I Bought Five of These Books!
If your daughters ever spend time caring for young children, I highly recommend you purchase them a copy of this book. When our oldest was just a newborn, I came across the book "Teach Your Baby" by Genevieve Painter. I picked it up for next to nothing at a used book sale and used its ideas regularly. It is not a book of theory or a book that advocates teaching your children to read when they are two, but just a listing of ideas for stimulating and interacting with young children, up to the age of thirty-six months. The only thing many people can think of to do with babies is to over-stimulate them by bouncing them around and getting them to squeal. Here is a solution to that problem. Following are some examples of the ideas included in this book:
For four & five month olds: Attach bells to his booties so he will notice his feet and reach for them.
Six to eight months old: Sit him on your lap facing you. Put your forehead against his and say "Boom". Take your head away and do it again. Soon he will learn to move his head toward yours when you play this game.
Nine to eleven months: While both of you sit on the floor facing each other, shake a small toy until his eyes are on it. Move it along the floor slowly until it is behind your back. See if he crawls around you to find it. Now place a large pillow between you. Again shake the toy until it holds his attention. Move it slowly across the floor until it is behind the pillow, out of his sight. See if he crawls around the pillow to find it. In another variation of this game, catch his attention with the toy and move it slowly across the floor until it is behind him, and see if he turns around to reach it.
Fifteen to twenty months: Put a white, a gray, and a tan cloth in front of him, leaving some space between them. The cloths must be plain colors so they don't distract him. Hold a toy in your hand so that he can still sese a small part of it and move your hand along a path under each cloth. He should see your hand between each cloth as it moves along. Leave the toy under the last cloth. See if he looks under the last cloth. Do this several times, leaving the toy under a different cloth each time.
Thirty to thirty-six months: Cut two sets of circles - two large, two medium, and two small - out of cardboard. They should all be the same color so that you do not confuse teaching color with teaching size. Put one set of circles on the table. Give the other circles to him one at a time and say, "Put the little one with the little one." "Put the big one with the big one." "Put the medium one with the medium one."
There is an introduction to this book that I have never read, and schedules for daily interaction with your children which I have never used. However, the ideas themselves are priceless. There is a copy of this book in each hopechest in our house. You can find copies of this book for sale at www.alibris.com. One version of this book appears to have pictures, which makes it much more costly. We have the cheap version.
Posted in Book Reviews on February 20, 2006 | Comments (0)
Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye?
Seldom do I come across a book on topic as broad as singleness that I recommend to others. In fact, of the dozens of relationship books for teens and young adults, very few do I find worth a read, let alone a re-read. But Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? by Carolyn McCulley is a great exception.
This book addresses facets of singleness that other books I've read have not - God's purpose for singleness, how to deal with our emotions concerning singleness, how we can imitate the Proverbs 31 woman while single, and what should be filling our time. Miss McCulley is not embarrassed to ask the hard questions - "What if I don't get married?", "How do I fill my empty Friday nights?", and "What should I do with my yearning for children?" - and she does all this with senstivity and solid Biblical wisdom.
There are several points made that were especially helpful to me. First, I appreciated her reminder that singleness is a gift and spiritual gifts are to be used for the benefit of the body of Christ. This encouraged me to continue seeking avenues of service that would best utilize the present time the Lord has given me without more pressing committments. Secondly, I benefitted from her advice to remind myself constantly to trust God's sovereignty, His wisdom, and His love. It's when we doubt those things that we begin to slip into discouragement. Third, she gave a precise description of allowable and unexcusable sadness. Occasionally we may cry over our circumstances and that is not necessarily sin. But, and I know I can pinpoint this in my own life, often that sorrow can quickly turn into self-pity, which is always sin. This distinction has helped me to avoid slipping into wrongdoing in this area several times already.
The second half of this book is a description of the single Proverbs 31 woman. Miss McCulley believes that single women can exhibit all the traits this married woman does - having noble character, doing good to your authorities and possible future husband, being hospitable, investing in children, using speech wisely, aging gracefully, serving the needy, and others. For anyone who has put off emulating the paragon of virtue due to the lack of matrimony, this is a stark reminder that we are not off the hook when it comes to spiritual maturity!
Whether you are young and single or growing older and remaining single as the author of this book is, I think you will find encouragement in the pages of Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? You will be exhorted to contentment in your present state, prodded to trust in the Lord more fully, and inspired to live a complete and active life of service in the body of Christ.
Posted in Book Reviews on February 1, 2006 | Comments (0)
The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer
I realized that I don't need to be the best at anything, but I do need to be brave.
I recently finished reading The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer. This book is popular for a reason, and if you haven't yet read it, you ought to do so! Mrs. Schaeffer begins in chapter one to discuss God as the great Creator. He made this world and us in His image, so we also are designed to be creative. In our modern world of technology and convenience, opportunities for true creativity are too few and far between. The world of homemaking, however, is replete with them. Successive chapters describe the many areas for the homemaker to demonstrate her talents music, painting, interior decoration, gardening, flower arranging, food, writing, drama, recreation, clothing, and environment. I don't think of myself as a naturally artistic person, but after reading this book, I am encouraged to try my talents in unusual areas. I realized that I don't need to be the best at anything, but I do need to be brave. I can play music for my own and my family's enjoyment. I can draw pictures for my own enjoyment and practice illustrating sermons for my future children. I can design simple centerpieces as part of bringing a small piece of beauty to my world. God has made this world for our enjoyment and has filled it with breathtakingly wonderful sights, smells, and sounds. By adding small touches of loveliness to our everyday life, we help to demonstrate His glory.
Posted in Book Reviews on December 20, 2004 | Comments (0)
