The Obedient Child: A Practical Guide for Training Young Children in Confidence, Character, and Love of God

by Ken Wilson

Paperback

Published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Cole Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was good - the author made some valid and valuable points about establishing a precedence for obedience from an early age, as well as balancing the unwavering expectations of obedience with praise, favor, affection, and love.

The second part got a little extreme for my tastes. Wilson completely lost me as a fan when he called out Michael Jackson, Barbie, and He-man as evil influences designed to pull our children away from God. Are you kidding? If our God is a God of JOY, I'm nearly certain he has at least some appreciation for the music of the great M.J.

Also, the part about forcing kids to raise their hands during worship was bizarre.

Because of the latter chapters, I probably wouldn't recommend The Obedient Child to anyone, but I don't think that means I wasted my time reading it.

[Sawyer Putman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this one. It was super short, very practical and full of wisdom. Some of his examples of worldly influences I disagreed with (Michael Jackson, Star Wars, Barbie, etc) but I understand the premise of not letting the culture influence your children in a negative way. I agree with another reviewer that the raising hands part was odd, but overall, I enjoyed this and would definitely recommend it to parents of young children.

[Rebekah]

Recommended by Elisabeth Elliot.
Children are not born obedient, they're trained.