Why is it important to know this scripture passage?

It is precisely because
"Parenting Is an Inter-generational Contract With God!"

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And this is Very Good News for all parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and all who work with and teach children if we love the Lord!  We need to claim God’s promise and live like we believe it . If we love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, not only are we saved but so too are our children and our children’s children for a thousand generations to come.  

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Children Are Not Born With A Manual In Hand To Tell Us How To Raise Them 

​    Perhaps...

• this is our way of talking about the frustrations and inadequacies we feel in raising our precious first child?

• this is a way of saying we wish we would have had a few parenting books to read before we actually began parenting?

• this is our way of saying we wish we had a few easy-to-read, easy-to–access child development resources to refer to when and as we needed them as we raised our children. 

 

As physicians begin to study medicine they begin to build their own medical libraries and add to them throughout their careers. Similarly, attorneys study law and develop their personal libraries, as do other professionals. Bringing this analogy a bit closer to home, most of us have and reference “how-to books" in our homes. Yet most of us do not have “how-to parenting books" on our shelves. Almost everyone references the internet for cooking, gardening, home repairs, travel, first aid, and more.  Once again however, finding answers to parenting dilemmas on the spur of the moment is not so easy. Nor is finding meaningful activities, interactions, and experiences that support and nurture our children’s growth, development, and learning throughout their childhood on the way to their adulthood. 

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I would have liked to have had at least one such book when I was raising my four children. I did have plenty of cumbersome child development college textbooks, but none of these books were parent-friendly. They were simply too theoretical to be useful or even understandable. In the past, I browsed bookstore shelves and discovered numerous books that focused on a single child development topic such as how to discipline children or what to expect during a particular stage of their development.

 

The Intentional Catholic Parenting Series

 

The Intentional Catholic Parenting Series presents parents and teachers alike with resource books that can be referenced on spur of the moments, when and as needed. Each book in the series focuses on the most important concepts of children’s development.  The books offer parents and teachers comprehensive, user-friendly reference books that define and describe the development of the “whole child” across six areas of their development called "domains."  The domains are further divided into 96 developmental characteristics I call "Target Objectives."  I then suggest specific activities to do with children that support and nurture them. \

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Each book in the series focuses on a specific area of child development.  I call these areas “domains.:  the most important domain concepts of children’s development.  The books serve as comprehensive, user-friendly references that define and describe the development of the “whole child” across six areas of their development. I called these areas “domains”  and further divided them into a total of ninety-six developmental characteristics I call Target Objectives.  I then suggest specific activities to do with children that support and nurture them. 

 

Each of the 96 Target Objectives  include the following information:

• What is it? - offers several definitions of the target objective.

 

• When does Christ express it? - lists all of the ways that Jesus Himself expresses the target objective, citing specific Gospel passages as evidence of Christ’s expression of the target objective.

 

• Why is it important? - presents several reasons why the Target Objective is important and explains why y it was selected.

 

• How would a child express it? - gives several indicators of how a child might express the Target Objective during typical daily routines and while at play and during leisure times.

 

• Author’s Notes - offers personal thoughts and stories related to the Target Objective. The comments are based upon the author’s knowledge and experiences.

 

• What could a parent or other adult do to support it? - offers multiple age-related activities and experiences beginning with infancy through to adulthood. The ideas are easily implemented using everything to be found in the environment of the home and the community.