A good little primer on Christian childrearing and discipline. I read my parents' version from the 1970s, so I'm not sure if it's been revised since then!

Easy read. Was it what I was I expected from the title and age of the book? Yes. Would I truly recommend it to Christian parents? Eh, probably not. Lots of other great, better resources out there for parents wanting to raise theirs kids in a Christ like way. (I am okay with spanking my kids for the record and this book was still not my fav.)

This book was very “meh” for me….it was drawn out and could have been half the size. I liked a few of the chapters and scripture references but some of it was just overkill or filled with opinions. Definitely one of those where you take the good and toss out the bad!

I didn't actually find this very useful. Far too much of it merely repeated the previous thought without any additional insight or in any significantly different way. It was also bloated with the standard evangelical jargon that so many modern authors feel the need to include (I simply don't want a book on discipline that has a whole third of it telling me basic Christian truths in a bland way).

The sections advocating the evangelising of our children are more than unhelpful and show just how low a view baptism Presbyterians now have.

Just okay, with a few great thoughts that might have made a decent pamphlet.

I recommend this to all parents. What a practical teaching and encouragement for such a difficult and wearying practice. We must be diligent and wise in our parenting- neither of which are easy 24/7

A very helpful book loaded with biblical sanity, it will play a helpful part in any Christian parent's reading diet. I've heard some people criticise this book for not dealing enough with the heart of the child in discipline, but I don't entirely agree. The parts of Scripture it handles, it handles well, and I don't think he neglects the heart. Are there more insights that could have been added? Of course, same as any book. Could the book have benefited from a deeper engagement with heart issues in disciplining your children? probably. You'll still find this book helpful. Probably supplementing it with "Shepherding a child's heart" by Tripp will be helpful, but then, our reading in any area should be supplemented and broadened by consulting multiple authors. Nevertheless, Ray continually returns to the Scriptures in this short book, and - to my mind - that makes this one really excellent.

I liked this, but didn't love it. I agree with a previous reviewer who said this book's content could've been edited and turned into a really nice pamphlet or something.

This felt more theological than practical, and because I was (and am) looking for books with specific Scriptures and ways to carry out biblical discipline (aka spanking), this just fell short. However, I absolutely LOVED the chapter on kids in the church! Wow, that was refreshing to read! I loved the examples given of infants and toddlers included in biblical worship, and his pointers on giving and receiving advice from other parents while in the church setting.

Nothing in this was wrong, necessarily. I just wasn't blown away by anything here. Paul Tripp's Parening is still the best book I've read on the topic.

Someone gave me this book as a gift when I had my first baby. Whew babies! It was very tough for me to read.. So hard I couldn't finish it. Seemed a bit harsh with the advice on discipline.

If you’re looking for a resource that encourages you to heap law-keeping burdens onto your children‘s shoulders, then this is the book for you. It’s like the author never got around to reading Romans 3.

Not without some good points (there are good chapters on prayer and children’s participation in church) but this good is outweighed by promises the author can never deliver on. Namely that by following his prescribed parenting methods (which amount only to spanking, no other discipline techniques are encouraged), the principles will “work.” (Page 121) Presumably he means your children will be compliant and obedient. But do they love God? The state of the heart seems not to matter, merely that the child obey. Again, what of Romans 3:20?

Excellent.

If I could give this book less than one star, I would.

My parents swore by it as I was growing up. It seemed to reassure them that their emotional, verbal and physical abuse was "Christian". They even led studies with other parents based around the book's content. I do not believe that Bruce (or my parents) have any concept of what "rod" means in the Biblical context.

Lots of clear, straight-forward Bible teaching on spanking out of Proverbs and elsewhere. I'd like to recommend this book more, but a few flies in the ointment prevent it, like when Ray recommends teaching your kids to respond to the snap of your fingers. No doubt this could be done graciously, but he comes across as tone deaf which makes me wonder how it went for him and his kids. Discipline should be tender, and tenderness should disciplined. Still, for those stuck in the sentimental and lamely argued "all spanking is child-abuse" paradigm, who set aside some lapses for the good biblical exposition, there is a lot here.