Parenting Resources

This spring, I taught a class on parenting at our church. In preparation for the class, I interacted with a number of different parenting resources. Here are five of the resources I found most helpful.

1. Shepherding a Child’s Heart – Outside of the Bible, this is the best overall book on parenting I have found. It is thorough, easy to follow, gospel-centered, and practical. If you’ve never read a book on parenting or if you only have time to read one book, this is the place to start.

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2. Teach Them Diligently: How to Use the Scriptures in Child Training – This was my second favorite book on parenting. I would recommend it to any parent who wants to go deeper in communicating the Bible to his or her children.

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3. Don’t Make Me Count to Three: A Mom’s Look at Heart-Oriented Discipline – This book is geared toward young moms, but I really enjoyed it, too! It incorporates a lot of the principles from the first two books but also incorporates a lot of specfic examples.

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4. Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles that Can Radically Change Your Family – Although it is more of a devotional than a handbook, I still found this book very helpful. I would recommend it to parents who have already read Shepherding a Child’s Heart but could use some additional encouragement.

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5. “Training Children for Their Good” – This is a journal article written by Andy Naselli for the Spring/Summer 2013 edition of Southern Seminary’s Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry. It includes a balanced exegetical defense of corporal punishment as well as some practical suggestions. I would recommend the article to any parents who are curious what the Bible says about that issue.

If you’re curious what I’ve learned from these books, as well as from the Bible and my personal experience, check out the parenting class notes. (Email me for Lesson 5.)

There are lots of other good, biblical parenting books out there, several of which are still waiting to be read on my shelf!


Kris Schaal is the Associate Pastor at Life Point Baptist Church, Apple Valley, CA. He wrote this piece for his church blog, we adapted it for Proclaim & Defend with permission.


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