Foundational Books: Family & Parent Faith Formation

Family Faith Formation

10 Building Blocks for a Solid Family 
Jim Burns (Regal, 2010)

10 Building Blocks for a Solid Family contains a vision and essential ingredients for creating a healthy home filled with joy, peace and love for God and each other. It is also a handbook of tips and techniques for making that vision a reality. You will hear personal stories from parents and family experts that explore every aspect of parenting—from helping children deal with stress to disciplining with consistency, from learning to play together to handling the influence of media and youth culture. You will also find discussion questions and tools that can help you identify problem areas, and guidance for addressing difficulties in a way that builds up, rather than tears down, your child.

Attract Families to Your Church and Keep Them Coming Back
Linda Ransom Jacobs (Abingdon Press, 2014)

Make your church more family friendly. Be the kind of church that families want to attend, where the church’s dynamic faith invites families who will then bring their friends. Vital churches need all kinds of families: two-parent families, blended families, boomerang families, adult children of divorce and their families or lack of families, single adults whose family is the church, grandparents parenting again, childless families, and children with three legal parents. With practical helps and suggestions for ministries, worship, small groups, and even facilities, author and family expert Linda Ranson Jacobs will help you create a welcoming place for everyone.

The Busy Family's Guide to Spirituality
David Robinson (Crossroad, 2009)

David Robinson helps families address modern-day challenges and cultivate a sense of togetherness and spiritual nurture. Each chapter of this book includes a practical lesson from the Benedictine traditions that have been cornerstones of Western Christian monastic life for millennia. Spiritual practice, making time, discipline, sharing, hospitality, and changing family dynamics are some of the topics addressed in this wise and wide-ranging handbook, while exercises, checklists, and ideas for family activities are included at the end of every chapter. The gentle, reassuring tone offers encouragement to both traditional and nontraditional families, and reinforces the importance of parenting as a spiritual calling.

Family Ministry: A Comprehensive Guide (Second Edition)
Diana Garland (IVP Books, 2012)

North American families are in crisis, and the need for family ministry is more evident than ever. In her many years of ministry, research and teaching, author Diana Garland has found that the strength of Christian families is rooted in their faith and nurtured in their congregations. Garland believes that Christian families gain strength in part because of their communities of faith. In this new edition Garland takes a three-pronged approach to family ministry, which includes developing families grounded in Christian faith, helping families live the teachings of Jesus with one another, and equipping and supporting families as they learn to serve others. The insights gained are organized into four main sections: The Context for Family Ministry; Family Formation; Family Dynamics; and Leading Family Ministry. Garland examines and fully integrates the historical, sociological, theological and biblical contexts to understand the role and meaning of family in the life of Christians and the church. She perceptively connects these explorations with the social and cultural context of the early twenty-first century.

Families and Faith: A Vision & Practice for Parish Leaders
Leif Kehrwald, editor. (Twenty-Third Publications, 2006)

Families and Faith provides practical ways and means for developing a vision and practice of partnership with parish families, including lots of ideas and strategies for helping families grow in faith. Topics include practical steps for connecting faith and life, family faith and spirituality, families and Christian practice, families and serving others. Its premise is that when the church of the home and the church of the parish work together, lasting faith formation occurs for all ages. Eight authors—all experienced in family and parish ministry—show how the family's ability to be a center of religious activity can be enkindled: Judith Dunlap, Kathleen Finley, Jenny Friedman, Leif Kehrwald, Mariette Martineau, James Merhaut, Mary Jo Pedersen, and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain. 

Holding Your Family Together
Rich Melheim (Regal, 2013)

Most parents today would never think of sending their children to bed without dinner, or without brushing their teeth, or without doing any of the other nightly routines to keep their kids healthy. However, these same parents will often overlook sharing their day together as a family, or spending time in the Word, or praying together. In Holding Your Family Together, Rich Melheim explains how in just five minutes each day, parents can instill practices that will transform their family and enable their children to grow into faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.He calls the practices the The Faith 5: 1) Sharing highs and lows of the day; 2) Reading: a key verse of scripture from Sunday’s preaching/teaching; 3) Talking about how the highs and lows relate to the Scripture and asking “What is God saying to my situation?”; 4) Praying for one another’s highs and lows; and 5) Blessing one another before turning out the lights on the day. 

