Parenting Revisited

http://www.savagechickens.com/2009/02/the-5-styles-of-parenting.html

As I've said before, I could never write a book on parenting.  In fact I have seriously wondered what kind of Christian would ever feel qualified to write such a book.  Call me cynical, but I generally take what others have to say with a huge amount of skepticism unless I know them personally, or unless they are leading me directly to the scriptures.

It's probably not a coincidence that many of the "experts" (aka: authors) on child rearing are people with no more than two children, children with at least a four year gap between their births, and children with female names.  Seriously!  I used to read the author's bio before reading anything related to parenting, and many times found this to be true.

With the internet it's now possible to learn more about an author than you'd ever care to know.  Tragically some of the parenting "experts" are estranged from their own adult children, leaving me to wonder about the wisdom of their teaching.  Some "experts" I can find no information whatsoever to indicate whether they are even parents themselves.  Maybe I'm peculiar, but I'd rather learn from someone who has at least raised children and not just studied them in counseling sessions.

Ultimately no author has walked in my huaraches or lived with my particular family with all our individual quirks and oddities.  What do they know about effectively raising my brood?  That's why I rely heavily on the Holy Spirit and only gather bits and pieces from different parenting approaches.  I'd say I have failed at following even the good, biblical-sounding philosophies of child rearing with any degree of consistency.

Nowadays some people may argue that I did a fair job raising at least the first four.  There is some debate among those same four regarding my spoiling training of the younger three.  ("Mom!  You treat them like they are your grandchildren, not your children...." is a recurrent accusation.) The jury is still out.  I still hold to my stance from this earlier post:  No Credit, No Blame; No Brag, Just Fact.

Today I leave you with a link to an author who, like me, has no intention of writing a book on parenting.  If he did, he said he might call it "The Inmates are Running the Asylum."  Don't you love that?  You can read Parenting 101 by Kevin DeYoung here. I'm not familiar with his blog except for what I read on this particular post, so don't assume I am endorsing him.

Enjoy!