Four is a great age for books!

Four year olds can appreciate humor and they can interact with the story, asking questions about what they don’t understand. 

They can appreciate the magic that lies between the covers of a book. 

Plus four year olds can snuggle close during a read aloud even when they get too big for lap sitting. 

My top picks of books for four year olds are Make Way for Ducklings, The Book with No Pictures and The Princess in Black. 

Note: If you click on the pictures of the books in this post, it will take you to an Amazon affiliate link. Purchasing through that link benefits this site.

The Book with No Pictures by BJ Novak

This book made my grand daughter laugh out loud and giggle with glee. She asked for it again and again. Without pictures, the appeal is text that adults are forced to read that is both ridiculous and affirming to kids who listen. 

The Princess in Black by Shannon Hale

Princess Magnolia is a princess with a secret. Her alter ego wears black and fights crime. Shannon Hale’s delightful prose makes this one fun to read.  

Dance at Grandpa’s by Laura Ingalls Wilder

My First Little House Books are picture books that tell the Little House stories in bite sized chunks for little listeners. Dance at Grandpa’s is about when Mary and Laura were little and lived in the big woods, before they left in a covered wagon for life on the prairie. 

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

Beautiful illustrations of ducks and vintage Boston plus a heart warming story have made McCloskey’s book a treasure for decades. 

Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

Nate the Great is a junior detective. His clever solutions to minor crime is a delight. Classic for a reason.   

What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry

Richard Scarry created Busytown, full of talking, clothes wearing animals that explore so many basic aspects of human society. This one explains different jobs around town and country. 

Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Suess

“A person’s a person no matter how small” This important message is conveyed when Horton the elephant protects and believes in his tiny friends even when no one else can. 

Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Conner

Nancy’s family isn’t fancy at all, but she loves feathers and frills. So she makes it her mission to give them lessons on how to be fancy. I love the great vocabulary and French words sprinkled in that increases the whimsy of the Fancy Nancy books. 

Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

Obsolete machinery is not a new problem. When Mike Mulligan’s steam shovel is about to be replaced, he makes a heroic effort to prove that he and his steam shovel are still up to the task. 

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt De La Pena

A simple story of a bus ride of a young boy and his grandmother. She helps him see his life and the world through the eyes of gratitude. 

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

Based on the story of the author’s aunt, Alice is a little girl with big dreams. When she decides to  make the world a little more beautiful she inspires her niece to do so as well. 

Animals, Animals by Eric Carle

Eric Carle’s signature art work is paired with poetry about animals from a wide variety of poets. Ranging from the silly to the profound, this book is a delight for all ages. 

If you’re looking for books for younger kids check out the other posts in this series.

One Book a Month for Babies

One Book a Month for Toddlers

One Book a Month for Three Year Olds

Managing the home is an under rated skill.

Paralysis and depression sets in when you feel like you’re doing a terrible job and can’t dig yourself out. 

What causes stress for you? Is it drop in company? When you can’t find things? Missed deadlines? Calendar conflicts? Chronic disorganization or overwhelm? There are answers. Some of the gurus have figured it out and know how to teach it.

Home management is closely aligned to budgeting which is closely aligned to life purposes and goals. 

They all ultimately impact each other. 

That’s why this list covers all these areas. 

My top two picks on how to be a better homemaker are Rosemarie Groner and Kendra Adachi. Kendra Adachi has written a couple of best sellers packed with her universal principles for managing everything. Rosemarie Groner has helped millions of women organize their homes and budgets.  

Can’t keep up with piles of dishes, laundry and bills? Rosemarie Groner

She has been able to address housekeeping and budget issues at the level of motivation. This is what is most helpful and where other gurus fail. 

The guilt and shame aren’t helping. 

Figuring out how to reward yourself, how to push through the boring grind of repetitive tasks, how to know when stop working and then rest without guilt. These are the key areas where she shines, dealing with budget and housekeeping at the psychological level. 

What Rosemarie has going for her is understanding the psychology behind the actions and the need for built in rewards.

She teaches daily routines doing only the minimum.

Have trouble managing time or setting priorities? Kendra Adachi

Kendra’s strength is universal principles to manage the overwhelming amount of juggling that most women do. 

Her tagline is helping you be a genius about what matters and lazy about the things that don’t. 

She helps you name what matters so you can concentrate on that and let everything else go. 

The ability to prioritize is what keeps us from analysis paralysis when we get stuck.