Hopes and Fears: Everyday Theology for new Parents and Other Tired, Anxious People
Bromleigh McCleneghan & Lee Hull Moses (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2012)

Hopes and Fears: Everyday Theology for New Parents and Other Tired, Anxious People, is a joyous celebration of child-rearing in which any parent no matter how perfect can share. 'I want to have a happy and healthy marriage, and I want to have happy, faithful kids,' proclaims co-author McCleneghan in the introduction to the book. 'But I reject the pervasive cultural lie that a happy marriage and the faithful kids are somehow the byproducts of some rigorous and largely unattainable personal or moral perfection.' Thus, Hopes and Fears is neither a 'how-to' book nor a mere meditation. Rather, the authors seek to find the beautiful and the spiritual in the sometimes mundane activities that parents have performed since the beginning of history, while at the same time allowing beautiful and spiritual insights of the past to inform and shape the activities of modern parenting. Thus, the words of a hymn can trigger an idea about how to deal with bedtime, and an exercise in baby-naming can lead to a better understanding of a passage in Isaiah. The intertwining of the spiritual and familial in this book constantly surprises and delights: a quote from Paul Tillich can stand next to one from Tina Fey or What to Expect When You're Expecting.

Inside Out Families: Living the Faith Together
Diana Garland (Baylor University Press, 2010)

Utilizing the research methods for which she is well known, Diana Garland guides congregational leaders and counselors to encourage families to engage together in the Christian practice of service. The fruit of family service, she writes, is not only a deeper understanding of one another and of what God is doing in the world but also the reordering of a family’s values and time together. It is this communal service, she demonstrates, that will develop in children and adolescents a resilient faith that will carry them into adulthood – and, ultimately, prove essential to maintaining a vigorous, resilient faith in congregational life. Inside Out Families features stories of actual, ordinary families, and draws on findings from the Church Census Project and the Families and Faith Project.

The Power of God at Home: Nurturing Our Children in a Love and Grace
J. Bradley Wigger (Jossey-Bass, 2003)

Written for parents and educators, Brad Wigger provides both a biblical model and practical suggestions for helping the entire family become aware of God’s presence in everyday life. He reveals the powerful formative influence of family life and shows that homes are the places where some of the deepest, most important learning takes place. The Power of God at Home offers a refreshing perspective on family life, revealing families as potential bearers of God’s grace and blessing, and providing church leaders with insights on how to nurture faith at home more intentionally and thoughtfully. Chapters include: The Spiritual Power of Learning, The Story of Home, The Joy of Practice, and Sacred Connections.     

Prayers and Rituals for the Home: Celebrating the Life & Times of Your Family
Kathy Hendricks (Twenty-Third Publications, 2013)

This book shows how to easily infuse prayers and practices into daily routines and special occasions. Parents will learn how to personalize prayer for their own families, get suggestions for bringing Catholic spirituality into every corner of the home, and learn why prayer is so vital especially when it is most difficult and challenging. Parents will find new takes on traditional prayer methods like bedtime blessings and grace before meals. They ll find ideas for turning everyday actions such as driving to school or watching T.V. into opportunities for prayer. They ll get prayers and practices to use throughout the seasons, as well as ready-made prayers of blessing, thanksgiving, praise, and intercession from Scripture and the saints. 

Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Family's Experiment with Holy Time
MaryAnn McKibben Dana (Chalice Press, 2012)

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Yeah, right. Sabbath-keeping seems quaint in our 24/7, twenty-first century world. Life often feels impossibly full, what with work, to-do lists, kid activities, chores, and errands. And laundry… always and forever laundry. But the Sabbath isn't just one of the ten commandments; it is a delight that can transform the other six days of the week. Join one family's quest to take Sabbath to heart and change their frenetic way of living by keeping a Sabbath day each week for one year. With lively and compelling prose, MaryAnn McKibben Dana documents their experiment with holy time as a guide for families of all shapes and sizes. Tips are included in each chapter to help make your own Sabbath experiment successful. 

