Book Review: "Modern Parents, Vintage Values: Instilling Character in Today's Kids" by Sissy Goff and Melissa Trevathan

I’ve already read many a parenting book in my going-on six years of parenting, but not one have I found to be as practical and easy-to-apply as Sissy Goff and Melissa Trevathan’s book, “Modern Parents, Vintage Values: Instilling Character in Today’s Kids” .

There are great parenting books out there which will paint you a lovely picture of parenting with grace, love, and respect and building close relationships with your kids. But there aren’t very many that do that while also adding in countless practical how-tos on issues modern-day parents are grappling with. Issues like when to allow your child to have their first cell phone or social media account, dealing with addictions, the issue of pornography, and the list goes on.

I found this book to be supremely timely and practical, which quickly made it a new favorite of mine. Here is the official description to give you a better idea of what to expect:

Why is anxiety so rampant among kids today? What’s the magic age for giving my child his first cell phone? Her first social media account? How do I teach my teenager things like gratitude and respect in such an entitled and disrespectful world?

Melissa Trevathan and Sissy Goff hear these types of questions on a daily basis in their counseling offices and at parenting events across the country. Today, more than ever before, we live in a culture that is at war against our parenting. And today, more than ever before, we’re meeting parents who feel lost as to how to help. This book does just that. It addresses the issues we hear parents struggling with the most when it comes to raising their children (technology, disrespect, entitlement, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, etc.), but it doesn’t stop there. Melissa and Sissy move through those modern-day troubles to get back to the vintage values we all deeply value in the lives of kids. They help you discover—whether your child is a toddler or a teenager—what it looks like to cultivate kindness, gratitude, integrity, responsibility and more in the lives of the kids you love.

Modern Parents, Vintage Values offers you a roadmap—a way through the hurdles you are facing today in your parenting—helping you discover more of how to instill those true, foundational, vintage values that will make a lasting difference in the lives of your kids…values that are built upon an unshakeable foundation of faith and hope. And that’s ultimately where this map will lead—to Christ—and to what it looks like for both you and your kids to have hope in Him in these changing times.

Not only do Goff and Trevathan “go there” and address some very difficult and sensitive topics (which is so important!), showing parents all that they need to be made aware of in these modern times. They also equip parents specifically with the *how* of being proactive and addressing these issues with their kids, with ideas and conversation starters for both young children as well as teens. That alone makes this book supremely helpful!

If you are a parent in these modern times trying to wrap your mind around how to fully equip your children for the real world while also instilling into them the Word of God and His ways, this book is a must-read for you! I highly recommend it!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!