Grace-Based Parenting Book Review by Jeff Bush

by Tim Kimmel 

• Good intentions are not enough. 

• Some common yet unhealthy styles of parenting are: 

1. 1. 1. Fear-based parenting is not good parenting. 
      2. Behavior modification parenting is not good parenting. 
      3. Image based parenting, trying to look good to others, is not good parenting. 
      4. High controlled parenting is not good for your children.
      5. Herd mentality parenting, which is following the crowd, is not good parenting.
      6. Duct tape parenting, which is patching up every little problem along the way, is not good parenting.
      7. Crisis or 911-type of parenting, living from crisis crisis, is not good parenting.
      8. Judgmental parenting, comparing and criticizing other families and kids, and acting as if you’re the only one who knows how to parent, is not healthy for you or your kids. 

• We must learn to raise our children the way God raises His children – with grace.

• God’s grace is there when you fail, fall, and make mistakes.

• Our children have a need for security, significance, and strength. They need love, purpose, and hope.

• Grace is not necessarily what we do as parents, but how we do what we do as parents.

• Careers can create a competition with our children and our love. 

• Love is about meeting their actual needs, not their selfish needs.

• Parents are a bigger deal to the children then they realize.

• Grace forgives. Grace instructs. Grace loves unconditionally.