This book is good. It's not perfect and if I had to choose between Parenting with Words of Grace and a few other books about parenting, I would likely choose another. The author appears to be quite religious which should seem obvious from the cover, however when a book is about relationship I'm looking more for the outworking of faith in relationship that religion.

His use of scripture, especially in the way we speak to our children is helpful.

This may be a book my husband would enjoy more than I did. It's pretty well written and easy to read. I am not disappointed I took the time to read it, I simply didn't find much that was new in here and could likely gather the same information from book I would enjoy more.

The publisher provided an ARC through Netgalley. I have voluntarily decided to read and review, giving my personal opinions and thoughts

What an amazing book on parenting! This book was encouraging, convicting and so well-written. The author shares stories from his own parenting experience but constantly points back to the power of the Gospel for parenting and investing well in our kids. The principles in this book can be used no matter what stage of parenting you are in - and the principles can be applied to all relationships. Very highly and wholeheartedly recommend!

This is a book deeply needed in the Christian community. Previous to reading this book, I frequently recommended the book Everyday Talk, but this will become my new go-to recommendation for parents wanting to cultivate a gospel-saturated conversational style in their homes with their children. This book gives a great foundation for how to center your words with your children on the gospel. I think this book is a wonderful addition to the Christian parent's library of resources from training their children up in the way they should go. I know I will be sharing this book often with fellow parents.

The things we choose to say or not to say, along with the way that we say them, are either an invitation to, or a warning against, greater relationship. Parenting then is the privilege of wooing potential future peers-smaller, less developed images of God-inviting them, if they so choose, to vertical and horizontal relationships that could outlast time. Parenting can't work if you force your children to love you or work well with you but you can woo. You can give them an experience of living in God's world that invites them to have more. You can use words to love them, pursue them, train them, and engage them like God uses words with you. In doing so your kids, will have the chance to sense his character and nature through you, which will help them decide whether or not they'd like more of you and more of him. It is an invitation for a long lasting relationship.

There is a balancing act in parenting your children. Parenting can be tough love when needed but it also can be filled with grace. It is through our everyday conversations that we can build a relationship that woos our children to us and to the Father. Words are powerful. They can be death or life. It is taking the opportunity to give life in our words to lift them up that they have the confidence to love others and serve.

There can be misconceptions on what grace is and the author makes those misconceptions plain. Grace is not enabling your children but showing them a better way. The distinction in itself can be harmful to the child if we are not mindful of it.

The goal of parenting with words of grace is to help connect our child to the love of Christ. It is by understanding the love of Christ, we can love others and Christ well. Words of Grace can give us opportunities to say 3 very important things. What kind of person am I. What kind of relationship can you expect to have with me in the future, and most more important, you represent God to your children and do they want to know him based on your representation. Highly recommend.

A Special Thank you to Crossway Publishing and Netgall

Your kids mature through conversations. That is the main idea of this book. Through our conversations, we teach our children. Just as we learn from our conversations with God, our children learn from us. They not only learn who we are and how we treat them, but they also learn who God is. Every time you talk to your child, you are communicating "This is what I am like as a person- this is what I value; this is what's important to me; this is how I think about life; this is how I think about you."
There are aspects of this book that I loved, the mission to speak thoughtfully to our children was great. However, I felt like his personal stories were completely unrealistic. Overall, I would recommend this book.
"Teach and talk everywhere. Verbally communicate not simply what God says, but how his words intersect with daily life as you're home or on the road...Fill your children's world with God's words so that they develop a sense of who he is, who they are in relation to him, and how they must live in this world."

"Parenting with Words of Grace" by William Smith is a practical book for parents. It teaches parents the importance of keeping open communication with your children. It shows the parents to always be open in the way they communicate and accepting . He warns against turning your children off so they will not listen. The book uses good examples and ties in scripture . It reminds us of God's love for us and His patience and reminds us to do the same for our children. I appreciate the publisher , author and netgalley for allowing me to read and review this wonderful book.

I received an advance copy of this book from Crossway and NetGalley.

We speak so many words to our children everyday but so often at the end of the day I wonder how many words actually built my children up and pointed them to Christ. In this immensely practical book William Smith offers countless practical examples of how to speak to our children to build god relationships with them and build a home where Christ is spoken of openly.

So often our words are a result of us being tired and busy, this book will encourage you to speak words of Grace to your children and the importance of what we say.

This is an excellent book, challenging and full of grace (just like its title!) In this crazy world we live in, parents need this kind of guidance and encouragement, that, when put into practice, shapes the next generation in love, giving God the glory, and bring hope to a lost and desperate world.

I read Parenting with Words of Grace because I enjoy books that contain scripture references and also comparing scripture to parenting-life in modern times. While there were chapters and chapters with references to the Bible, I still felt like the book missed a lot of opportunity to use real examples of “Parenting with Words of Grace”.

Don’t get me wrong, the author is clearly a smart pastor and knows his scripture, but the “real life” examples where he spoke to his own children with Words of Grace seemed to be unauthentic and not very realistic (at least in my opinion). I was hoping for more examples of how to speak with children or family members based on the title, however the book kind of missed the mark.

I feel like the book lacks overall structure, there were too few parenting examples (some but not many and unrealistic), and just a disorganized flow of the book in general. The book did not meet my expectations based on my initial impression of the title and book description.

Thank you Crossway books and #netgalkey for my free e-book arc in exchange for an honest review.

The author provided some good reminders about how the way we speak to our children influences our relationship with them. The best takeaway from this book is that our words are an invitation to our children to connect with us, and that the conversations we have will determine in large part what kind of relationship they will have with us when they are adults and have moved away.

Unfortunately, more than half of the book is proselytizing. Having grown up in an evangelical household, I felt rather preached to by an author/pastor who perhaps feels paternal toward his readers. The problem with paternalism is that it can come off as condescending. His relationship with God is meaningful to the author, of course, but when he compares God's relationship to people with a parents' relationship with their children, as he often does, he misses the mark. I ended up skipping much of the book, because I heard all these sermons before, and the men who wrote the Biblical stories and letters on which much of the book is based were not exactly champions of equality between husband and wife.

The book still gets three stars because the first message of the book--to think of your conversations with your children as an invitation--is a powerful one.

This might be a very good book for the right audience. I do think that parents who tend toward authoritarianism and a strict "do what I say because I said so" mentality would benefit greatly from this gentler approach. However, the audience does seem limited primarily to evangelicals.

I absolutely love the premise behind this book, and I learned a lot about the character of God. If we look to how God speaks to us, we will see a beautiful example of how we should speak to our children. This book is full of scripture passages to help us truly see the character of God, and then helps us think about how we can implement what we learn from God into our relationships with our children.

I didn’t love the writing style of the author. I felt like it was a bit choppy and there was no good flow between thoughts.

Thanks to netgalley and the author for the ARC. I truly enjoyed reading it!