Book Review: How Not to Lose Your Teen

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PERSONAL BOOK REVIEW OF HOW NOT TO LOSE YOUR TEEN: RAISING KIDS WHO LOVE GOD AND YOU TOO BY SUSAN COTTRELL

In her book How Not to Lose Your Teen Author Susan Cottrell talks about letting go of our to-do list and our do/don’t do lists (The Tree of Knowledge—the Law) vs. listening to Christ and leading them to Him (The Tree of Life). The Tree of Knowledge being legalistic and the Tree of Life being relational (p. 34).

I can agree with this point, as I am learning to embrace the freedom that is found in grace. And I am still figuring this out.

Throughout social media, I had proclaimed How Not to Lose Your Teen as truly a must read, when I should have said this is a read for the mature believer who can rightly divide what the author is saying. I was embracing what I wanted to see in the book, while He was calling me to listen to Him rather than mislead others.

How Not to Lose Your Teen is about getting rid of what we think we know about what our kids (our teens) should be doing, learning to hear from Christ, and letting Him lead us because there is no one-size-fits-all for parenting. It is ultimately about our hearts—a heart change in our children producing the results, instead of looking to the rules to do that for us.

There’s wisdom in that, but we have to be careful. We need to rely on His leading, but He will never contradict His Word. I do not agree with everything the author says. Some quotes, specific wording, and the details within can be misleading; and I also want to be careful how I put it all together.

For my complete review of How Not to Lose Your Teen, click here.

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