Toot-Toot

Well, forgive me for tooting my own horn (and that that was oozing with cheese), but I just finished my second book of the year. That's pretty good for me since I'm not sure I finished two books in the last decade. I think I'm getting the hang of this reading thing. I'm trying to carry my book around with me so that if I have an extra, quiet minute (which is rare with a 14 mo old), I can spend it reading. Or if I don't feel like over-exerting myself at the gym, then I'll read while on the bike. It really makes the work out fly by (which is always a plus.)

So for my next book I have started reading Hearts and Minds by Kenneth Boa and John Alan Turner. It's about raising your child with a Christian view of the world. We received this book at our Preschool Parenting Weekend recently. The foreword and introduction were really good. (sidenote: I never used to read these until Josh told me that I should cause they were part of the book too. I thought it must not be that important or they'd have stuck it in the body of the book. But reading them is actually helpful...it sort of lays the foundation for what's to come. Isn't that brilliant?) Here's a bit of the intro: "There's other good books that deal with how to get your child to sleep through the night or sit still at the dinner table. We're more concerned with how you can help your children to see the world as it really is, to understand the world and their place in it, and to give them a filter through which they can interpret life as it is happening...That's why we're going to focus less on child rearing and more on how parents can live in a way that demonstrates a life of faith to their children." It seems like they're emphasizing less parenting techniques that control your child's behavior and more on getting him to think for himself with a godly perspective. I admit I get a little nervous when I think about what a huge responsibility parenting is. I worry if I'm doing enough or following the right techniques. But really the greatest thing I can do for Lily as her mom is to pursue Christ. "The kind of person you are will have a longer-lasting effect on your children than your parenting techniques."
(You can check out excerpts from the book by clicking on the title over to the right...)