You can tell what I’m most interested in at any point in my life by what books I read. Currently I’m on a parenting kick, so Parenting With Grace by Dr. Gregory Popcak and his wife, Lisa Popcak fits in perfectly. My first impressions was that it was thick – as in, 374 pages (including the appendices but not the index). I wondered how in depth the Popcaks were going to go in a book that size.
The overall theme of this book is self-donation. The book opens with a brief discussion of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, and how understanding the body and the concept of self-donation sets Catholic parenting apart from say, secular or Protestant parenting. The Popcaks make it abundantly clear that what they’re writing is not the ONLY way to be a Catholic parent, but rather what they feel is the most effective way to pass on the Faith and train children’s wills and characters (as opposed to breaking wills).
The first part of the book focuses on the family, self-donation, everyone’s favorite – discipline – overall, creating a loving environment for children to thrive in. The second part is discusses five phases of childhood: infancy, toddlerhood, early childhood, school-age childhood, and the lovely teenage years. The third part talks about everything from TV and Internet use to helping Dad stay involved and even relating how important your marriage is to your kids (after all, it IS where they learn what marriage is all about).
Without giving it ALL away, it becomes very obvious why Dr. Bill Sears and his wife, Martha wrote the foreward to the book. I especially enjoyed the forward because the Sears discuss how they returned to the Church – and why they left in the first place.
While the Popcaks reiterate (over and over) that what they write is not the ONLY way to parent; some times I felt like there was a subtle undercurrent of “all other ways FAIL HORRIBLY”. It wasn’t enough to turn me off to the book, but rather help me confront why I was thinking that – bad wording? Do I need to do some discernment about what he’s presenting? Or do I just need to take some things with a grain of salt (I think it’s a combination of all three, really).
I did find a lot of help in the discipline chapters, especially as we start delving into the joys of toddlerhood with Elise. I’ve picked up some tips and tricks to more effectively guide her that are developmentally appropriate, as well as learning just what is developmentally normal for someone her age.
Most importantly, this book inspired me to be more self-donative to both kids and to Greg, as well. I’ve already noticed a drastic change in the household, in how the kids and Greg react and that self-donation feeds self-donation. I highly recommend it to parents, from those whose babies are still in utero to those whose kids are in the throws of teenagehood.
This review was written as part of the Catholic books reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Parenting With Grace, 2nd Edition. I received a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.
