Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens

What an encouraging and challenging book for parents. Tripp doesn't pull any punches in this outstanding book that challenges parents to be more deliberate and intentional about their parenting. The primary emphasis of the book is getting through to parents that raising children is not about how they look, how well they score on some standardized test, or how many touchdowns they score, but ultimately if they have a heart for God. Tripp first deals with the perspective of parents on this issue refocusing them on what's really important, then he dives in to encourage parents to pursue their teens and accept this stage of parenting as a God-given opportunity instead of dreading it and working to avoid it at all costs. Tripp encourages parents to find a balance between protecting them from the world and allowing them to assimilate themselves into the world. Tripp knows that many parents of teens are tired and worn out - but he thinks that the reason is because they are spending too much time and energy addressing the wrong thing. Tripp warns parents that they should not focus on behavior modification, but be willing to spend the time and energy to find out the root causes which underlie their behavior. One theme constantly running through Age of Opportunity is the emphasis given to conversation - parents making the effort to talk with their children While the intended audience is parents with teenage children, much of the sage advice is applicable to parents with any age children and the book might be a better read for parents before their children hit the teen years. Outstanding book, easy-to-read, biblically sound, challenging and encouraging - Age of Opportunity has my highest recommendation.

I recently read this volume in my role as a biblical counselee, as my wife and I sought pastoral advice on how to deal scripturally with our rebellious teenage daughter. Having heard the author speak, both live and on tape, I knew that we would receive powerful medicine straight from the Scriptures, and I was not disappointed. "Age of Opportunity" was written for hurting parents of teens by someone who was himself a hurting parent of teens, to give hope and help in the struggle. Paul Tripp knows exactly what it's like to be down in the trenches doing battle with our rebellious offspring, and he paints his pictures in stark, real-life terms. When he writes, he does so from first-hand experience, but with a godly wisdom and a deep humility born of many years seeking after the heart of God -- who is Himself the greatest of fathers and who knows what it's like to handle rebellious children. The book opens with a call to stay in the fight, to shed the world's "if I can only survive until they reach age 18" mentality. God has uniquely positioned and equipped every Christian parent to model Christ and shape the hearts of their children. The real battle starts when we get a correct perspective on our role as parents, and who our kids are in the sight of God. From there, the author backs up the dump truck and unloads heaps of great scriptural advice on how to recognize where your teen is spiritually, and how to go for the real prize -- his or her heart. We can regulate or suppress their outward behavior until we're blue in the face, but if we don't go for our teen's heart we really accomplish no permanent change. The goal is less to steer them away from the world, and more to steer them toward a hunger for Christ. Only then can we hope to turn out young adults who are able to handle life effectively by handling God's word accurately, and by having a heart that beats for the living God. From a purely personal perspective, however, this book had limited value for us in our counseling context, because Tripp writes from an assumption that your teen is a follower of Christ. The advice in this book will not work otherwise. Sadly, that is where we find ourselves -- the parents of a rebellious teenage daughter who has no heart for Christ, and is quite content to stay that way. For now all we can do is cry out to God on behalf of our daughter to have mercy on her, and to grant her repentence. However, for our soon-to-be-a-teen son, who shows great evidence of being a believer, we look forward to re-reading this book in a few years and putting its teachings into practice. Thank you, Mr. Tripp, for sharing with us.

This is the finest book on parenting I have ever read. A great follow up to his brother Ted's book "Shepherding a Child's Heart". You will be asked to look into your own heart to discover what idols lie in wait to interfere with God directed principled parenting. Then launch on a journey that will aid you in seeking out your teens and assisiting them to know themselves and the God who longs to know them This is a life changing book.

my wife and i have three kids. our oldest for the past two years has been rebellious (to use a mild term). we have been to many professionals, he has been tested and retested, and we have read book after book after book as we have sought to be the best parents we could be to help him (and US!) through this trying time. The book "Age of Opportunity" was recommended to us and we devoured it. We have immediately put into place some of the recommendations of the authors and it has been AMAZING how God has blessed with such WONDERFUL results. Of all the books we have read, this is the very finest. I just picked up five copies and give it as a gift to family who are in need as we are/were. Highly recommended. BEWARE: Not easy reading though as it demands that the parent do self evaluation as well as child reevaluation.

Paul Tripp's book radically changed the way we dealt with our children. It was such a wake-up call for us and several others in our church, that we began a parent's support and encouragement group, using the chapters as discussion topics, to help do our jobs better as parents. His wisdom on dealing with the culture around us, the common trials of adolesence, and the idols that we as parents sometimes fall prey to, has helped us all in being better listeners, in dealing with crisis situations, in deciding appropriate consequences for disobedience, and in plain loving our kids unconditionally. Paul even came to our church to do a weekend seminar to further encourage us in our struggles.