World
Proofing Your Kids: Helping Moms Prepare Their Kids
to Navigate Today's Turbulent Times by Lael F. Arrington
Book
Review
by Mary Branch
World
Proofing Your Kids: Helping Moms Prepare Their Kids to
Navigate Today's Turbulent Times by Lael F. Arrington
Crossway Books, 1997; 304 pages.
Sometimes the words "motherhood" and "brain-dead" seem
synonymous after almost fifteen years of reading such thought-provoking
titles as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie… or Chicka
Chicka Boom Boom. I began to question whether I would ever
comprehend literature again beyond the plot of a good Nancy
Drew mystery. In fact, during this Summer’s vacation
while lounging on the beach, my husband leaned over and
handed me one of the books he was reading and said, "Here,
read this page and tell me what you think." I thought, "Don’t
you realize I am on vacation. This is when I read a novel!" But
I dutifully read that page, then another, and soon I was
hooked.
Lael Arrington’s book proved to be the turning point
for my reading choices. It is the first non-fiction book
in my motherhood years that held my attention like a page-turning
mystery. The content is practical and yet intellectually
challenging. Even though the book is written with strong
convictions, it lacks offensive dogma. The subject matter
is very relevant to today’s world, but the principles
are timeless. Although the book is written with mothers in
mind, any parent will benefit from its topics.
In World Proofing Your
Kids, reasons for the shift in our culture are explored,
but
the terms used to describe this
shift such as relativism and post-modernism are defined so
that anyone can understand. A chart contrasting "modern" thinking
with "post-modern" thinking is an excellent resource
for clarifying why the generation of moms only a couple of
decades younger see and respond to the world so differently.
This book is an excellent, practical , and essential resource
for parents to disciple their children in a culture that
so heavily promotes both destructive values and dangerous
lifestyles to this generation.
Each Chapter contains "Resource Boxes," "Focus
Your Worldview" activities, and "Bible Studies" which
provide ideas for further teaching times with our families
or small groups. One of my favorite suggestions is in Chapter
2 - "The Heart of the Matter - Who Makes the Rules" dealing
with the question of who determines right and wrong. Mrs.
Arrington suggests watching the video Alice in Wonderland.
Some topics for discussion are given to demonstrate what
happens "in a world with no rules, where all do what
they feel like doing" (p.46).
While the first section
of the book deals with underlying philosophies and understanding
one’s worldview, the
second section carefully handles "Personal Values" regarding
evolution, abortion, euthanasia, and animal rights. Section
three gets closer to home exploring the Christian's view
of work, money, and entertainment. Again, her approach to
these subjects does not dogmatically insist that all Christians
denounce our culture, but she shares her struggles as one
parent to another and teaches biblical principals for dealing
with these issues. Each topic is covered candidly with a
pleasant mix of humor. Constantly the intellectual challenge
is presented: "’Wisdom cries out in the street’,
but we and our children can get caught up cruising through
life in the shallows of the great leisure pursuit of pleasure,
and give up on listening to her" (p.242).
In the introduction
of World Proofing Your Kids, Mrs. Arrington offers some
tongue-in-cheek
reasons to read her book. "You
know you need this book if you picked up one of Francis Schaeffer’s
books to read, and by the fourth page you found yourself
wondering if the socks you just put in the wash were going
to bleed on your husband’s favorite T-shirt." Not
only did this book hold my attention, but the extensive quotations
from other literary works, both fiction and non-fiction,
wet my appetite for more. In fact, upon completion of World
Proofing Your Kids, I immediately picked up another book
dealing with Christian worldviews, Death in the City. Who
authored that book? Francis Schaeffer?
Reviewed by Mary Branch
Wife and mother of three
Birmingham, Alabama
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