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Guidebooks Offering Spiritual, Practical, Candid Advice for Today’s Parents—with a Twist of Humor #parenting101

Barbour Publishing’s new guidebooks for parents—The Smart Dad’s Guide to Daughters and The Savvy Mom’s Guide to Sons—provide spiritual and practical advice melded with humor to help baffled parents navigate the ups and downs of real life with confidence and wisdom.

Parents will be encouraged and challenged with sound, biblically based advice equipping them to guide their children in the Christian faith—plus, they’ll encounter some humorous, common-sense tips along the way. Each of these 101 accessible chapters wraps up with thought-provoking quotations and questions, making these guides the perfect book to read alone or with other parents. The Savvy Mom's Guide To Sons: 101 Real-World Tips to Improve Your Relationship and Save Your Sanity

The Savvy Mom's Guide to Sons melds spiritual and practical advice with humor, a winning combination for harried moms trying to navigate the ups and downs of real life with confidence and wisdom.The book offers biblically-based advice to help mothers guide their boys in the Christian faith. Each chapter wraps up with quotations and questions, making it suitable for reading alone or with other moms with sons.

Number of Pages: 224
Vendor: Barbour Books


What I loved most was how the book broke everything down. When you become a parent you are forever learning just as your child is. You can never have enough help and I believe this book is perfect for a mom who has had a son and wants a loving relationship with him. Face it, he's a boy and they think differently. I know that as a mom of a boy and a girl. I completely understand my daughter and know where she is coming from. I get her! I was her! My son, I adore him to pieces but sometimes I just don't understand the way he thinks. Not surprising because I sometimes don't understand the way my husband thinks or any man for that matter.

The book gives you numbered tips. There is 101 to be exact such as number 22 about letting him roughhouse. This was always something that was hard for me until another mom told me about 9 years ago. "They are smiling. They are not fighting. Let them be it is what boys do. Maria, as long as they all have smiles, you don't have to stop it." She was right. I just saw it as fighting but it was basically roughhousing, exploring, testing themselves, and channeling all that boy energy.

The author basically tells you why they tend to do this and why you should channel it correctly. Then each number has A Word From The Word. Which is basically something from the bible that corresponds with the numbered tip. In this case, ZeChariah 8:4-5 niv This is what the Lord Almighty says...the city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing.

Next, each tip has a Think About It section where the author talks to you! In this case, there are suggestions such as play miniature golf, hit the batting cages, run, etc.

Lastly, there are Final Thoughts. In this case, it says, horseplay is just play. Basically, relax mom. boys are different from girls. The Smart Dad’s Guide to Daughters  will encourage your faith, challenge you spiritually, and give you real-life advice on how to parent girls with wisdom and confidence. Biblically-based advice will equip you to guide your girls in the Christian faith—plus, you’ll encounter some humorous, common-sense tips along the way. Each of these 101 accessible chapters wraps up with thought-provoking quotations and questions, making The Smart Dad’s Guide to Daughters a perfect book to read alone or with other fathers of girls.


What a fantastic book for dads. I love dad and daughter relationships when they are pure, loving and beautiful. I love when I see a really good dad who understands his daughter and appreciates her because she makes him softer then he is with anyone else. I sob over father-daughter relationships in movies when the dad is just THE DAD! The one we all wish we had.

Some of the tips are there are 101, so you guys really have a lot of loving things to choose from, are so beautiful!

Unfortunately too many dads don't realize that they are the precedent. They set the stage for what their daughters will settle for in their lives. Make her want more for herself! Make her want to be with a man who treats her right and takes care of her heart.

Take tip #65 Give her a thoughtful present just from you to her on special occasions. It doesn't have to be anything big. It is special because it came from her daddy.

After the tip there is another section such as Think About It, Translation, Taking Inventory, and A Word from the Word section. In this  case the writer has a Think About It section where the writer tells you how to make her feel special and what he has done for his own daughters. He is right, flowers and small tokens always work. Daughters love their daddies and showing them how much you love them in your busy day goes a long way.

If you are turned off by preachy, overly religious books don't worry. Although these books contain scripture and talk of  religion I as someone who isn't overly religious didn't feel preached to.

If you get one or both of these books, I suggest you pick through them and read what you need to but don't put them away. These are wonderful resources taking you from toddler hood to adult hood.

On a last note, enjoy your kids. They are blessings and without mine, my life would be incomplete. In fact, I couldn't imagine my life without them.


Tina Krause is a freelance writer, editor, and award-winning newspaper columnist in Valparaiso, Indiana. She and her husband, Jim, have raised two sons and enjoy five grandchildren.

Jess MacCallum is president of Professional Printers, Inc. in Columbia, South Carolina. Author of two previous books, he is father of two daughters and a son.

Dale Reeves is pastor of adult discipleship for Christ’s Church at Mason, Ohio. He and his wife have two grown daughters.

Praise for Barbour’s Parents’ Guides

“Oh how I wish I had this book before my son was born! But it’s never too late to implement the practical and holy advice given in The Savvy Mom’s Guide to Sons. From potty training to faith-building to character consciousness, The Savvy Mom’s Guide to Sons offers 101 helpful tips. Inspired by the Word and lightened by Tina Krause’s adorable wit, this book is the perfect manual for mothers of boys.”

-          Jessica Wolstenholm, coauthor of The Pregnancy and Baby Companion books and cofounder, graceformoms.com

“As a father to nineteen children (fourteen of them adopted), and fourteen grandchildren (and still counting), I am always on the lookout for books that will help men become all-star dads. Jess and Dale have a slam dunk with their Smart Dad’s Guide to Daughters. If you want to know why you should take your daughter to the NCAA Final Four, this book is for you. It’s a perfect combination of humor, hands-on help, and wise biblical counsel.”

-          Pat Williams, senior vice president, Orlando Magic, author of Leadership Excellence

“Man, what a great offering. Dale and Jess have hit a home run with this down-to-earth guide for dads. It’s a book that manages to be both insightful and fun to read. Pick it up. Page through it. Put it into practice. Both you and your daughter will be glad you did.”

-          Steven James, national bestselling author of The King and Singularity

“This little book full of short, easy-to-read chapters is HUGE! I’ve never read a parenting book so jam-packed with helpful, practical wisdom and ideas—valuable insights that Jess and Dale learned in the trenches of raising their own daughters.”

-          Kurt Johnston, husband, dad, author, and youth pastor at Saddleback Church

“When my precious daughter was born twenty years ago she didn’t come with an instruction manual. I needed this book back then, but it is just as valuable today. If you have a daughter of any age, read this book and share it with a friend.”

-          Troy Justice, NBA, senior director, International Basketball Operations

“Jess and Dale had me at the table of contents. In a world that sends mixed messages to women, these dads have given us a script for the most important voice in a daughter’s life. Indispensible, no matter which stage of parenting you find yourself in.”

-          Beth Guckenberger, author, speaker, founder of Back2Back Ministries

“This book is witty, practical, full of wisdom, and a great resource for any father serious about having meaningful and unique connections with the daughters God has given him to raise.”

-          Arron Chambers, pastor, author of Devoted: Isn’t It Time to Fall More in Love with Jesus?

Disclaimer: I received complimentary books for my honest opinion. No monetary compensation was received.