I have heard from parents on and off social media saying they read their children’s books before the kids read them. At first, I thought that was weird, I thought that it was a waste of time. Usually just browsing the book or even buying it because it says it aligns with your beliefs or morals would give you a clear indication if it was an appropriate book for children. Well not anymore, I praise those parents that take the time to screen books before letting their children read them. I ran into a book that I thought would be great because it was a “Christian” book and it would line up with my beliefs (I am a Christian too), I didn’t read through it first and just started reading it with my son. We were only reading it for a few days when I decided to stop reading it. Quick disclaimer: This is my own opinion, I do not claim to know everything or to be able to interpret scripture the way God intended them to be interpreted, I just don’t agree with this author's interpretation of scriptures. The book is called 3-Minute Devotions for Boys. It doesn’t name the author; it only says Barbour Books on it. It is exactly what the title says, 3-minute devotions to read for 90 days. I thought this book would be great to go through with my son at the start of our homeschool day. The first couple of devotions were well written and I felt they made sense, then on day 8, I was singing a different tune. Day 8 is an interpretation of Jousha 1:9. The author of this 3-minute devotions book, talks about worry and how we should give all our worry to God and let God deal with it. This is true, I totally understand that worry and fear will eat us alive and by giving it to God we are unburdening ourselves and putting trust in God to lead us in the right direction. For a young person, this may be misleading. Depending upon the age of the child reading this book he may not understand how to go about assessing a situation and take these words at face value. The person who wrote this said that we should stay away from harm but in the same breath he or she says that fear is a waste of an emotion and could never change the end result. I have a problem with that interpretation. We all have an internal alarm system that was given to us by God himself. I feel like we should listen to that alarm system. An internal alarm system for a child is usually to run and find a trusting adult or if a little older just remove himself from the situation, so telling a child to ignore this feeling and go with it could possibly lead to a harmful outcome. I feel this particular interpretation is saying to young men that they are invincible, and no one is out to hurt them and that all people are good and every place is a safe place. We know as adults this is not true, there are good people and bad people and good places and bad places, and God has given us this internal alarm system to let us know that there could be potential danger. I do feel that more discussion about this interpretation is a must if you are going to either let your child read this on his own or if you are going through it together. Another interpretation that didn’t sit right with me is day 10 talking about sin. The author worded the interpretation as having any emotion is a sin. I feel this is also damaging to young men who are going through puberty and are having a hard time controlling and understanding their emotions. I think it is important to reach out to God for help with understanding emotions, like anger for example. Being angry is not a sin, it is what we do with anger that could make it a sin. Then the very next page the author says that anger isn’t a sin, even though the page before it said it was. After that I stopped reading this with my son. I can’t speak on the rest of pages, but what I read I felt like this book was misleading and could be damaging to young men. I think if you were going to read this with your young son, you should read it first and make notes to dive deeper into some of the interpretations because 3 minutes is not going to be enough to truly understand what was trying to be said. I do understand that this book is meant for boys ages 10-12 and maybe a little older, but just because a child is 10 years old doesn’t mean he will be able to read these devotions and discern what is being said and he might just take those words as literal, which in my opinion could do more damage than good. As always this is my opinion of this book. I don’t speak for all families, just my own. I feel this is a good time to remind every parent out there that reading books before giving them to our children is a good idea. Because judging a book by its cover and its intended message may be misleading. Let me start off by saying, I do not do “book reviews” very well. I guess I could research the proper way to do a book review, but let’s just say that I am giving my opinion of the 12 Rules Boot Camp by Connor Boyack (The Tuttle Twins). I went into this book already knowing that it was going to be good, but I was blown away and not because of the words on the pages, but by my son’s reaction to it.
Book Description In a nutshell, this book lays out 12 rules to help young people to be successful in life. This book was inspired by Jordan Peterson’s book called, “12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos.” 12 Rules Boot Camp is about the Tuttle Twins Uncle, he is in a slump and needs some help in finding himself and finding happiness (that is what I got from it). So, the twins, being as helpful as always, set up a boot camp which includes twelve rules to help their Uncle to succeed. The Rules As I mentioned above there are 12 rules, but there are a few that really stuck out to me that created meaningful conversations with my son. Some of my favorites were, Learn From Others, Don’t Compare Myself to Others and Don’t Be Afraid to Fail. These are my favorite because I see my son, who is a teenager, struggle with these. Sometimes when parents say to their children, don’t compare yourself to others or it’s okay to fail, etc. they don’t want to listen, they feel like we as parents don’t know what we are talking about. Hearing it from a third party with no relation to them really seems to get them really listening. This book really helped show my son that it is not just him that these things are happening to, it’s everyone and that’s okay. My Son’s Reaction When I first pulled this book out my son was not excited. In fact, he dreads school and anything that looks like learning. He even got more irritated when we really dug into the book and all of the rules were something that he struggles with. He kept saying, “Was this book written for me?” I chuckled and said no, but again here was another teachable moment. I said to him that yes, all of the things in this book seem like all of the things going on in your life, but that’s the best part. Someone, in this case, Connor Boyack saw many young people struggling with the same things and felt lead to write a book that brings awareness to these struggles and gives ways to deal with these struggles. After that he calmed down and gave the book a chance. Conclusion So, like I said before, I am not a book reviewer, but I will say this, if you are on the fence about if this book is worth it, the answer is YES! This book will spark meaningful conversations, teachable moments and most importantly it will show your child(ren) that they are not alone in their feelings and experiences and somewhere right now there is another young person struggling with the same issues. Disclaimer: I am an affiliate of The Tuttle Twins, I will earn a small commission when you make a purchase using the links in the blog post. |
Hi! I'm Robin. I am a sister in Christ, a wife second, and a homeschooling mom third.
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