does a great job of balancing principle with practicality in this book, Encouraged to hear someone else's similar view that children are capable human beings that can and should value work in all stages of life.
Highly recommend! This book is packed full of inspiring thoughts and practical tips, The author delves into related topics such as money management, tithing, selfcontrol, and other general parenting tips that are related to teaching your children work ethic.
The book did start to feel a little long to me, I think it would be great if you had it on your bedside table and just read a chapter or two a week to stay motivated, but reading it straight through became tedious and felt a little redundant at times.
Overall its definitely one I would recommend for Christian parents,.! Practical, biblical, amp utterly convicting! A tad long/a little repetitive in places but I would say its a Must read for anyone seeking to understand a practical theology of work and how to impart it to your kids! I especially loved that praying for God to work in and through our kids was at the center of it all.
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Wow so convicting, Every parent needs to read this book, We are buckling down on housework thanks to Mrs, Beeke! In Teach Them to Work, Mary Beeke warmly exhorts parents to cultivate in their children a Godhonoring work ethic, thus giving them "the inestimable privilege of serving others".
She begins with a theology of work, namely that we are made not just to work but to find meaning in our work and satisfaction in a job well done.
She then devotes several chapters to helping parents with the practicalities of motivating kids to work in all kinds of different ways, from helping with household chores, to finding a vocation, to serving those less fortunate.
Sixteen years of teaching teenagers plus raising my own kids has helped me to appreciate all the barriers that kids in the West face in developing a healthy work ethic.
The ubiquity of smart phones and gaming, the constant pressure kids feel to succeed academically at the expense of gaining real life experiences, the fact that the very air they breathe is suffused with attitudes of entitlement and materialismnone of this is much help in learning how put the old nose to the grindstone.
I share Beeke's conviction that "integrity and diligence will carry a young person far in the world world, . . even further than intelligence". At the end of the day, I care more about my kids' work ethic and attitude than their academic success, so I was primed for this book and eager to learn from Beeke.
There is so much to like here, First, I loved Beeke's authorial voice, A seasoned teacher and parent, Beeke writes with the authority of someone worth learning from, but not without gentleness and true humility, She seems like a nice person, in the best sense of the word,
Beeke also helped clarify for me whether to give kids money for their chores, In case anyone is curious, she advocates for a mixed approach: Some chores kids must do simply because they are contributing members of the household, while other special, and perhaps more advanced, jobs can be done for money.
I was already leaning in this direction, so it was helpful to read how someone else works it out,
There are also loads of practical strategies throughout this book, One, for us, is worth its weight in gold and so deliciously simple:
My only criticism of the book has to do with organization, It's a bit too long and, at times, repetitive, The book is divided up into two sections, "Parental Principles" and "Practical Principles" but, in practice, these sections read very much in the same way: exhortations peppered with practical strategies.
I struggled to see how the divisions were meaningful in any way,
Also, it may be helpful for some to know that Beeke subscribes to the King James Only view, so get ready for lots of thee's and thou's in the Scripture passages that she cites.
I do not subscribe to this view and could have done with a different translation, but I found it an easy thing to get past.
Overall, a very helpful and encouraging book, and one that has had an immediate impact on our family, I enjoyed the book! Practical and encouraging, I thought the listing of many examples was helpful and loved the sections speaking about how to parent children with different interests, gifts, learning styles/preferences, and the relation of how to teach children budgeting.
Best parenting book Ive read in a long time, Not the biggest fan of the reader of the audio book she's read a number of other Christian books by female authors and she even misspronounced the author's name kind of weird that no one caught that.
In terms of the actual content there were a few things I disagreed with But over all I appreciated that the book was very practical and helpful and that in included stories from a wide variety of families, though all these family's did seem to be in the author's somewhat narrow Dutch reformed community.
I checked this out on Hoopla, and listened to it in audiobook form, :
While I didn't agree with absolutely everything Mrs Beeke wrote, this was an extremely thoughtprovoking book, It has certainly given me a lot to consider as my husband and I have just begun the process of raising our children.
One of the character traits we pray over their lives is for a work ethic that is reflective of a life dedicated to Christ.
There was a lot of practical advice and Godly encouragement to be found in these pages, I will likely go back and read this again, I liked some parts more than others, but as a collection it really covers a lot of important ground, and is very good.
My wife and I were both reading this individually, and I foresee a more profitable pass through this book would be the two of us comparing notes and getting a plan together.