The real nuggets of insight come from The Lazy Genius Podcast. Instagram show pictures of her life and gets the LG community involved. And, offline, her books lay out the principles the old fashioned way. 

Can’t reach financial goals or struggle with money management? Dave Ramsey and Rachel Cruze

All the best systems in the world won’t work if you can’t stay motivated to be consistent. 

Dave Ramsey has tapped into this secret of motivation with his debt snowball. His advice is to list all your debts from smallest to largest and pay off the smallest first. 

Financially, it makes sense to pay off the debts with highest interest first. 

But, psychologically, Dave Ramsey understands that humans need the encouragement of consistent wins, of making visible progress that keeps you motivated to keep going. 

His well known baby steps help people get out of debt and start saving for retirement.

His daughter, Rachel Cruze, is good at making practical applications of the principles of money management that made Ramsey Solutions famous. The Rachel Cruze Show is packed with tips and advice.

Looking for practical life skills hacks? Ruth Soukup

Ruth Sukup’s blog, Living Well Spending Less is crammed with tips, tricks, hacks and recipes. She has advice for saving money, spending money and making money. 

She covers home organization tips, time management, decluttering, productivity and losing weight. Lots of help in so many areas. 

Need help saving money on groceries or finding deals? Crystal Paine

Crystal Paine shares a lot about her life story on her podcast and on instagram. Infertility, foster parenting and adoption are all part of her story. 

But her trademark advice has to do with stretching the food dollar and finding super deals on everything for the family. Her blog Money Saving Mom is the best place to find shopping tips and deals. 

If you’re more interested in her family and personal life, follow her on Instagram. Parenting advice, life hacks and book recommendations can be found on the podcast that she co-hosts with her husband The Crystal Paine Show. 

Are you frustrated by the daily treadmill of too much to do and not enough time? Are you tired of feeling like you’re failing? Are you afraid of sacrificing health or relationships on the altar of work? Are you looking for peace that you’ve made the right decisions about how to spend your time?

Fortunately for us, there are experts who have uncovered the principles to help us successfully prioritize our time. 

The first step in prioritizing your time is to prioritize your life. Then you need to make it smaller and embrace your season. Then you need to break it down smaller and identify a stretch of time. Within that stretch of time you have to name what matters. When you’ve done that, you need to actively avoid what doesn’t matter. Then, schedule your time in line with your priorities. 

If the first step, prioritize your life feels too overwhelming, skip it and go right to Embrace your Season. In that case don’t worry about priorities until you get to Name What Matters. 

Note: The pictures of book covers in this post are Amazon affiliate links. When you click on the picture and order from Amazon, a percentage of your purchase supports this site.

How to Prioritize your Life

Steven Covey outlines a plan to prioritize your life in his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. 

He challenges readers to imagine their own funeral. How do you want to be remembered? What do you want to achieve professionally by the end of your life? Which relationships are most critical? 

Then he recommends beginning with the end in mind. What would it take to have the funeral of your dreams? 

Taking the long view is the first step for writing your personal mission statement. In as few words as possible articulate what your life’s impact looks like. 

Oliver Burkman, in his book Four Thousand Weeks talks about the average life span covering around four thousand weeks. Since we most often think of our lifetimes in terms of years, it’s helpful to switch it up and consider how we spend our weeks.

You could also create a family mission statement or write one with your spouse. 

It’s not easy deciding what is most important. The long term view helps. Praying about it helps. Scheduling rest helps. Deciding as a couple helps. Taking into account the other major players in your life helps. If you have a controlling or co-dependent person in your life, it helps to have your priorities determined and stick to them. 

In parenting, sometimes it helps to get perspective about how many Saturdays our kids live at home. Eighteen years times 52 weeks means 936 Saturdays.

You can go on to the other steps, even before you have this one nailed down. It can always use some tweaking. Sometimes it needs a major overall. If you find yourself suddenly single or facing a major health crisis, you might have to scrap it all and start again. 

Embrace your Season

Life is full of seasons and you can’t have everything all at once.

This might be the season for you to focus on your career. Or you may be at home with small humans. It might be the season to care for aging parents. Maybe you are pursuing a degree and need to put other things on hold. Or you find yourself recently single and need to focus on rebuilding your support network. Maybe you are in a season of grief with no resources to invest besides survival. Or you are in a season of rapid growth when your focus is on keeping up and staying afloat. Maybe you or a loved one is in a critical health crisis. 

