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Playing for Keeps/Losing Your Marbles
After 25 years of working in Family Ministry we've learned there are some things adults just can't do for kids. You can't force a toddler to love broccoli. You can't make a teenager "not date him." And you can't make a kid love God. Can you? At some point it just starts to break down.
That's why we wrote Playing for Keeps. It's a book for parents and leaders (and anyone else who influences the lives of kids and teenagers) about six things you can give a kid over time that will make a significant impact. These six things can help give a kid the kind of history that will show them why they matter to God.
But Playing for Keeps is really two books in one. On the flipside is a short story called Losing Your Marbles that makes these six ideas come to life.
Playing for Keeps/Losing your Marbles is a book for anybody who interacts with a kid or teenager every week--from a parent to a coach to Small Group Leader. Anybody. Playing for Keeps explores six things every kid needs over time, and provides 18 practical ideas for anybody who wants to make what really matters matter more.
That's why we wrote Playing for Keeps. It's a book for parents and leaders (and anyone else who influences the lives of kids and teenagers) about six things you can give a kid over time that will make a significant impact. These six things can help give a kid the kind of history that will show them why they matter to God.
But Playing for Keeps is really two books in one. On the flipside is a short story called Losing Your Marbles that makes these six ideas come to life.
Playing for Keeps/Losing your Marbles is a book for anybody who interacts with a kid or teenager every week--from a parent to a coach to Small Group Leader. Anybody. Playing for Keeps explores six things every kid needs over time, and provides 18 practical ideas for anybody who wants to make what really matters matter more.
362 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2013
23 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Reggie Joiner
63 books25 followersReggie Joiner is the founder and CEO of Orange, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to influence those who influence the next generation. Author of more than 30 books, including Think Orange, Seven Practices of Effective Ministry, and Lead Small. Reggie has changed the way churches and organizations create environments for and equip leaders, parents, and the next generation. Orange partners with over 8,000 churches internationally and is the architect of the Orange Conference and the Orange Tour, which provide national training opportunities for senior pastors, church leaders, and ministry volunteers.
Prior to Orange and along with Andy Stanley, Reggie co-founded North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. During his 11 years as the executive director of Family Ministry, Reggie developed the new concepts of ministry for preschoolers, children, students, and married adults. He has found a way to wear orange for 4,353 days and counting.
Reggie is a graduate of Georgia Southwestern College. He and his wife Debbie have four grown children and live near Atlanta.
Prior to Orange and along with Andy Stanley, Reggie co-founded North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. During his 11 years as the executive director of Family Ministry, Reggie developed the new concepts of ministry for preschoolers, children, students, and married adults. He has found a way to wear orange for 4,353 days and counting.
Reggie is a graduate of Georgia Southwestern College. He and his wife Debbie have four grown children and live near Atlanta.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 7, 2015
The premise of this book is a gold nugget. Here it is:
You have 936 marbles in a jar that represent the weeks in your child's life that they are living under your roof (18 years.) With that precious time, are you loving and leading your kids well? Are you aware of the value of each marble? Are you proud of what you did with it?
Great illustration. The rest of the book doesn't tend to flesh that out with very useful statistics, suggestions, or stories, and is a bit overly-generalized to get parents to do much more than think. A good start, but unstructured intentions don't amount to much in relationships. Besides that, this book might literally use 15 fonts. If you consider typeface size and color as additional variables, it may be more like 50. It's like a 200+ page infographic, which makes the book much harder to read, and splays the content unnecessarily and embellishes the content considerably. The result is a $24.99 price tag on a book that could have more or less been a tweet.
You have 936 marbles in a jar that represent the weeks in your child's life that they are living under your roof (18 years.) With that precious time, are you loving and leading your kids well? Are you aware of the value of each marble? Are you proud of what you did with it?
Great illustration. The rest of the book doesn't tend to flesh that out with very useful statistics, suggestions, or stories, and is a bit overly-generalized to get parents to do much more than think. A good start, but unstructured intentions don't amount to much in relationships. Besides that, this book might literally use 15 fonts. If you consider typeface size and color as additional variables, it may be more like 50. It's like a 200+ page infographic, which makes the book much harder to read, and splays the content unnecessarily and embellishes the content considerably. The result is a $24.99 price tag on a book that could have more or less been a tweet.
