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99 Ways to Raise Spiritually Healthy Children

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

I can well appreciate that some people who see the title of this book or pick it up in the shop won’t get beyond the cover. The cover itself does not do the book any favours – a white couple with two young children between them, all four with arms stretched high in the air!

The book does what the title suggests – there are ninety nine pieces of advice, each with a Bible verse and a question designed to provoke further thought. What is helpful is that these sections intermingle sound advice on good parenting as well as ways to help with the spiritual nurture of children. There are therefore helpful sections on the importance of ‘play’ in family life, the need for parents to choose their battles, to cherish the individuality of each of their children and to encourage their independence in age appropriate ways. These are interspersed with sections like on celebrating the anniversary of a baptism, encouraging a sense of mystery and wonder, keeping the Sabbath and reading the Bible together. Those reading and using the book in Britain will need to make allowances for its origins in Presbyterian Eastern USA, but this is possible with care.

I was more taken with the book than I thought that I was going to be, and its message (that the spiritual well-being of children is about whole, rounded individuals, not just their church and religious upbringing) is very welcome. I would not recommend the suggestion that children tick off the list of ninety-nine suggestions as the family tackles them. Some of the Bible verses ‘work’ and others are contrived, but the further questions are generally helpful. The book would be a useful resource for those who lead and run parenting courses in our churches and communities.  It could be put in the hands of some parents with the proviso that they use it judiciously rather than intensively.