Every season has it’s opportunities as well as it’s limitations. 

Acknowledge and accept the present circumstances of your life. 

How do your life priorities fit into this season? How can you stay true to the most important things given your current opportunities and limitations? 

In Keller and Papasan’s book The One Thing, they give the illustration of juggling glass balls and rubber balls. When you can’t keep them all up in the air, you need to focus on the glass balls so they don’t shatter. Let the rubber balls go, you can chase them later. The glass balls might be your health or family relationships. A rubber ball might be a deadline at work, a hobby or even a group of friends that aren’t right for this season. 

Break it Down to a Smaller Stretch of Time

Kendra Adachi, author of The Lazy Genius Way, is an advocate of making it smaller. For instance, when making plans for the summer, don’t look at the whole summer, but break it down into smaller sections. From now until vacation. From the end of camp to the beginning of school. Make a plan for each section. 

This works for other seasons as well. What is my top priority between now and our move to a new house? Between now and Christmas? Between now and the project deadline? From now till graduation? From now till the baby comes? 

The circumstances of life will naturally break our lives down into sections. Each section has it’s own challenges. 

There’s often a natural priority that emerges from each section as well. Sometimes, though, we have to make a conscious decision to swim upstream. 

When we’ve identified the next natural break in our lives, we’re ready for the next step. 

Name What Matters for this Small Stretch

More wisdom from Kendra Adachi. Name what matters. This is the heart of prioritizing. When you don’t take time to think through it, everything feels important. 

The genius of this step is that you get to decide what matters to you. Your priorities don’t have to be the same as everyone else’s. 

So, there’s three steps that she advocates that I’ve found immensely helpful. 

First of all, you make a list of everything that could matter. All the possibilities. 

Next, you decide what does matter. 

Finally, you choose what matters most. 

If you’re having trouble here, go back to your mission statement, what you want to accomplish long term and be remembered for. This can help inform your decisions about what matters for this small stretch of time. 

Which brings us to the question of God’s Sovereignty. Are we the captain of our own ships? Do we set goals and establish priorities and then watch God intervene to make accomplishing those goals impossible? 

When we pray for wisdom, do we believe God has given it to us? 

And how is naming what matters different than setting goals?

Defining priorities gives us a north star to know which goals to set. 

Knowing our priorities helps us schedule the most important things. We make a plan in accordance with what matters most. We allocate our resources, including energy and money, to the things that matter most. 

That means we neglect the things that matter least. 

Actively Avoid What Doesn’t Matter

Making a conscious decision to not do something helps you be at peace when a lesser priority is avoided. 

Warren Buffet’s advice is to choose your top 5 things and actively avoid everything else. 

Saying “no” is also the critical element in Greg McKowen’s Essentialism. If you say yes to everything, you invite disaster. A scattered focus ensures that you don’t see success in any area. 

When you choose what matters most, you actively choose to ignore what matters less.

Let it go.

Schedule your Top Priorities

Protect your schedule from anything that distracts you from your focus.  

Some things on your list are time sensitive and others can happen at anytime. Are there meetings or social engagements that you can opt out of? Rid your schedule of mindless time wasters, except during the time blocks set aside for rest. 

Time management expert, Laura Vanderkam, talks about 168 hour weeks. Look at a week as a unit of time and give each hour a job to do, whether it’s exercise, sleep, rest, work or relationships.  

When you schedule your time, focus on prioritizing your energy. 

If possible, schedule your important work and difficult work when your energy is at it’s peak.

In his book, Eat that Frog! Brian Tracy recommends consciously choosing the most unpleasant and difficult tasks to do first every day. 

In Margin, Richard Swenson advises to leaving a buffer zone when planning any resource to reduce stress. Don’t over schedule your time. 

Deal with Obstacles

Interruptions, setbacks, other people’s expectations, unexpected events and unplanned challenges can easily derail us. 

Make a plan for when to flex and when to stick with the plan. When something threatens to upset the schedule, you can make your decisions based on which is the highest priority.  

Make Peace with the Chaos

In The One Thing, authors Papasan and Keller warn that when you focus on one thing, you will be surrounded by chaos brought on by what you chose to ignore. 

You need to be at peace about the priorities you’ve chosen and the rubber balls that fall as a result.

That’s it. Now you have a plan to prioritize your time. 

The heart of it is naming what matters.

