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Parenting Resources

It is tough to fully trace out where our parenting philosophy came from, but we have a very definite philosophy. The Bible is first and foremost the source we trust, but here are some other places we either used or were influenced by. Of course, we didn't use websites tons at that time, it was primarily books. :)

It is important to use wisdom and prayer, realizing people are fallible. God is not.

http://www.doorposts.com/default.aspx

http://nogreaterjoy.org/

http://www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com/  This website was called "A Trip to the Woodshed" when it was first started. It was the only website I went to for advice as far as I can recall. It was a nice group of parents with similar parenting ideals.

We also learned a lot from Preparation for Parenting, Preparation for the Toddler Years and Growing Kids God's Way. I am not as eager to promote that because I think the first in the series, Preparation for Parenting, needs to be used with a lot of temperance. It is easy to take it too far and be too rigid with your child. The wrong personality coupled with that resource, and you won't have the best mixture. IF you use that resource, or the non-Christian counterpart, On Becoming Babywise, please read this: http://www.raisinggodlytomatoes.com/reviews-babywise.php article. Not nursing enough can be a real problem and I agree with the Raising Godly Tomatoes article and did nurse my babies often when they were under 6 months. One did great on the 3 hr rotation, but it was different for each one.

The caution to be sensible goes for some of the No Greater Joy resources as well. That said, Growing Kids God's Way did give us some good insight and I believe doing the feed/wake/sleep cycle helped my kids get into a solid routine early on. Since I breastfed, it was helpful to have some guidelines. I really don't recall much of an impression from the Toddler resource; I think I was in the throes of parenting as that one was gone through after the other two in the series.

The biggest benefit to much of these resources was teaching us to be proactive and purposeful in our parenting rather than reactionary. Doing additional research on sleep, TV watching, and music and the brain,  these materials have given me the view I have of parenting. The result thus far has been obedient, happy, healthy children and a well-ordered home. My kids are 9, 11 and 13 and they get along with each other and us. It was not a scene of chaos when they were younger either. They've always been able to sit still and focus; I wasn't a mother who needed to chase my children around when they were toddlers.

People have told me for more than a year to just "wait", and that the enjoyable relationships we have will change. It is just expected to have attitude problems and angst apparently, but accepting that standard often brings it about I think.

See my other post on some more resources of 'must read' books for the Christian homemaker and mother.



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