Book #3: Parenting Your
Children Into Adulthood, by Ron Hitchcock. Paperback.
This is a parenting book that
is clear that it is a different type of parenting book. The focus is not on making
“better” children, which so many parenting books address. Hitchcock’s emphasis
here is on the opportunities that parenting gives to turn people into “faithful
stewards of God’s precious children.”
The book uses Hitchcock’s
Parenting Adult Children (PAC) model as the organizing structure for the book.
The four steps of the PAC model are nurture, values, mutuality, and interdependence,
which are represent stages of strong parent-child relationships. The model is
designed to prepare children for mature relationships with others, and to lay
the groundwork for long-term parent-child friendships.
In discussing each of these
steps, Hitchcock includes portions of his Life in Motion Resources Inventory
(LIMRI). The LIMRI is an excellent tool for use in enriching all sorts of
interpersonal relationships. There is an academic bent to the book, but it is
also highly readable and these tools make it very practical.
Towards the end of the book,
Hitchcock presents a unique and insightful interpretation on the Prodigal Son
story. His take on the different personalities of the two sons in the story was
something I had never considered, but his conclusions were interesting and
profound. This ties in to another theme in the book, that of “successful”
versus “faithful” parenting.
Again, this is not a parenting
book about molding more obedient children. It is a book about teaching parents
to view parenting as an opportunity to develop godly character traits in
themselves.
Source: Church bookstore.
Note: I attend the church
where Ron Hitchcock is a pastor, and have taken a number of his parenting classes.
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