Parenting First Aid, and its companion study guide, are aimed at coming alongside parents in the struggles of parenting children, whether easy or troubled. While based in a Christian mindset and with various Bible references spread throughout the pages, it is just as useful a guide for a non-Christian home to assist with a wayward child.

Each chapter brings practical ways to love our children right where they are and adds a story of a real family and the struggles they went through themselves. Nothing in these books comes from a position of seeming high and mighty; the author shares his own parenting struggles as well.

Whether you are struggling with raising your children in a Godly way, or if you just feel you could use a parenting refresher, both this book and the study guide are great resources to use and build your foundation upon.

Marty Machowski's Parenting First Aid Study Guide is an invitation for parents to gather with other parents for a life-changing journey of transparency and growth in the context of true community. Based on the full-length book, Parenting First Aid, he invites parents to take off their masks and truly let others in--and in doing so, find authentic Christian community and a place to find encouragement, hope, and loving challenges to grow as a parent. It offers parents an opportunity to share their expeirences, to pray for one another, to affirm and encourage one another--without offering judgment and criticism. If parents are willing to go all in with those understandings in mind, they're sure to find a group of supporters who genuinely care for each other and support each other. And they're bound to find joy and hope in the parenting journey, even when it's hard. While the content is great, Machowski's greatest achievement--if truly applied by readers--is the true, authentic community it builds among group members.

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review. However, the opinions expressed are my own.