Recommended Christian parenting books
- How to parent children:
- What the Bible Says about Parenting by John MacArthur: Start here
- Duties of Parents by JC Ryle: A classic book on parenting
- Sticky Situations – 365 Devotionals by Betsy Schmitt: Daily story and discussion questions to prepare kids for difficult decisions they’ll face. Book one for older elementary and book two for younger elementary kids
- Family Driven Faith by Voddie Bacham
- She Calls Me Daddy by Robert Wolgemuth
- The Most Important Place on Earth by Robert Wolgemuth
- Teaching children about God
- The ESV Illustrated Family Bible: Covers the major stories in the Bible using the ESV text
- Early Readers Bible: Utilizes the 100 most common words and adds three new words per story to teach the Bible and reading
- Disciplines of a Godly Family by Kent Hughes: Covers a wide range of topics such as family traditions, prayer and manners
- Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware: Outlines how to have a conversation about theological topics with middle and high schoolers
- Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland: Walks through the Gospel step-by-step at a level grade school children will understand
- Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade: Daily family devotions based on the Westminster Confession
- Grounded in the Gospel by Gary Parrett: Encourages the use of catechism to teach children the faith based on the Apostles Creed, Ten Commandments and Lord’s Prayer
- Family Worship by Donald Whitney: Short introduction to the topic of leading your family in a time of Bible reading, singing and prayer
- Family Worship by Joel Beeke
- Big Truths for Little Kids by Susan Hunt: Children’s catechism intertwined with a story, which prompts good discussions
- Teaching Kids about God: Age based (2-12) approach to developing a child’s faith
- Family Nights Tool Chest by Jim Weidmann: Several books that provide activities that tie together Bible lessons
- Long Story Short – Ten Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God by Marty Machowski
- Off the Record with Martin Luther translated by Charles Daudert: Luther’s students recorded conversations and his blunt discussions of a variety of topics are a way to engage high school students in doctrinal topics
- Come Ye Children by Charles Spurgeon
- Raising Masculine Sons
- Thoughts for Young Men by JC Ryle
- It’s Better to Build Boys than Mend Men by Truett Cathy
- Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis: Specifically for boys staring in the elementary school years
- Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schultz: He has a couple of other books on this topic as well
- Raising Masculine Sons: Randy Stinson’s message on the topic
- Teaching Christian history
- 5 book series by Mindy and Brandon Withrow: Peace and Peril (Ancient Church), Monks and Mystics (Medieval Church), Courage and Conviction (Reformation Church), Hearts and Hands (Awakening Church) and Rescue and Redeem (Modern Church)
Recommended books with Christian themes to read to/with your kids:
- Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan: Ages 8+ because some of the dialogue is long. Great for promoting family discussions. YouTube also has a reading of the book that’s well done.
- Holy War by John Bunyan
- The Narnia Series by CS Lewis: Ages 6+
- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolken: Ages 10+. Amazing use of the ring as a symbol of the sinful idols we create in our lives
- Missionary Stories with the Millers (and other with the Millers titles)
- Ten Girls Who Changed the World (Ten Boys as well along with other Ten Girls/Boys Who…)
- The Priest with Dirty Clothes by RC Sproul (also The Prince’s Poison Cup)
Christian magazines for kids:
- God’s World News: Several different magazines about the world and world events from a Christian perspective targeted based on grade
- Good Book Company’s quarterly devotions: Covers Bible themes and people over a 3-year cycle targeted to specific age groups
Online resources:
- Children’s Catechism: Simple Q&A format to teach children the basics of the faith through memorization
- FamilyLife Today: Daily radio program addressing a wide variety of family related subjects
- FamilyLife Culture Watch: Blog about how cultural issues affect the family
- Connecting Church and Home Conference: Free MP3s covering a variety of topics. Notes from the 2010 conference. Highly recommended
- Donald Whitney on family worship: The messages about family worship teach a simple model of read, sing and pray
- Family Worship articles: Several edited sermons on leading your family in a regular time of Bible reading and worship
- Family worship guide: 2 page overview of why and how to do family worship
- Worship songs: List of songs for use with family worship including some free MP3s
- Family worship lessons: 52 weeks of lessons for how to lead your family weekly
- Biblical Parenting articles: Sermons about parenting from historical pastors
- Parental Priorities series: Alistair Begg’s sermon series on parenting
- Six family habits: Brief article on habits to instill in your kids
- How to Pastor a Family: Recommendations on how to lead the family
- Family manifesto: Detailed outline of the theology of family
- Leading family worship: Video message from Joel Beeke about family worship
- Fathers as a refuge for children: Brief article from John Piper about protecting kids
- Marks of Manhood: Al Mohler’s list of 13 traits that we must build into boys
- Movie Guide: Rates movies for moral content and artistic quality
- Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: Beware of raising your kids with no depth in their knowledge of God
- Bible memory ideas: Verse lists and techniques for memorizing from Desiring God
- Theo: Very cool cartoon video series and iPad app
- Bible Memory app: Free iPhone/iPad app preloaded with popular verses for memory practice
- Becoming a Missional Family: Short booklet with ideas for how to teach kids about missions
- Should you celebrate Halloween?: Blog post that layout out the spectrum of opinions
- 10 Reasons Why Children Shouldn’t Ask Jesus Into Their Heart: