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Shepherding a Child's Heart-Parent's Handbook
The Parent's Handbook is not just a fill-in-the-blank study guide that rehearses the material in Shepherding a Child's Heart. In the ten years since the publication of Shepherding, Tedd Tripp has had the opportunity to teach on parenting to thousands of young parents across the country and in many other parts of the world. That, coupled with ten years of insights into God's Word on the subject, has resulted in a broader and deeper understanding of the content and application of Shepherding a Child's Heart. Here are questions about the meaning and application of Scripture texts to the challenges of shepherding children.
There are sections of Bible study, application, strategic questions to help parents commit to change, and gospel encouragement that you can be a better parent because of the power of grace working in you. The Parent's Handbook is a valuable tool for personal or group study.
There are sections of Bible study, application, strategic questions to help parents commit to change, and gospel encouragement that you can be a better parent because of the power of grace working in you. The Parent's Handbook is a valuable tool for personal or group study.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2001
109 people are currently reading
331 people want to read
About the author
Tedd Tripp
22 books101 followersTripp draws on over twenty years of experience as a pastor, counselor, school administrator and father in giving valuable help to parents.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 10, 2013
This was a very good book about how to raise your children in a way that focuses on God and not on their wants and desires. It wants to help you help your child let his wants and desires be what God desires for them. For parents who do not believe in corporate punishment, you will offended in his views on this subject. He lets us know that if we do not discipline in this manner, we are not obeying God in the way He has given us. He teaches that corporal punishment should not be punishment, but discipline so your child can learn to live by God's standards and not their own. I would recommend this book. I have already confessed of ways I have failed my children and will try to do a better job in the future.
November 26, 2022
My main takeaway was that what is most important in our kids is not necessarily their behavior, but their character...their heart. You can be all kinds of pretty on the outside and still be ugly on the inside. It offers a new framework for thinking about discipline. Some might disagree with some things it advocates, but the bigger message should make us all pause.
May 16, 2008
This book has been a true guide for me as a mom. I would recommend it to anyone. Those expecting their first child. Those who are in the midst of raising children. All can gleen great wisdom from this book. All parents should step back and look at the reason they discipline.
April 28, 2023
This book is the work of Satan in disguise. If you love your children do not buy this book. Your children’s hearts will be harmed for the rest of their lives if you follow the false teachings of Tedd Tripp. It teaches abuse in the name of God. This book should be banned from being sold. It ruins lives. My parent’s followed this book and its abusive rhetoric as if it was spoken from God himself into their ears.
This book is written by an uneducated man with evil in his heart. Children will not get sweeter the more you spank them. That’s what he teaches.
Uneducated Tedd teaches that you should spank your kids and then hug them. Teddy also says that if your kids express anger at you rather than love and “sweetness” after you spank them that you should spank them more. That’s abuse. It teaches your kids to never trust you. It teaches your kids to fear the word “love” and believe that love and abuse are the same.
Tedd Tripp is a false prophet.
This book is written by an uneducated man with evil in his heart. Children will not get sweeter the more you spank them. That’s what he teaches.
Uneducated Tedd teaches that you should spank your kids and then hug them. Teddy also says that if your kids express anger at you rather than love and “sweetness” after you spank them that you should spank them more. That’s abuse. It teaches your kids to never trust you. It teaches your kids to fear the word “love” and believe that love and abuse are the same.
Tedd Tripp is a false prophet.
December 17, 2024
We completed this as a Sunday School class this semester. I enjoyed the thoughtful application and discussion. I think what I appreciated most was doing this together as close friends and church family and being committed to helping one another raise our kids in the Lord. This is a helpful tool and provided an avenue for my husband and I to have purposeful discussion regarding our parenting.
August 24, 2023
The author has a disproportionate interest in the topic of discipline.
November 12, 2015
When my husband and I had our first daughter several years ago, all of our friends recommended this book. Our church at the time even gave a copy to every single family with a new baby. After reading Shepherding a Child’s Heart, however, I am puzzled why such a book is being endorsed by anyone. My 3 main concerns (although there are many others as well):
• Tedd Tripp repeatedly mishandles Scripture, imposing his own child-rearing beliefs onto the text. This is serious. He takes passages in Proverbs that refer to the “rod of discipline” and says that these verses equal a scriptural mandate to spank, even children as young as 8 months old, and that God requires us as parents to use physical punishment on our children or else we are being disobedient (pages 150, 152, 153, and many others). Careful exegesis of these passages does not support his claims. Moreover, he outlines this requirement in a systematic way to spank that cannot be found in Scripture. He dismisses all other parenting/discipline methods as being unbiblical and worldly—spanking according to his step-by-step method is the required way to parent biblically, even though his method cannot be found in Scripture.
• He undermines salvation by grace alone as he twists Proverbs 23:14, claiming that spanking somehow saves our children’s souls from spiritual death. He tells parents, “Your children’s souls are in danger of death—spiritual death. Your task is to rescue your child from death. Faithful and timely use of the rod is the means of rescue” (page 103). Again on page 104: “If you are going to rescue your children from death, if you are going to root out the folly that is bound up in their hearts, if you are going to impart wisdom, you must use the rod.” He attaches an almost mystical quality to his method of spanking, stating that it brings our children back into the “circle of blessing” (page 31), and that spanking is what will give our children a Godward orientation of their hearts (pg 122 and others). We as parents are called to care for and train/teach/discipline our children, but their dead hearts can only be awakened by the Holy Spirit—not by us parents and certainly not by “the rod.” Even if the book was wonderful otherwise, this issue alone would be grounds to think twice before recommending it.