When you are clear on what matters, it’s easier schedule your week to use your time efficiently and productively.  

Discouragement and overwhelm are reduced when you make the decision ahead of time what you won’t be doing. The Name What Matters sequence helps you break through analysis paralysis to move forward towards accomplishment. 

The question Who am I? will be asked repeatedly through out the developmental years and beyond. Parents, teachers, coaches, pastors and other mentors will help young people answer that question. 

If you’re worried about your child not being accepted socially or walking away from the faith or not having purpose in life, helping them develop a strong sense of personal identity can help them face these challenges. 

Helping kids find their own identity is a multi-faceted project. 

It’s a transition from the circumstances they were born into to the place where they create a life for themselves. It’s a life long journey but the first eighteen years are foundational.  

I am 55 years old, mother to four and grandmother to five. 

When my kids were little I wasn’t able to give much thought to identity formation. There’s so much that goes into survival in those years. 

Just keeping them safe, warm, fed, clothed, disciplined and reasonably happy was consuming. Then, there was their academic and spiritual training. Not much time left to think about identity formation.

But it makes me pause now. 

Maybe it’s the circuitous route my own life has taken. 

Maybe because I was transported through multiple cultures in my tender years that makes me wonder what impact it had on me. 

But then I realize that every person in the world was born into circumstances not of his own choosing. 

As we grow up we begin to choose. 

At first it’s within the circle we were born into. We choose to befriend some kids and not others on the playground or at lunch. But this happens in a country, culture, language and school that someone else has chosen for us. 

Eventually, we choose activities to pursue and reject others. We become part of groups with similar interests: soccer team, band, drama, art, music, sports, youth group, student leadership.

We identify with these groups and we take on their labels and characteristics. 

When we think of ourselves, we start thinking about how we relate to those groups. I’m a trumpet player. I’m a point guard. I’m the vice president of student council. I’m the lead in the play. I’m an award winning artist. 

In the wider world, our identity springs from our ethnicity, family, gender, cultural expectations and religious affiliation. I’m Cuban. I’m the baby of the family. I’m a Protestant. I celebrate the Fourth of July. 

When we get old enough to choose, we accept or reject what we grew up with. 

We experience identity confusion if we don’t know where we fit in. 

If we’ve experienced various cultures growing up, as I did, we can see the differences between them and make the choice to embrace some parts of culture and reject others. 

Eventually, we become creators of families, groups and cultures. We perpetuate the values and identities we’ve embraced and dismiss the ones we’ve rejected. 

It’s the foundational beliefs that eventually drive our identities and cause us to belong to one group and not another. We take on the values, attitudes and beliefs of one group and not another. 

Meaningful Work

As adults, one of our greatest needs is meaningful work. Help your child find their interests, skills and talents provides the on ramp for their meaningful work as adults. 

Find their Strengths

Don’t teach your kids the lie that they can do anything. 

They can’t. 

They have limitations and they are uniquely wired to be good at some things but not others. 

Don’t worry about weaknesses. Play to strengths. 

Feeling confident about their strengths will help them accept their weaknesses without shame. 

The whole Strengths Finder brand with books and assessments can help find characteristic qualities that are natural strengths. 

Encourage Activities

Young children need a wide variety of activities. 

You don’t need to start out with huge investments of time and money. Learn about the field. Start at the beginning. Follow their interests.

Many skills will not be rewarding or fun until some fundamentals are learned. They will need encouragement during the beginning phases to stick with it until some mastery is achieved. 

Choosing activities where there is some natural interest or talent helps. 

Encourage activities where they get unsolicited encouragement from the experts in that area. When our son, Nathan, was in school, he surprised us by winning an art contest. We hadn’t picked up that he had artistic interest or talent, but his art teacher saw it and encouraged it. 

Encourage academic pursuits that follow their curiosity and passions and interests.

Check out books from the library about their interests. 

Give Affirmations

Mirror back to them the strengths that you see in their lives. Help them to see them, too.

Articulate the way you and others see them. 

Learn from Inspirational People

Check books from the library of biographies of interesting people. 

Read biographies to your kids. Start with picture biographies. 

As they get older you can assign inspirational biographies to your kids to read. 

If you need ideas on where to start, read 14 Evocative Christian Biographies and Memoirs.

Loving Relationships

Besides meaningful work, a successful adult is involved in loving relationships that also shape identity. 

