give me ideas.
Oct 10, 2011
LuAnne
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I don't usually read parenting books but I made an exception for this one as it was recommended by someone I trust. I loved it! I wish I had had this when my girls were young.
Jan 05, 2012
okay, so i've only read one chapter so far. but that one chapter was very good!
Nov 25, 2011
Omar
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This has been one of the most challenging and encouraging books I have read on the subject of parenting. The authors did a great job of continually pointing me away from self-reliance toward the gospel. I can't recommend it enough.
