Instructing a Child's Heart

This is a great book. It is insightful and very helpful in parenting. I'd love to buy one for each of my friends!

This is wonderful instruction on all aspects of "training a child in the way he should go." The best biblical training on "formative instruction" of a child I have read.

Instructing a Child's Heart has been a long time coming. It was thirteen years ago that its predecessor, Shepherding a Child's Heart, was published. It was thirteen years ago that Tedd Tripp published his last book. It was no lost on me that many of the book's lessons and anecdotes now focus on the author's grandchildren. Thirteen years is a long time by any measure! Instructing a Child's Heart is a book that focuses on "formative instruction," a term that begs further definition. Tripp describes it most simply as "teaching that `forms' our children." It is teaching that "enables them to root life in God's revelation in the Bible. It provides a culture for our children, a culture that is distinctly Christian. It shows our children the glory and dignity of mankind as God's image bearers. It provides a way of interpreting life through the redemptive story of God, who reconciles people to himself." Formative instruction is instruction that comes before problems arise and in that way is different from corrective discipline which follows problems. We form our children by interpreting life for them and responding to its challenges in biblical ways. We form them through the daily discipline of family worship and through spending time deliberately together, but also through reacting properly to the situations life brings unexpectedly. The goal of this formative instruction is, in accordance with Deuteronomy 6, "so that we and our children and our grandchildren may fair the Lord and walk in his ways, enjoying a long life." We help our children construct a worldview that allows them to properly see God for who he is and to properly see them as His creation. The book falls into three sections. In the first Tripp introduces the reader to formative instruction, looking at the concept through a wide lens. In the second section he zeros in on the more specific topics that form the true substance of formative instruction. And in the third section he focuses on applying formative instruction in very practical ways. It is the second section that is the heart of the book. Here, over the course of eight chapters, Tripp describes several essential building blocks of a biblical worldview. He dedicates attention to the heart, the principle of sowing and reaping, God's plan for authority, the glory of God, wisdom and foolishness, how we are complete in Christ, and the importance of the church. Each of these receives a chapter, or close to a chapter, in which he describes the principle and how it is foundational to building a biblical worldview. Having done that, he turns his attention to four of these, giving practical pointers on how to get from behavior to the heart, how to apply the sowing and reaping principle of Scripture to corrective discipline, communication with children and the centrality of the gospel. The strength of this book, like Shepherding a Child's Heart before it, and the message I need to hear again and again, is Tripp's insistence, his constant

This book brings the Bible into the parents' lives in a fresh way. It is one thing to say that parents must use the Bible for parenting. It is another thing to show how that is actually done. Instructing a Child's Heart provides practical, real life instruction on how to do just that. Tedd and Margy Tripp understand that the call of Deuteronomy 6 is to instruct children in the context of everyday life. Such instruction is formative by nature. This formative instruction avoids the quicksand of attempting to change behavior without addressing the heart. Simply changing behavior, without addressing heart change, leads to more behavioral problems, which in turn leads to frustration for both parents and children. Instructing a Child's Heart leads you out of this parenting quicksand to solid ground. The book is organized in 3 sections: The Call to Formative Instruction Introduction to Formative Instruction Application of Formative Instruction You will find practical examples and illustrations of how the Bible leads you to address the heart in parenting. As the Tripps say "Discipline is not an opportunity to show our children who is boss or to hand out punishments that will change their behavior... discipline is primarily an opportunity to remind our children of their need to repent and believe in Christ ...." (167). This book provides wise, compassionate direction to help parents bring the riches of Christ to their children. You can trust the biblical content of this book to help you live for the glory of God as you lead your family.