Facilitate Friendships

Building strong friendships outside of family relationships is foundational to a sense of identity. Birthday parties, social events at school and church, inviting friends over to the house and safe places for young people to hang out are critical for forming these friendships.

Choosing a church as an adult is another important life skill that’s often overlooked. 

Try Out Different Groups

When you get your child involved in different activities, they naturally fall into groups of other kids in those activities.

Help them understand the communities and groups that they are a part of. Help them choose the subgroups and sub communities that they will be part of. 

Teach them how to build community for themselves. 

This is one of the most critical, but undervalued life skill.What happens when you land a job in a city where you know no one? Who do you call when your car breaks down or you need help moving your couch? Who do you go out with on Friday night? Who helps you when you’re sick? And who are you helping? 

The sitcom Friends certainly had talented actors and writers, but at the heart of the show was young adults looking for community and, ultimately, looking for family.  

Teach Heritage

Talk to them about their family roots and history. 

It’s important for kids to understand their family narrative: where they came from and the values that are important to the family. 

Foundational Beliefs

What we believe about God, ourselves, the world and our place in it impacts our identity. It’s the things we stand for and the causes we believe in.

Identity in Christ

Help them see themselves the way God sees them: valuable, loved and made in the image of God.  

In Christ, they are accepted, secure and significant.  

Neil Anderson of Freedom in Christ Ministries has compiled a list of characteristics of our identity in Christ impacted by biblical principles.

Explore Cultural Identity

Our cultural identity comes into play as well. I’m much more aware of it having lived in different cultures and subcultures.

Talk to them about their cultural and spiritual heritage.

Your ethnic background might be distinct or swallowed up by the surrounding culture. Either way, it impacts your child’s identity. 

Affirm Gender Identity

Opinions on this subject are varied and polarizing, but a critical component of identity is gender and healthy views of sexuality.

Teaching young people is a good time to clarify your own views on the subject.

There’s nothing like seeing our kids in a desperate situation that triggers anxiety and drives us to our knees in prayer. Worry can be the impetus that jump starts our prayer life.

The battle for the hearts and minds of our kids is fierce. We need weapons that will work and we need to know how to use them.  

“The battle for our children’s lives is waged on our knees.”

Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Parent

• How can you start praying for your kids?
• 1. Do Research
• 2. Name What Matters
• 3. Plan Logistics
• 4. Make Time
• 5. Start Small
• 6. Decide What to Pray
• 7. Make Adjustments

“Prayer is acknowledging and experiencing the  presence of God and inviting His presence into our lives and circumstances. It’s seeking the presence of God and releasing the power of God which gives us the means to overcome any problem.”

Stormie Omartian, The Power of a Praying Parent 

1. Do Research

Start with two great resources: the MomsinPrayer.org website and Stormie Omartian’s book The Power of a Praying Parent.

For more than a decade I have been part of a prayer group for moms praying for their children. I knew I needed help praying for my kids. The accountability of showing up once a week plus the having a structure to follow has helped immeasurably. 

We have seen God answer prayers. It has strengthened our faith as well as engaged the heavenly forces on behalf of our kids. 

Our group follows the structure outlined by Moms in Prayer. On their website, there’s a way to search to see if there are any moms prayer groups in your area. 

Momsin prayer.org 

Stormie Omaritan has written a series of books on prayer. The Power of a Praying Parent offers encouragement, practical helps for prayer and personal examples from Stormie’s life. 

The Power of a Praying Parent (Amazon affiliate link. Clicking through to purchase supports this site.)

2. Name What Matters

I’m indebted to Kendra Adachi of The Lazy Genius for the concept of Name What Matters. We have unlimited options in the ways to spend our limited resources. The way to decide how we use them is to determine what’s most important. Then we focus on those priorities. 

List what could matter. Then decide what does matter and, finally, what matters most. 

You’ve already determined that praying matters. What matters about praying? Being consistent? Accountability? Praying biblically? Praying in faith? Replacing your will with God’s?

Hearing from God? Seeking His face and waiting for His response? Peace and comfort for yourself in the midst of difficult circumstances?  

3. Plan Logistics

Match your praying to your personality, circumstances and season.

Do you prefer written or verbal prayers? Alone or with others? 

Contemplative prayer might be more appealing that corporate prayer. Journaling prayers might fit you better than praying out loud. Long hours of prayer might work for your schedule or short cries for help might be all that you can manage. 

God is certainly compassionate to our individual circumstances and attuned to how He made us to best communicate with Him. 

Join a prayer group or start a prayer group.

Start a prayer journal.

The Bible talks about secret prayer as well. Praying alone in your closet is important, too. 

4. Make Time 

How can you pray for your kids when your schedule is overflowing and you don’t have enough time for the urgent things now?

There is a way. 

Multi-tasking is one solution. Do double duty: pray during exercise time, during commutes, lunch hour or baby’s nap time. 

Another approach is re-arranging your schedule. If praying is important, then schedule it.

Yes, getting up earlier is an option. But it might not be the best option. 

Analyze your daily, weekly and annual rhythms.

If journaling your prayers is the best way to commune with God, you might be looking for quiet interludes— maybe when everyone’s at work and school is the best time. 

If you have a supportive network, plan a personal retreat as a time to get away to focus on spiritual disciplines. 

Pray at night when you can’t sleep. 

Pray with your kids at mealtimes, bedtimes or driving to school.

5. Start small

Sometimes in life there’s a place for sweeping change, but when building new habits to endure small and consistent often works better. 

You could include a short prayer in birthday or Christmas cards.

If you’re crafty, create your own prayer prompts from scripture verses anything from post its to wall decor.

Set aside 5 minutes a day or 15 minutes a week dedicated solely to prayer. 

6. Decide what to pray

The list of what to pray for your kids is endless. 

Pray for their salvation.

If they haven’t already taken the step to accept the free gift of eternal life, then pray for their eyes to be open to the truth and a softened heart to God’s initiative towards them. 

Pray for their protection, health and safety.

Pray for their sleep and dreams.

My mom used to sing a song to us as kids about God putting angels around our beds when we slept and thoughts of Jesus in our heads. It’s a good reminder that children often deal with fears and anxious or negative thoughts at night. Praying for God’s protection at night defeats the enemies’ attacks during a vulnerable time. 

Pray for their friends.

Who your children choose as friends is critical to development. Good friends mean a good life. Bad friends lead to a bad life. Almost certainly their future spouse will start out as a friend. One more good reason to pray for their friends. 

Pray for their friends and future spouse.

Pray scripture.

Praying scripture is one of the easiest ways to pray in God’s will. Of course, a good understanding and interpretation of what specific scriptures mean is important as is understanding the context of what specific passages are referring to. Some things we can be certain about that God wants for our kids. We can pray boldly for those things. 

MomsinPrayer has a good list of specific areas and scriptures to pray for your kids. 

Pray promises for them.

Make lists covering the details of your child’s life to cover in prayer.

God can certainly answer general prayers, but specific prayers can get specific answers. 

7. Make adjustments

Accept that this will be a life long pursuit.

Keep tweaking the strategy. Keep working on your two way communication with Him. 

Keep looking for God’s work in your life and the lives of your kids.

What’s really saving my life is a loving God who is in control and hears me. My Tuesday morning prayer group means more than I can express. Also, meditating on Psalm 23 when I can’t sleep brings me comfort. In fact, it’s been so helpful that I’m teaching it to the kids in my Sunday School class. 

Aside from those foundational things, there’s been some experts that I’ve stumbled on whose words are saving my life. 

Sometimes it’s a shift in perspective or outlook. Sometimes it’s practical changes they suggest that make a difference.

Either way, the saying should be you are what you read.  

(Note: Book cover pics and product pictures are Amazon affiliate links. If you click through and purchase a percentage will support this site.)

Izabella Wentz

It’s hard to overestimate how much Izabella Wentz has impacted my health for the better. 

There’s been many twists on my health journey the past 15 years. Rarely have doctors or conventional medicine been helpful. Mostly they’ve just been expensive. What’s really helped has been my sister (who is a medical professional), correct diagnosis, and the dietary changes and supplements I’ve taken in response to Izabella Wentz’s advice. 

The short version is that I’ve suffered for more than a quarter century with issues that I thought were thyroid problems, but my doctor said my levels were normal. 

It wasn’t until my sister recommended the right tests that pinpointed the real problems and the correct diagnosis: Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

Once that was determined, I started stalking Izabella’s content. I’ve read countless blog posts and have all three of her books. 

It’s been a hit and miss process, trying different supplements and dietary changes. Some things have made a dramatic difference. Others have not. 

The most noticeable advantages came from taking selenium, iron and magnesium supplements and eating gluten free. 

The biggest change is no longer dealing with migraines. I’m so thankful for that. 

I also have more energy, less anxiety. Cold intolerance is much less of a problem than it used to be. That one is huge, especially in Indiana in the winter. The hair loss fluctuates. Sometimes it’s a problem, sometimes it’s not. Hot flashes are not as bad.

It’s amazing how your physical health is so integrated with every other type of health. 

The supplements and dietary changes have made a difference in how I feel. Back in the days when I didn’t even know what I was up against, all I knew was that I was miserable. I didn’t even know if it was physical, emotional or relational. 

Two recent changes that help are taking magnesium at bedtime and the homemade granola recipe from the cookbook. 

I’m addicted to the granola. Can’t stop eating it. I don’t feel too guilty about it, because it’s from a health cookbook, right? 

The magnesium has made a difference in my sleep, because the combination of menopause and Hashimoto’s has resulted in sleep difficulties. The most frequent is night waking and not being able to get back to sleep. 

When I run out of magnesium and I’m waiting for a new delivery, I can tell a difference in the quality of my sleep. I try hard not to skip it, because I feel so much better when I’m sleeping well. I’ve also noticed a difference in my memory since taking it. I’m a believer. 

********

Overwhelm is just discouraging. Feeling like you’re losing is disheartening and demotivating. The pain is real. 

The words of two different people are helping me deal. 

Kendra Adachi

Kendra Adachi coined the phrase Lazy Genius, meaning being a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn’t.

She talks a lot about name what matters.

Dropping balls that you are responsible for keeping up in the air is just no fun. That is one reason why I wrote about glass balls and rubber balls. Which is exactly the point that Kendra Adachi makes with name what matters. When you identify those glass balls, you can concentrate on keeping them up. You can let the rubber balls drop with confidence, knowing they’ll be there when you chase them later. 

Why is name what matters so important? Because you don’t want to have regrets. 

You don’t want analysis paralysis. If you decide ahead of time, you can move forward. You also have a framework for making decisions about interruptions and detours so you don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. 

Other Lazy Genius principles are helpful, too. But, the relief comes when you accept that you don’t have to be a genius about everything. You can be lazy about some things. You get to choose what matters. 

Feeling overwhelmed is not a good way to live. Living with purpose is. Accepting that you have too much to do and acknowledging that you are doing the most important things can give you  peace that little else can. It’s okay to be failing at what matters least if you are winning at what matters most. 

That’s what name what matters can do for you.

Find Kendra’s podcast, information on her book and all things Lazy Genius here.

Rosemarie Groner

Rosemarie is founder of the Busy Budgeter and Hot Mess to Home Success online course.

Just reading her free content has been helpful.

Rosemarie’s advice helps in the practical. She also has strategies that overcome procrastination and the paralysis that comes from feeling overwhelmed. Knowing that you’re winning the game is so much more powerful than feeling like you’re losing. 

Doing laundry, dishes and scheduling every day has helped my stress. I don’t have to name what matters or decide what is the most important thing to do that day, I just do it. The things that matter, the most important things come after that.

Rosemarie points out how everything is interconnected. 

How budgeting affects your schedule and your every day routines in your home. Your every day routines affect your budget, especially how much you pay for food. 

Doing one load of laundry every day has made a difference in my life. Keeping up with the daily has always been a problem for me. Having it spelled out in simple terms step by step help. It has helped with the overwhelm. 

Feeling overwhelmed is just not fun, it’s demotivating. It sparks arguments and invokes guilt feelings. 

It’s amazing how some minor tweaks have reduced my inner stress. 

The task of building Christian character in our kids is daunting.

After 30 years of parenting, this is what I know for sure: whenever you think you have it figured out, you don’t. The game is constantly changing, so what worked yesterday might not work today. 

We need help from the church, from extended family and from our kids’ teachers and coaches. Just assuring that all these influences are aligned is daunting. 

We also need God’s help not only to build Christian character in our kids, but in ourselves as well. Since character is easier caught than taught, the example we’re presenting is supremely important. 

I’ve created a list of resources in three areas: helpful websites, books for parents and media for kids. 

What are the best resources for building Christian character in kids? My top six picks include two websites, two books for parents and two books for kids.

