Small Talk….Learning From Children 4


(I received this book from FlyByPromotions and was asked to read it and give my opinion.  All opinions are my own.  Full disclaimer below)

 

Small Talk…Learning From My Children About What Matters Most


smallI received the “Small Talk…Learning From My Children About What Matters Most” from Laura Beth with FlyByPromotions and was asked to read it and give my review on it by way of blog post.

I first read the back of the “Small Talk…Learning From My Children About What Matters Most” book to kind of see what it was going to be about.  The top says “Sometimes God uses the smallest voices to teach the greatest truths.”  Wow, how true is that?

I remember years ago teaching Sunday School at a church and having some of the kids ask questions that really made you wonder if they were even kids.  The innocence, and the love was amazing.  It really made you step back as an adult, and see what you were missing in life – and how you could “see” things differently.

We are all so busy in today’s world and with the internet – we’re always seeing what other people are doing and wondering if we are good enough.  We have that vision in our head of what a “MOM” is supposed to be, and sometimes worry that we’re not living up to the title.

My Mom was great with us when we were little, always home and doing her beautiful sewing and crafts.  We had stability in life and love, which is so important.  Things changed a bit when she left my Dad, that stability was gone, but the love was still always there.

When you look back on your life, you don’t see the little things that were negative, the “oh my goodness, I didn’t frost the cake perfectly”, you see the love and that’s what is important.  We need to make a stand in today’s crazy world and make sure that our families are our first priority….after God, of course – He’s the most important.

Do we really need to have our kids in 3 sports, 2 music classes, parties each week, etc.  This isn’t my life, but I know so many who are always going…going…going.  I want the time that we spend as a family, to be something that DJ remembers and cherishes later in his life.  Just being together and living a life of love teaches so much more than any extra-curricular activity or class could ever do.  Make family your first priority in life and take the time to let each of the member of your family know you love them…with small talk…and small actions of caring! 🙂



About the Book:

Small Talk…Learning From My Children About What Matters Most – Almost every day, one of Amy Julia’s children says something or asks something that prompts her to think more carefully: “Why Mommy crying?” (Marilee, when the family learned a young boy had died of cancer); “Booful, Mommy” small(“Beautiful, Mommy,” as Penny proclaimed just as Amy Julia was looking in the mirror and critiquing her post-pregnancy body in her head); “What lasting mean?” (William, when he heard a song in church about God being an everlasting God). These conversations deepen her relationships with her children, but they also deepen and refine her own understanding of what she believes, why she believes it, and what she hopes to pass along to the next generation.

Small Talk is a narrative based upon these conversations. It is not a parenting guide. It does not offer prescriptive lessons about how to talk with children. Rather, it tells stories based upon the questions and statements Amy Julia’s children have made about the things that make life good (such as love, kindness, beauty, laughter, and friendship), the things that make life hard (such as death, failure, and tragedy), and what we believe (such as prayer, God, and miracles).

Amy Julia explores three parts—body, mind, spirit—as she moves in rough chronological order through the basic questions her kids asked when they were very young to the intellectual and then spiritual questions of later childhood. It invites other parents into these same conversations, with their children, with God, and with themselves. Moving from humorous exchanges to profound questions to heart-wrenching moments, Amy Julia encourages parents to ask themselves—and to talk with their children about—what matters most.

 

Product Details:
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (October 28, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310339367
ISBN-13: 978-0310339366
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches


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About The Author:

AJ_44-199x300Amy Julia Becker is the author of Small Talk: Learning From My Children About What Matters Most (Zondervan, 2014), A Good and Perfect Gift: Faith, Expectations and a Little Girl Named Penny (Bethany House), named one of the Top Books of 2011 by Publisher’s Weekly, and Penelope Ayers: A Memoir. A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she blogs regularly for Christianity Today at Thin Places. Her essays about faith, family, and disability have appeared on the Motherlode blog of The New York Times, USA Today, ABCNews.com, Theatlantic.com, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, The Huffington Post,and Parents.com. Amy Julia lives with her husband Peter and three children, Penny, William, and Marilee in western CT.

 

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“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this book for my review. Opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.   Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

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Cristi Marashi
9 years ago

This sounds like a great book. I think sometimes people are trying so hard to be the best parent that they miss what the most important things are to a child- to be heard, to be snuggled with, to be loved. When they look back, the quality time they spent with you or the times you helped talk out/work through their problems, that is what they are going to remember.

Melissa Smith
Melissa Smith
9 years ago

All the time! Although I can’t seem to think of any one particular one right now. But I’m sure they’ll ask something hilarious later.

Erlene
9 years ago

Sounds like an interesting book. Sometimes I wish I had written down the things my kid said when they were little. Small children really do look at life differently and often make me laugh.

Yona Williams
9 years ago

My nephew constantly asks me funny questions, but I can’t think of a specific one at this moment. I’m totally drawing a blank.