Sacred Matters: Religion and Spirituality in Families 
Wesley R. Burr, Loren D. Marks, and Randal D. Day (Routledge, 2012)

Sacred Matters explores the multi-disciplinary literature about the role of religion in family life and provides new research and a new theory about ways various aspects of the sacred are helpful and harmful. Sacred Matters features a new conceptual framework and theory about how, when, and why sacred matters influence family processes and outcomes. It begins with a review of the previous literature and then expands the research about sanctification to create a new general theory (or model) about ways sacred processes help and hinder families. Next the authors expand the theory and research about the role of forgiveness, sacrifice, and prayer in families. New theory and research are then added about loving, coping with conflict, dealing with undesirable behavior, generational relationships, morality, and the psychosocial aspects of religion.

Sacred Stories of Ordinary Families
Diana R. Garland (Jossey-Bass, 2003)

When families are faced with crises and challenges— unemployment, the untimely death of a family member, natural disasters and chronic illnesses— those who seem to weather the crisis best are often those who have an active spiritual dimension to their lives together. And in times of joy and celebration families with strong spiritual lives rejoice in deeper and more wondrous ways. But what exactly is it that characterizes faith and spirituality in family life? Identifying resilience, strength, and faith in the stories of all kinds of families, Sacred Stories of Ordinary Families motivates readers to think about how faith shapes their own family lives. Drawn from Diana R. Garland's extensive interviews with 110 families, this book includes stories from ordinary families whose lives together both reveal and rely on extraordinary faith.

Seamless Faith: Simple Practices for Daily Family Life
Traci Smith (Chalice Press, 2014)

"Faith is learned when it is woven seamlessly into the fabric of everyday life." In Seamless Faith, author Traci Smith shares dozens of simple practices to equip families of all kinds with the tools they need for bringing faith home. Filled with easy-to-organize traditions, ceremonies, and spiritual practices for many of life's stressful and faith-filled moments, this is a resource parents will rely on for years to come.

Seasons of a Family’s Life: Cultivating the Contemplative Spirit at Home 
Wendy M. Wright (Jossey-Bass, 2003)

Wendy Wright offers a reflective, story-filled, and inspirational examination of the spiritual fabric of domestic life. This practical and insightful book explores family life as a context for nurturing contemplative practices in the home. Rooted in an appreciation of our deep and wise spiritual traditions that probe the sacred alongside everyday human experience, Seasons of a Family's Life reveals a family life replete with sacred spaces, rituals that enrich our time together, shared family stories, and much more. It offers parents a model for integrating family life and spiritual awareness. Each chapter is a lesson in gaining an awareness of the joy in our experience as families and letting the sacred be more present in daily life. 

The Secrets of Happy Families
Bruce Feiler (William Morrow, 2013)

Best-selling author and New York Times family columnist Bruce Feiler found himself squeezed between aging parents and rising children. He set out on a three-year journey to find the smartest ideas, cutting-edge research, and novel solutions to make his family happier. Instead of the usual psychologists and family “experts,” he sought out the most creative minds from Silicon Valley to the country’s top negotiators, from the set of Modern Family to the Green Berets and asked what team-building exercises and problem-solving techniques they use with their families. Feiler then tested these ideas with his own wife and kids. The result is a fun, completely original look at how families can draw closer together, complete with 200 never-before-seen best practices. Feiler’s life-changing discoveries include: A radical plan that can reshape your family in 20 minutes a week; Warren Buffett’s guide for setting an allowance; and the Harvard handbook for resolving conflict. The Secrets of Happy Families is a timely, counterintuitive book that answers the questions countless parents are asking: How do we manage the chaos of our lives? How do we teach our kids values? How do we make our family happier?

Shaped by God: Twelve Essentials for Nurturing Faith in Children, Youth, and Adults 
Robert J. Keeley, editor (Faith Alive, 2010)

Faith formation doesn’t just happen—it’s a Spirit-led lifelong process of shaping and reshaping. In this accessible anthology, twelve experts share their perspectives on faith formation at home, in worship, in education, in intergenerational contexts, in people with developmental disabilities, and more. Chapters include: Biblical Foundations of Faith Formation: Faith Formation through Faith Practices; The Importance of Story in Faith Formation; Faith Formation at Home; Faith Formation through Worship, Sacraments and Education; Fostering Intergenerational Christian Community; Faith Formation and People with Developmental Disabilities; Recent Research; and Faith Formation in the Postmodern Matrix.

Shift—What It Takes to Finally Reach Families Today
Brian Haynes (Group Books, 2009)

Shift provides the tools for churches to make better use of seven rites of passage your church is most likely already celebrating—already marking as families move through their faith journey together: the birth of a baby, faith commitment, preparing for adolescence, commitment to purity, passage to adulthood, high school graduation, and life in Christ. As churches tap into the natural patterns of child development and family, leaders will be able to motivate parents when they’re most open to shaping their children’s faith. Shift puts family discipleship at church and at home on one simple, common path. 

Something Greater: Culture, Family, and Community as Living Story
Jeanne Choy Tate (Wipf and Stock, 2013)

Will the next generation still honor the values of caring for others and contributing to community life? The psychology of individualism that underlies American life is no longer adequate to guide a future filled with diversity. America's children may have wings to soar into the future, but they lack roots connecting them to a shared heritage. Something Greater explores the impact of individualism on American child-rearing practices, and its inability to deal with diversity while sustaining life together in families and communities. By contrasting the intergenerational values of biblical and Chinese communities and current infant research with her own experiences in San Francisco's Chinatown, the author reveals how the living stories of heritage that lie at the heart of human development speak to a deep American hunger for shared values and connectedness in family and community. 

Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids
Kara Powell and Chap Clark (Zondervan, 2011)

Fuller Youth Institute Executive Director Dr. Kara E. Powell and youth expert Chap Clark use research from the Fuller Youth Institute's "College Transition Project" to empower parents with positive and practical ideas to nurture within their kids a living, loving faith that lasts a lifetime. Sticky Faith delivers. Research shows that almost half of graduating high school seniors struggle deeply with their faith. Recognizing the ramifications of that statistic, the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI) conducted the "College Transition Project" in an effort to identify the relationships and best practices that can set young people on a trajectory of lifelong faith and service. Based on FYI findings, this easy-to-read guide presents both a compelling rationale and a powerful strategy to show parents how to actively encourage their children's spiritual growth so that it will stick to them into adulthood and empower them to develop a living, lasting faith. 

The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family
Kara E. Powell (Zondervan, 2014)

The Sticky Faith Guide for Your Family addresses one of the top current concerns about youth and the church: the reality that nearly half of all young people raised in Christian families walk away from their faith when they graduate from high school. That’s the bad news. But here’s the good news: research also shows that parents are one of the primary influences on their child’s faith. This book arises from the innovative, research-based, and extensively field-tested project known as “Sticky Faith,” designed to equip parents with insights and ideas for nurturing long-term faith in children and young people. First, it’s grounded in sophisticated, academically verified data. The chapter topics correlate with parenting principles proven in national research. Second, it is positive. this book leaves parents empowered and hopeful that even little tweaks to their family rhythms can make a big difference. Third, it is practical. Readers get what they want most: more than 100 ideas from other parents they can try today, this week, or this month.

Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide
Reggie Joiner (David C. Cook, 2009)

Reggie Joiner looks at what would happen if the church and families combined their efforts to create a revolutionary strategy to affect the lives of children. Families and churches are each working hard to build faith in kids, but imagine the potential results when the two environments synchronize, maximizing their individual efforts. What can the church do to empower the family? How can the family emphasize the work of the church? They can Think Orange. Think Orange shows church leaders how to make radical changes so they can: engage parents in an integrated strategy; synchronize the home and church around a clear message; provoke parents and kids to fight for their relationships with each other; recruit mentors to become partners with the family; and mobilize the next generation to be the church.

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Parent Faith Formation

Boomerangs to Arrows: A Godly Guide for Launching Young Adult Children
Sharon Norris Elliott (Judson Press, 2013)

In the face of high unemployment rates, rising costs of living, economic recession, and the present generation’s general malaise, many parents feel obligated to offer prolonged housing and financial assistance to young adult offspring. But as time passes, how can these boomerang children be transformed into arrows loosed from the parental quiver? Boomerangs to Arrows empowers parents to prepare themselves and their adult children for the time when those kids must be launched into independent, grown-up lives.

Confident Parent
Jim Burns (Bethany House, 2007)

To counter the usual trial-and-error method of parenting, Jim Burns offers time-tested advice and strategies for today’s busy families. Infused with his signature candidness and practicality, each chapter explores a different aspect of parenting—from breaking generational chains of dysfunction and creating a warm atmosphere at home to handling discipline issues and blessing your children with a legacy of faith. Helpful follow-up exercises and questions along the way reinforce the basics of good parenting and provide a foundation for developing your own family plan. You won’t find any quick fixes here, but you will learn how to make a positive difference in your family.