• In addition, the steps that he outlines on pages 146-150 for his method of spanking are quite disturbing in the way he combines God with corporal punishment. Giving an example of a parent speaking to their child before the spanking: “I must spank you. If I don’t, then I would be disobeying God. You and I would both be wrong” (page 31). Afterward, in response to a child who is still crying/upset about having been spanked, Tripp tells parents, “If discipline has not yielded a harvest of peace and righteousness, it is not finished.” Then the parent says to the child, “Dear, Daddy has spanked you, but you are not sweet enough yet. We are going to have to go back upstairs for another spanking.” (page 149) All of this is followed by prayer.
Believe me, I’m not some raging liberal hippie mom. I’m a very conservative Presbyterian, and it is from this perspective that my concerns originate. If the Bible tells me to do something, I’m willing to obey. But it does not command me to spank my kids until they’re “sweet enough.” It’s just not there. I am both concerned and puzzled as to why so many people love this book so much. I believe the practices taught in Shepherding a Child’s Heart are harmful to children, especially as they are forming their understanding of God. This book is also harmful to parents, especially new parents, who are often overwhelmed and just looking for some guidance. Teaching parents that they are “commanded” by Scripture to parent according to Tedd Tripp’s method in order to ensure the salvation of their children can unnecessarily bind their consciences and attribute words to God that He did not say.
• Tedd Tripp repeatedly mishandles Scripture, imposing his own child-rearing beliefs onto the text. This is serious. He takes passages in Proverbs that refer to the “rod of discipline” and says that these verses equal a scriptural mandate to spank, even children as young as 8 months old, and that God requires us as parents to use physical punishment on our children or else we are being disobedient (pages 150, 152, 153, and many others). Careful exegesis of these passages does not support his claims. Moreover, he outlines this requirement in a systematic way to spank that cannot be found in Scripture. He dismisses all other parenting/discipline methods as being unbiblical and worldly—spanking according to his step-by-step method is the required way to parent biblically, even though his method cannot be found in Scripture.
• He undermines salvation by grace alone as he twists Proverbs 23:14, claiming that spanking somehow saves our children’s souls from spiritual death. He tells parents, “Your children’s souls are in danger of death—spiritual death. Your task is to rescue your child from death. Faithful and timely use of the rod is the means of rescue” (page 103). Again on page 104: “If you are going to rescue your children from death, if you are going to root out the folly that is bound up in their hearts, if you are going to impart wisdom, you must use the rod.” He attaches an almost mystical quality to his method of spanking, stating that it brings our children back into the “circle of blessing” (page 31), and that spanking is what will give our children a Godward orientation of their hearts (pg 122 and others). We as parents are called to care for and train/teach/discipline our children, but their dead hearts can only be awakened by the Holy Spirit—not by us parents and certainly not by “the rod.” Even if the book was wonderful otherwise, this issue alone would be grounds to think twice before recommending it.
• In addition, the steps that he outlines on pages 146-150 for his method of spanking are quite disturbing in the way he combines God with corporal punishment. Giving an example of a parent speaking to their child before the spanking: “I must spank you. If I don’t, then I would be disobeying God. You and I would both be wrong” (page 31). Afterward, in response to a child who is still crying/upset about having been spanked, Tripp tells parents, “If discipline has not yielded a harvest of peace and righteousness, it is not finished.” Then the parent says to the child, “Dear, Daddy has spanked you, but you are not sweet enough yet. We are going to have to go back upstairs for another spanking.” (page 149) All of this is followed by prayer.
Believe me, I’m not some raging liberal hippie mom. I’m a very conservative Presbyterian, and it is from this perspective that my concerns originate. If the Bible tells me to do something, I’m willing to obey. But it does not command me to spank my kids until they’re “sweet enough.” It’s just not there. I am both concerned and puzzled as to why so many people love this book so much. I believe the practices taught in Shepherding a Child’s Heart are harmful to children, especially as they are forming their understanding of God. This book is also harmful to parents, especially new parents, who are often overwhelmed and just looking for some guidance. Teaching parents that they are “commanded” by Scripture to parent according to Tedd Tripp’s method in order to ensure the salvation of their children can unnecessarily bind their consciences and attribute words to God that He did not say.
September 22, 2008
i love the idea of really teaching a child's heart, shaping their character and giving children a godly worldview rather than simply manipulating behavior. i appreciated his examples and i felt like his love for children and parenting really came out in the book. i know some people have an issue with him and his book, but i was glad to have read it. although that might be because i just went to a parenting conference taught by him and he's much better in person than in writing.
January 3, 2009
When Dylan was a baby, I asked Jason to pick up a parenting book for me one day. He came home with this and we have used these principles since then. Great book!
July 4, 2009
great parenting book. a must read
June 28, 2015
2011/2012 Bible Study ...Tried to match up with his DVDs it didn't work well
October 3, 2015
It's a very good book for family. You need to read it!!!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews