The Blessing, by Gary Smalley and John Trent is a book I received from Booksneeze publishers to review, but it is not a new book, rather a revised and updated book from 1986. The new version includes links to online resources that are supposed to enrich your experience. There is a "Blessing Challenge" that calls one million parents to choose to change the life of a child by giving them their blessing. And equipping one thousand churches to create an ongoing culture inside their church that helps parents live out the blessing for a lifetime.
You can carry out that blessing challenge by utilizing the five elements of a blessing described in the book. These five elements include:
* Meaningful Touch
* A Spoken Message
* Attaching High Value
* Picturing a Special Future
* An Active Commitment
I appreciate, even agree with, most of the points made in this book. It is a great basis for parenting in a loving, healthy manner. As an adult child of dysfunctional, alcoholic parents, I can relate to the needs for the coping skills lined out in this book. But, as a Christian parent who has been in childcare and very involved in the upbringing of my children for over thirty years, I must say none of this is new to me.
The Blessing is just basic parenting repackaged, in a Focus on the Family, Strong Families.com kind of way. There is nothing wrong with either of these organizations, but they are in this to make a buck. I would, however, pass this book on to a novice parent because the tried and true elements of unconditional love can never be a bad thing, even when presented in such a way. We all want to be valued, loved and blessed.