March 29, 2014
"For anybody who will do anything with a kid or teenager this week." seriously, this book is for you. Joiner and company do a fantastic job laying out 6 areas where we need to invest in our kids: time, love, words, stories, tribes, and fun. if we invest in these areas over time, we'll reap a huge reward in our kids' & teens' lives. our granted time of influence and responsibility is short, so make the most of it. what we do this and every week is so important, and adds up over they years.
also, i love the design of the book, and its quirky format: read the first half of the book (fiction story), then flip it over and read the second half (instruction). all the lines and circles and fonts and colors combine to make a fun presentation. however, i wish the font size would have been bigger; it was a strain on my eyes to read, but hey, that's a small thing.
overall this is an excellent book for parents & youth leaders.
also, i love the design of the book, and its quirky format: read the first half of the book (fiction story), then flip it over and read the second half (instruction). all the lines and circles and fonts and colors combine to make a fun presentation. however, i wish the font size would have been bigger; it was a strain on my eyes to read, but hey, that's a small thing.
overall this is an excellent book for parents & youth leaders.
October 29, 2014
Could they make the font any smaller in this book? The use of white space was helpful for layout, but the cost was lots of teeny tiny words.
Other than that, I liked the idea of a parable on one half of the book, then flip it over for the instruction. There is some good advice and encouragement in here, and a few new perspectives on how to think about raising and relating to kids. It wasn't life changing for me, but I would encourage any parent to give this a read well before your kids hit their teens. Not that it's too late then, but it sure is important to have some of these habits in place already. Time flies.
Other than that, I liked the idea of a parable on one half of the book, then flip it over for the instruction. There is some good advice and encouragement in here, and a few new perspectives on how to think about raising and relating to kids. It wasn't life changing for me, but I would encourage any parent to give this a read well before your kids hit their teens. Not that it's too late then, but it sure is important to have some of these habits in place already. Time flies.
April 13, 2015
It was...
annoying,
ridiculously formatted, and
choppy,
trying too hard to sound
conversational and relevant like a
youth pastor sermon.
LOTS OF CAPS LOCK SO YOU CAN TELL THE PARTS THE AUTHORS THOUGHT WERE IMPORTANT.
Very repetitive.
REPETITION / TIME = BORING
For me, this clouded the message and distracted from what is otherwise fairly solid material. At least it was short.
annoying,
ridiculously formatted, and
choppy,
trying too hard to sound
conversational and relevant like a
youth pastor sermon.
LOTS OF CAPS LOCK SO YOU CAN TELL THE PARTS THE AUTHORS THOUGHT WERE IMPORTANT.
Very repetitive.
REPETITION / TIME = BORING
For me, this clouded the message and distracted from what is otherwise fairly solid material. At least it was short.
January 1, 2021
Another good reminder about the Orange/reThink concepts from Reggie’s team. At the beginning of this year it’s a good reminder for me as a parent, a minister, and a mentor. Love, words, time, tribes, stories, and fun... all over time... make a difference.
I didn’t like the fictional story Losing Your Marbles, so just read the playing for keeps portion. A quick read.
I didn’t like the fictional story Losing Your Marbles, so just read the playing for keeps portion. A quick read.
July 5, 2018
Great lessons and reminders for how to use the time we have with our kids. Now I’m going to go play.
July 30, 2018
Fantastic look at what it takes to build a history worth remembering with those you are influencing.
December 29, 2021
Really outstanding book on what it means to invest into the lives of kids as parents and leaders. Read this as part of a student ministry training at church and fell in love with the concepts contained within. What you do every week matters...because each week is another week in a collection of weeks that will add up to months, and years in the lives of your students. Reggie, it is a great time to be reading this as a sixth grade life-group leader at Forest Hill in Charlotte, NC. Truly gave me the best perspective on why I do what I do and to encourage me to have fun with kids...not taking everything so seriously all the time. Awesome stuff!! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
February 4, 2017
I read this book from the perspective of a ministry leader searching for the "bottom line" of helping parents spiritually lead their families in the middle of a busy life. Reggie Joiner, just as he does in all his writing and speaking, keeps it simple AND thoughtful, with lots to pass on to parents and churches to enable spiritual growth in families. And this books brings a profound call to the urgency of living each day intentionally, even when life is busy, as time passes way too quickly. I highly recommend this short read for anyone searching for a basic idea of how parents impact their children's spiritual life.
