21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids/Cracking the Covenant Code - book review
21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids
by Kathi Lipp
and Cracking the Covenant Code for kids
by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt
About the book:
Parents spend a good chunk of time making sure their kids are okay--they're getting good grades, doing their chores, and doing just enough cleaning that their rooms won't be condemned if the Board of Health happens to drop by. 21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids offers a straightforward, workable plan to create new avenues of connection between parents and their kids. This handy guide coaches moms and dads to do one simple thing each day for three weeks to connect with their kids.
Daily connection ideas include:
- planning a family fun night
- telling your child what you like about them
- developing a character growth chart
- writing a love note to your child
- working together on a family project
Written in Kathi's warm and compassionate but thought-provoking tone, this book will motivate parents to incorporate great relationship habits into their daily lives and give them confidence that they can connect with their kids even in the midst of busy schedules.
My review:
In the beginning of the book you will find a personality test to find out your child's strongest personality, and throughout the book, as you read the 21 ways to connect, you will be given more direct ways to make these connections work specifically for each kid based on their "unique personality". This was a huge help for me! I made a note beside each answer that best fit each of my kids. I wrote a S. next to an answer for my daughter and an A. next to the answer that best fit my son. Tallied the letters for both kids and found out their personality's. I have a greater understanding of why both my kids do not like to be alone and have a tendency to talk...and talk...and talk some more. At the end of each chapter author Kathi Lipp also gives ideas for teens, step-kids, and single parents. She also has written a bonus section with 50 Ways to Connect with Girls and 50 Ways to Connect with Boys.
Something I think is really great about her ideas is that they are all practical. Everyone can do them-the rich, the not so rich, the working parents, the stay at home parents, even the grandparents. Just to give you an example, we are giving the $15 Family Fun Night a go. I have assigned every other Saturday night as our $15 Family Fun Night. Each person gets a turn to plan what we will eat, where we will eat it, and what we will do while keeping to the $15 budget. A great learning experience for my kids all the way around.
While I have found the new ideas I was looking for by reading this book, I have also created another way to connect with my kids; we started a Bible study together.
About the book:
Noted Bible teachers Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt add an exciting adventure book to the Discover 4 Yourself® Inductive Bible Studies for Kids series (more than 560,000 copies sold)! This brand-new interactive study helps kids understand how much God loves them and what His amazing plans are for them. They'll discover the extent and significance of God's covenant with mankind by...
- breaking codes
- doing crosswords
- solving mazes
- drawing action scenes
- filling in story blanks
The Discover 4 Yourself® Bible study series engages kids 8 to 12 and challenges them to get to know God's Word better in fun and meaningful ways.
My review:
I presented this book to my kids very excited to dig into God's Word with them. They looked at me with one of those "more school work?!" looks. Before my heart could sink I stood up straighter, smiled big and said, " I want to spend some quality time with you both. Each of you have a lot of questions about the Bible and God so I thought that we could find some of those answers together." We gathered the supplies we would need for this study: a Bible (I gave them each a Bible that was mine when I was a kid), colored pencils, index cards, and a dictionary.
Once we were all set and after we prayed, we began Cracking the Covenant Code. My kids had fun marking in their Bibles, hunting for answers to questions, and filling in the many fun pages in this book. And me? I have been loving seeing my kids get excited about what they are learning, answering their questions, and just being with them. I am also learning a lot as well! I happen to have a Bible study by Kay Arthur and I mark my Bible the same way my kids are marking theirs. Its neat to know that if they open my Bible they will immediately understand who it is about and what is going on.
This book covers a two-month period so we have not finished it and yet my daughter is asking to get all the rest of the books that are in the Discover 4 Yourself Bible Study series.
By reading both of these terrific books, my family is now traveling on a new and fun road-together! I share with my husband what I have learned and which ideas I plan to work into our weekly scheduled and so far it is working out great for all of us.
***Thank you Harvest House Publishers for the free books in exchange for my honest review.***
Purchase your very own copy of 21 Ways to Connect with Your Kids
by Kathi Lipp on sites like Amazon.com or Christianbook.com. Be sure to check out Kathi Lipp's website for videos, to learn more about her, and see all the great books she has available.
Grab your copy of Cracking the Covenant Code by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt from Amazon.com or Christianbook.com. You can also stop by Kay's website to read more about this series. Here at HarvestHousePublishers.com you can find more books by both of these authors.
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