Common Sense Parenting (Third Edition)
Ray Burke, Ron Herron, and Bridget Barnes (Boys Town Press, 2006)

Common Sense Parenting® provides parents with a menu of proven techniques that will aid them in building good family relationships, preventing and correcting misbehavior, using consequences to improve behavior, teaching self-control, and staying calm. The book shows parents how to approach discipline as positive teaching rather than punishment of their children. Encouraging children by recognizing their good behavior and teaching before problems occur are as important as correcting children’s negative behavior. Parents also learn how to help children solve problems, reach goals by using charts and contracts, and practice new social skills. As each new parenting technique is introduced, the authors explain each step, provide many clear examples, and give parents an action plan for implementing it in their home. 

Common Sense Parenting of Toddlers and Preschoolers
Bridget Barnes and Steven York (Boys Town Press, 2006)

Common Sense Parenting® of Toddlers and Preschoolers shows parents how discipline can be more about teaching than punishment and more positive than negative for parent and child. Included is information on: setting reasonable expectations based on a child’s age, development, and abilities; using a parent’s version of “show and tell” to both prevent problems and correct misbehavior; using praise like a compass, helping a child stay on the right path; creating plans for staying calm for parents and child; using consistency, consequences, and practice to help a child learn what parents expect of him or her; celebrating special rituals and everyday routines as family traditions.

Embracing Parents: How Your Congregation Can Strengthen Families 
Jolene and Eugene Roehlkepartain (Abingdon Press, 2004)

Based on the results of 2002 poll of 1,005 parents by the Search Institute and the YMCA, this book presents true stories, quizzes, checklists, and practical tools that congregations can use to become more effective in working with parents and strengthening family life. Embracing Parents challenges pastors and other church leaders to expand their vision, to become proactive in meeting the needs of families, and to provide a key place where parents and their children can grow. The first five chapters report on the five major findings from the research. Chapter Six provides tools and ideas for equipping and supporting parents; Chapter Seven describes how to unleash the power of the congregation. 

For Heaven’s Sake! Parenting Preschoolers Faithfully 
Marilyn Sharpe (Quill House, 2010) (www.forheavens-sake.com)

Parenting is a quintessentially spiritual journey. Based on thirty years of gathering incredible parents every week to share their stories, struggles, triumphs, and lived wisdom, this realistic, encouraging, and supportive book is a treasure for all who want to nurture faith in Jesus Christ in the home. Full of practical suggestions for daily life together, this book will be a parents’ companion and guide as they navigate this formative time in a child’s life, while using proven methods for raising great preschoolers.

Generation to Generation: Practical & Creative Ideas for Raising Kids to Know & Love God
Wayne Rice (Standard Publishing, 2010)

In this intensely practical book, author, parent, and youth ministry expert Wayne Rice challenges parents to enjoy their roles as the primary spiritual caregivers for their children. Generation to Generation provides creative ways to communicate lasting values through family traditions and everyday family routines, tips for leading family devotions, ideas for encouraging children to grow in faith in their teen years, useful tips to help blended and single-parent families share their faith and values. There are also effective and easy-to-use ideas to help strengthen faith and knowledge through family life.

The Handbook for Catholic Moms: Nurturing Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul
Lisa M. Hendey (Ave Maria Press, 2010)

Drawing from the deep tradition of the Catholic faith, Lisa Hendey, the creator of the popular CatholicMom.com website, coaches Catholic moms how to care for themselves—heart, mind, body, and soul—so that they can better love and care for their families, their neighbors, and their Church. With warmth and wisdom, Hendey creates an environment where Catholic moms can reflect peacefully upon often-competitive topics like parenting style, types of schooling, and working outside the home.

Home Grown: Handbook for Christian Parenting
Karen DeBoer (Faith Alive, 2010)

This handbook gives parents practical, real-world advice about how to help their kids know and love God. Karen DeBoer’s practical approach to Christian parenting, combined with the insights of a panel of experts like Elizabeth Caldwell and Karen-Marie Yust, makes this book a valuable resource for how to build a home where the whole family can grow in faith together. Topics include: How can I help my kids trust God when they’re worried or bad things happen? How do I explain tough things like death and divorce? Is it okay that we don’t have family devotions? How can I make our home a place where my kids’ faith will grow?

Launching Your Teen into Adulthood: Parenting through Transition
Patricia Hoolihan (Search Institute, 2008)

Using this thoughtful guide, parents can help older teens confidently navigate the issues and developmental transitions that will inevitably arise as they prepare to leave home. This road map for mentoring and advising young people to make good choices from a positive, strength-based perspective covers such topics as finding a good fit for school and work, dealing with money, living independently, setting goals, caring for personal needs, dealing with emotional challenges, handling new relationships, and developing a future-focused orientation. Each chapter also includes checklists, interviews, and resource sheets for parents and teens.

The Legacy Path: Discover Intentional Spiritual Parenting
Brian Haynes (Randall House, 2011)

The Legacy Path provides a clear plan for parents as they seek to influence the faith of the next generation. Brian Haynes wants to take parents down the path of intentional spiritual parenting. The destination is a new generation of children emerging as adults who know how to love God and love people. This new generation will also know how to equip their own children to do the same. The Legacy Path gives parents great insight into biblical principles necessary for proper parenting. The seven Legacy Milestones created by Brian Haynes are explained with practical application. 

Love, Warmth, and Discipline: Lessons from Boys Town for Successful Parenting
Val J. Peter (Our Sunday Visitor, 2010)

We’ve all been challenged by our children at one time or another—but what about every day, by dozens of kids of all ages and backgrounds? Now parents, teachers, counselors, and pastors can benefit from the collective wisdom of Boys Town, one of the most successful programs for troubled youth in the country. In the form of “dispatches from the front,” former director of Boys Town Father Val J. Peter shares these skills so that you, too, can help the young people in your life develop the virtues, self-esteem, resilience, and moral code that will sustain them throughout their lives.

Momology: A Mom’s Guide to Shaping Great Kids
Shelly Radic (Revell, 2010)

Mothering is part art, part science, and always a work in progress! Backed by more than thirty years of research-based ministry at MOPS International, Momology is designed to help moms be the unique mothers God created the  to be—because better moms make a better world. The chapters are developed around four key concepts: knowing who we are; knowing what we’re capable of; knowing who we can count on; and knowing who God is.

MomSense: A Common-Sense Guide to Confident Mothering
Jean Blackmer (Revell, 2011)

With personal stories from real moms and proven, practical advice, MomSense helps mothers honestly assess their skills, embrace their mothering instincts, and develop their own unique mothering style. Rather than pushing one “right” way to be a mom, this hope-filled book shows mothers that they can have contentment, joy, and confidence in their role as Mom. The chapters are organized into three sections: Discovering Your MomSense, Practicing Your MomSense, and Beyond Your MomSense. 

Now That They Are Grown: Successfully Parenting Your Adult Children
Ronald J. Greer (Abingdon Press, 2012)

We don’t stop being parents when our kids are grown...but some things do change.We don’t stop being parents when our kids are grown...but some things do change. Life is filled with change. As our sons and daughters move into young adulthood, our role of what it means to be loving parents changes dramatically. This book aims to help readers miss as many potholes as possible in making the transition from parenting children to being parents of young adults. Here are ways to nurture our adult children while encouraging their independence and maturity. Learn to have balance. Here is how to respond to them in times of struggle. Readers will see how to be supportive, yet not intrusive, caring without enabling dependency.

Parenting (Christian Explorations of Daily Living)
David H. Jensen (Fortress Press, 2011)

Parenting attempts to show how central Christian convictions inform the age-old practices of parenting and how the experience and practice of parenting shape Christian faith today. By paying special attention to some of the challenges and issues of parenting in a globalized world, the book offers a fresh theological vision of parenting that promotes justice, human flourishing, and recognition that all people are children of God. 

Parenting Preschoolers with a Purpose
Jolene Roehlkepartain (Search Institute, 2006)

Parents will love the practical, creative ideas in Parenting Preschoolers with a Purpose. This resource promotes the physical, social, and emotional well-being of children 3 to 5 years old and their parents while enhancing the parent-child relationship. Included are innovative approaches that provide answers to 40 everyday issues such as bedwetting, discipline, sibling relationships, eating, bath time and rebellion. Also presented are simple and effective solutions to 15 common challenges that parents face—finances, isolation, job demands, guilt, sleep deprivation, and more. 

Parenting Preteens with a Purpose
Kate Thompson (Search Institute, 2008)

How can parents raise preteens to the best of their ability, encourage their responsible and caring actions, and maintain a strong sense of self? This nurturing, research-based guide offers tips, checklists, and solutions to common parenting topics, including preteen friendships, clothes and hair preferences, after-school hours, and finding a work/home balance. Sympathetic, respectful, and grounded in the Developmental Assets, this handbook provides abundant “on-the-job” support to parents.    

Parenting Your Adult Child: Keeping the Faith (and your sanity)
Susan V. Vogt (Franciscan Media, 2011)

It is eighteen years after the birth of your child. He is now stronger than you. She is now taller than you. Either one of them can work a cell phone faster, text message, or design a Web page while you're still reading the newspaper. How did your baby grow up so quickly? As a parent, do you have anything left to say to your son or daughter? Is there anything your child still needs to hear from you—or will tolerate you saying? Parenting Your Adult Child addresses  thorny issues as: When to rescue and when to not. When to push and when to restrain yourself. How to keep your faith when your child seems to be abandoning it. How to forgive yourself for the mistakes you made in parenting along the way. How to move into an adult/adult relationship with this amazing person you have raised. 

Please Pass the Faith: The Art of Spiritual Grandparenting
Elsie H.R. Rempel (Herald Press, 2012)

By 2030, almost one-third of North Americans will be over age 65. How will this affect the church? Author Elsie Rempel believes that the swelling ranks of new seniors represent a huge spiritual resource. InPlease Pass the Faith she draws from real life and from Christian formation experts in helping seniors and other adults foster relationships with children and youth. She also offers practical ideas for integrating children and youth into church life-all the while nurturing one's own spiritual life as an elder.

The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development
Walt Mueller (Youth Specialties/Zondervan, 2009)

For many parents, raising children seems pretty manageable until the teenage years. The “normal” changes of adolescence seem to be nothing but abnormal to parents who begin to feel like helpless bystanders. Walt Mueller brings wisdom from research and his own experience to help parents through the tumultuous years of adolescence. With empathy and practical tools, parents will address important issues, including: How can I begin to facilitate a smoother adolescent period for my teen? How can I begin to break through the walls of confusion, fear, frustration, and misunderstanding? How can I be a positive and proactive bridge-builder in the life and world of my teenager? 

Sparks: How Parents Can Help Ignite the Hidden Strengths of Teenagers
Peter L. Benson. (Jossey-Bass, 2008)

In this practical book, Dr. Peter Benson, a leading authority on childhood and adolescence, describes a simple yet powerful plan for awakening the spark that lives inside each and every young person. Sparks—when illuminated and nurtured—give young people joy, energy, and direction. They have the power to change a young person’s life from one of “surviving” to “thriving.” Grounded in new research with thousands of teenagers and parents, Sparks offers a step-by-step approach to helping teenagers discover their unique gifts, and works for all families, no matter their economic status, parenting situation, or ethnic background. The simple steps are: 1) Recognize the Power of Sparks, 2) Know Your Own Teenager, 3) Help Discover and Reveal Your Teen’s Sparks, 4) Be the Captain of Your Teen’s Spark Team, and 5) Keep Your Teen’s Spark Lit.

Teen-ology: The Art of Raising Great Teenagers
Jim Burns (Bethany House, 2010)

The questions and concerns never stop when it comes to parenting teens—especially these days, when culture is throwing more and more unhealthy things at our kids. Add teenage hormones, rebellion, and experimentation to the mix, and it’s no wonder so many families are suffering. It doesn’t have to be this way, though. Teen expert Jim Burns provides you with real-life answers and advice for navigating this ever-changing season in your child’s life. Tackling even the most sensitive topics, he shows how you can give your teen the tools to make wise decisions about: dating and sexuality; the Internet and social media; music, TV, and movies; faith matters; and much more. Complete with a guide to common problems ranging from homework hassles to drug and alcohol use, this encouraging book can help you be the parent your teen needs.