August 1, 2013
This book is a must read for parents and anyone that works with children. It will make you reevaluate and value the time you spend with the children in your circles.
February 1, 2014
Good reminders of things that are important for kids to have in their lives growing up.
April 23, 2017
I came across this book in a used bookstore, and it caught my eye because of the cover. The layout inside also made it apparent that whoever designed it had a keen eye for design. With me having a background in graphic design, it lead to me peruse through it. I could pick up that it was about children, although I wouldn't say that it is for children, although it could be for teens. However, the subject matter interested me because of some personal things that I was dealing with pertaining to maintaining good relationships. In a nutshell, it's about the little actions that you do for a child that make a huge difference over time in the course of their lives. For me, the premise could apply to anybody, just interchange the word "child" with "person." This is why I decided to read it.
The format is interesting. It's like two books in one. The first being a short story about youth/teens that has some very skilled illustrations to supplement. You can simply flip the book over to the opposite side for the second book, which is more in what I call "hipster" design style. It's very infographic like, which I kinda found more engaging.
The second part of the book (Playing for keeps) is geared toward people who influence children, i.e. parents, teachers, people who work or serve as leaders for the youth. It also has some Christian undertones, as if it is being written from a "ministry" perspective. Although, I don't think one has to be religious to understand the premises here. It focuses on 6 things that happen over time that really matter in children's lives or relationships. Yet, I think they are practically universal and not just child-specific: time, love, words, stories, tribes, fun. This is practical advise that will assist with building any kind of relationship.
Honestly, unless you are just really into to kid stories, you can really just focus on the side of the book called, Playing for Keeps. I read it, but would have still enjoyed and understood the second half just the same without having read the first. It does provide reenforcement of the key principles of the book. I was surprised at the many small gems of good advice about life in general as it relates to how we spend our time with the ones we love. The authors also eloquently tie in scripture from the bible as lessons and examples. As a person who grew up in a family where a lot of key things like love, fun, words, tribes, etc where not emphasized, this book gave me some clarification as to how those things have affected my life as a result, both then and now. I don't have children, and I found the information worthwhile. So I recommend to everyone because we live in the world with children, and we were all once children before, and anybody can play a role in shaping a child's life for the better.
The format is interesting. It's like two books in one. The first being a short story about youth/teens that has some very skilled illustrations to supplement. You can simply flip the book over to the opposite side for the second book, which is more in what I call "hipster" design style. It's very infographic like, which I kinda found more engaging.
The second part of the book (Playing for keeps) is geared toward people who influence children, i.e. parents, teachers, people who work or serve as leaders for the youth. It also has some Christian undertones, as if it is being written from a "ministry" perspective. Although, I don't think one has to be religious to understand the premises here. It focuses on 6 things that happen over time that really matter in children's lives or relationships. Yet, I think they are practically universal and not just child-specific: time, love, words, stories, tribes, fun. This is practical advise that will assist with building any kind of relationship.
Honestly, unless you are just really into to kid stories, you can really just focus on the side of the book called, Playing for Keeps. I read it, but would have still enjoyed and understood the second half just the same without having read the first. It does provide reenforcement of the key principles of the book. I was surprised at the many small gems of good advice about life in general as it relates to how we spend our time with the ones we love. The authors also eloquently tie in scripture from the bible as lessons and examples. As a person who grew up in a family where a lot of key things like love, fun, words, tribes, etc where not emphasized, this book gave me some clarification as to how those things have affected my life as a result, both then and now. I don't have children, and I found the information worthwhile. So I recommend to everyone because we live in the world with children, and we were all once children before, and anybody can play a role in shaping a child's life for the better.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews