5 Conversations you must have with you daughter Review
By: Scott Berkey
In December 2004 my entire life was turned upside down when my wife's doctor turned to me and said a three-word sentence that forever changed my perception of the world around me. "It's a girl!" The moments leading up to that statement are still a blur, but the ones that followed will be forever etched into my memory. Suddenly I realized that I was responsible for this little life. I watched as the nurses carefully wrapped my daughter in a blanket and handed her to me, and I was overtaken by emotion as I held my baby girl for the first time.
As a dad, I am constantly reminded of how my decisions impact the lives of my three children (since that December day I have another girl and a boy who call me daddy too). Every time I come through the front door still on an "important" phone call and I'm unable to pick them up in my arms, I send them a message. Each time I choose to sit on the couch and watch the game instead of turn off the TV and read them a book, I show them how I feel. It is my responsibility to teach my children the way they should go and give them the confidence they need to set out on their life's journey to honor God and bring Him joy. That is why I made the decision to pick up a copy of Vicki Courtney's book, Five Conversation You Must Have with Your Daughter, to read and discuss with my wife.
Five Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter is a book that was written for moms with girls who are newborn to eighteen. But it is a book that I feel every dad who cares about the emotional and spiritual development of his daughter would benefit from greatly. I have a special relationship with both of my little girls that I pray will never be broken, and it is my duty to help them understand their value and place in this great big world. I can get a lot of things wrong, but if I mess up this relationship I am keeping my girls from becoming everything they could be for the Kingdom of God.
The author does a great job writing this book to be a practical guide, a handbook almost, for raising girls. She addresses head on the way our culture influences, objectifies, and treats our young girls and what we as parents need to instill in them to keep them from falling prey to the lies of society. Her five conversations are as follows: 1)You are more than the sum of your parts, 2) Don't be in such a hurry to grow up, 3) Sex is great and worth the wait, 4) It's OK to dream about marriage and motherhood, and 5) Girls gone wild are a dime a dozen - dare to be virtuous. Each of these conversations are built on Scripture and presented in a way that is easy to read and apply to the conversations I have with my own girls. She even provides resources to accompany this book to help parents see how to have these conversations across the various stages of a girl's development.
It was especially helpful for me as a young dad to read this book in preparation for the conversations that my wife and I are already having with our girls. The author's transparent and candid look at her own parenting experiences helped me to see how it is never too early to start building up my girls with the information they need and the confidence they must have to be who God wants them to be. I found myself prepared and even looking forward to these conversations with my daughters as I read through this book.
We as parents are called to raise children who will serve Christ their entire life, and this book, along with an extraordinary amount of prayer and supernatural wisdom, might be enough to help my wife and I accomplish this great mission.
Bio: Scott Berkey is the National Director of the Children's Ministry Agency for the Assemblies of God. Scott and his wife Sarah served for more than ten years as Children's Pastors in Texas, South Carolina, and Florida. They have a heart to Reach Kids...One Leader at a Time!
