FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

AUTHENTIC PARENTING IN A POSTMODERN CULTURE

by Mary E. DeMuth

(Harvest House)

Reader Appeal: Parents

Genre: Devotional

One of the greatest fears every Christian parent has is that their children will one day rebel, make life-damaging choices, and sway from Christ. No Christian parent can honestly claim the thought hasn’t plagued them, especially in today’s sensual, post-modern, and amoral world.

The problem is, many young parents are dealing with so many spiritual issues themselves that the added burden of “training a child in the way he should go” is like the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Today’s generation of parents primarily come from an era in which their faith was dictated to them, rather than modeled, explained, taught, and passed on, so they feel a bit lost and confused themselves as they face a new generation of youth who have been primed from birth to question, test, and push the boundaries of authority.

Authentic Parenting in A Postmodern Culture, by Mary DeMuth, is an excellent devotional speaking to the issue of navigating these confusing waters.  Don’t let the “postmodern” in the title scare you off; this is a guide for finding new, relevant ways to teach unchangeable, bedrock Biblical values to our children in perhaps one of the most turbulent of all ages. 

Using plain, practical language, DeMuth proposes all the same core, essential truths of the gospel we’ve all been taught, but along the way she highlights many different types of parenting, modeling, and relational practices that can better help parents not only pass on these values, but help root them firmly in their children’s lives.

One of the highest points of the devotional is its strong emphasis on parents building a relationship with their children, and modeling the Christian walk through this, rather than browbeating lectures and force-fed Bible reading. It certainly plays to the “more is caught than taught” rule; because our children watch and model every single thing we do and say; so not only do our actions prove our instruction false if they’re contrary, what better way to foster a belief in our children of a loving God that desires a relationship with them, than modeling that relationship as they grow up?

FAMILYFANS RATING: A

--KL

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.