Thankful for the Beekes ministry and for the practical, Biblical wisdom shared here, A short, encouraging read that was decently inspiring for me to want to work harder and instill a good work ethic in my children.
However, the organization was a little hard to follow, and there were quite a few tangents or stories that made me forget what the book was supposed to be about because they felt so unrelated to the topic.
I do like that she gets into scriptural reasons for working hard, as well as some less obvious elements of encouraging a good attitude toward work.
But whether she meant to or not, the book normalizes some behavior that I found pretty appalling, Obviously, our children have sin in their hearts, But to say that our children, as teenagers, might scream at us and throw themselves onto the floor in response to us putting our foot down, is a tacit acknowledgement that small sins were not dealt with when those kids were small.
So she is either giving an example of what might happen when someone tries to make up for lost time and try to teach their kids to work when they are older though she doesnt clarify, OR this is something normal to expect for everyone, which I think is just wrong.
The other part I found a bit strange was in her discussion on being mindful of our emotional state while trying to be diligent with our kids.
I think that her main point was wise and good, But in the section about being aware of your PMS, she basically just says to tell your husband to be extra nice to you, warn your kids, and take it easy.
There was no call to practice self control! So that was kind of icky,
I really enjoyed the examples of families incorporating work, and they were honestly the most inspiring part of the whole book.
Every mention of what kinds of tasks kids can do at particular ages was very helpful, I just wanted something a bit more fleshed out, like "Here's a general guideline of what you can expect from youryear old.
" Or "Here's an example chore chart for youryear old, "
I'm not bummed I read this, but I don't know how enthusiastically I will recommend it, A great primer to summer,
If you grew up working, this book will feel like a hug,
If you grew up without working a lot this book will feel like a challenge but with MANY MANY practical helps,
If you grew up wanting to be a YouTube influencer, this book will feel like a foreign language,
I enjoyed it the end did start to feel repetitive, A lot of tips for those naturally inclined toward work and those less inclined, Straightforward, convicting, practical amp Biblical, A MUST READ for every parent! I absolutely loved this book, It is full of practical ideas and biblical principles, I really liked that Mary presented various views on how to handle issues such as screen time, money allowance, house work, teens working outside the home and more.
I am thankful that my own parents instilled a good work ethic in my sister and I as they homeschooled us as an adult, I see how it cultivated the virtue of diligence in our lives.
I am very excited to apply these many of these ideas in my own future children, Highly recommend this book if you are a parent or desire to be,.Lots of fantastic reminders! I'm very grateful to have read this book at this point in my parenting, The truths I knew and consistently practiced when myyear old was young I have slipped on with my little ones, Withchildren I have to admit it's often just easier to have the capable and eagertoserve do all the tasks, But this is lazy. I immediately began to implement things Mary writes about and have seen fruitful results, If you've read other Christian parenting books over the lastdecades you will see bits of all of them in Teach Them to Work.
It doesn't make this book repetitive or unnecessary, we need many, many reminders as we run the marathon of parenting,
Not abecause of the introduction, If you aren't covenental just be aware that there will be theology you will disagree with, I just checked off a book fromGospel eBooks reading challenge, It was a themed challenge where I read "a book that will help you be a better spouse or parent",
This book is divided into two sections, The first chapterslays the foundation, explaining the Scriptural basis for the goodness of work, parental authority, and general concepts related to the family and raising kids.
It is section two chapterswhere it gets practical, teaching parents how to raise good workers preparing them for adult life, Beeke covers a wide variety of topics such as time usage, identifying talents, taking care of their possessions, rewards and consequences, working hard, attitudes, and more.
It's been many years since I read a parenting book, and this one ranks among the top, It took a niche topic, and covered it exhaustively with a perfect blend of scriptural fidelity, wisdom, and grace, Highly recommended. I enjoyed how this book intertwined the biblical and practical aspects of parenting, While I do not have
children yet, I found this book helpful in teaching me how I hope to raise covenant children one day, Lord willing.
I also found it helpful in analyzing my own childhood and my parents methods of parenting, I found it natural to apply the wisdom the book carried in my classroom, the place where I often feel like both the educator and the parent of my students.
This encouraged me while reminding me that child rearing and teaching children is a challenging, but worth while ministry, I think Ill read again in a few years when I begin to have children of my own! Id definitely recommend to parents of children in any season, as well as people who have been parented and/or hope to be parents themselves!
Feels like sitting down for coffee with a mentor.
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Catch Teach Them To Work: Building A Positive Work Ethic In Our Children Developed By Mary Beeke Presented As File
Mary Beeke