1. Kids of Integrity from Focus on the Family Canada 
2. Raising Boys and Girls from family counselors in Tennesee
3. Strong and Kind by Korie Robertson
4. Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Paul Tripp
5. A Child’s First Bible by Kenneth N. Taylor 
6. How Great is our God by Louie Giglio

(Note: Pictures of product covers are Amazon affiliate links. If you click through and purchase, a percentage will support this site.)

Websites

Focus on the Family

The organization founded by James Dobson in 1977 has a wealth of resources for Christian parents, including their flagship radio show, Focus on the Family and a podcast on parenting.

Adventures in Odyssey is a brand born at Focus that tells audio and video stories that teaches Christian values to kids. 

Focus on the Family Canada— Kids of Integrity

The Canadian branch of Focus has created a resource called Kids of Integrity, specifically designed to teach Christian character values to kids ages 3 to 10.  

Raising Boys and Girls

Three Christian therapists who work with families in Tennessee have a website and social media presence educating parents in best practices for child-rearing. They’ve also written a number of books. I like their emphasis on different parenting for different genders. There’s so much confusion and mis-information in this realm, it’s good to see someone addressing it. 

Redeemed Reader

Since there are no content ratings for books like there are for movies (find out why here), Redeemed Reader has you covered by reviewing kids’ books with an eye for which values are presented.

Common Sense Media

Although Common Sense Media is not written from a Christian world view, I appreciate the fact that they review movies, TV, games and books based on appropriate ages for children.

Books for Parents

Strong and Kind by Korie Robertson

Korie takes on the challenge of laying out a blueprint for parents for teaching their kids character.

She focuses on nine character values: strong, kind, honest, patient, compassionate, humble, loyal, joyful and self-controlled. 

The emphasis is not on being perfect parents, but on living and teaching the character traits we want to see in our children. 

Modern Parents, Vintage Values by Sissy Goff and Melissa Trevathan

Tackling head on the challenge of technology in a tech saturated world, the authors are family counselors.

They help families who face the difficulty of teaching timeless principles to kids in a world that is changing rapidly. 

Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson

The Clarkson family has done a lot of writing and speaking on Christian parenting, hospitality and friendships.

This book focuses on Christian values to teach your children in the home. 

Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel

I read this years ago when my kids were little and was impressed by the emphasis on grace.

Legalism is an easy trap to fall into approaching the task of teaching Christian character.

The answer to that is grace. 

Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Paul Tripp

Certainly the hardest part of building Christian character is dealing with the heart issues.

Behavior is only the outworking of what’s happening in the heart.

So, addressing those foundational beliefs is the best way to shape character in kids. Countless conversations happen along the way. 

The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian

Stormie Omartian has written multiple books on how to pray about the people closest to you.

Since we do not battle against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, we need supernatural help to prevail.

Stormie gives practical advice, shares personal stories and offers prayers crafted for specific needs.

The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi

This might seem like an odd book to include here, but I think it fits.

One of the foundational Lazy Genius principles is naming what matters. One reason parenting is hard is because of the clash of priorities.

Naming what matters forces an establishment of priorities. It also identifies what doesn’t matter as much. Getting clarity on priorities is a critical first step, no matter what you’re doing.  

Resources for Kids

A Child’s First Bible by Kenneth N. Taylor

This is my favorite Bible story book for the youngest listeners.

Because it’s not easy to reduce Bible lessons to the simplest terms, it’s easy to misrepresent what the Bible actually teaches.

This one stays faithful to the original text. 

How Great is our God by Louie Giglio

The world is an amazing place.

Pointing out the wonders of creation is a great way to help kids worship the Creator. 

Worshiping the Creator in bite sized devotional format is a great way to teach Christian character to kids. 

Veggie Tales

The well-known brand of animated vegetables teach Christian principles to kids through stories, songs and Bible verses.

The humor and compelling characters keep kids engaged without driving adults up the wall.

Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato lead the cast, with Junior Asparagus rounding out the top three.

Little Dogs on the Prairie

Not as well known as Veggie Tales, but more an all-family favorite for us.

Little Dogs has lots of layered humor for adults and kids, catchy tunes, compelling characters and biblical principles.

Unfortunately the hard copy DVDs have gone out of print, but there are digital copies of the three DVDs available on the Fancy Monkey Website.

Adventures in Odyssey

Created by Focus on the Family to teach kids Christian principles, Adventures in Odyssey started as a radio drama featuring Mr. Whitaker, Connie, Eugene and others.

They also produced video stories aimed at a younger audience.