Why Children Matter

In the Garden of Eden, there was only one "No." Everything else was "Yes." That ratio matters, and it shapes everything Douglas Wilson has to say about Christian childrearing in this short, direct book. The God who calls parents to raise children in the fear and admonition of the Lord is not a grim taskmaster. He is a Father who delights in His people and makes it easy for them to love and obey Him. Earthly parents are called to reflect that same character. Wilson isn't interested in two popular but inadequate approaches: the parent who runs a tight ship of rules and consequences, or the parent who tries to make the house so relentlessly fun that obedience never feels like a cost. Both miss the point. The goal is not rule-keeping. The goal is to instill in children a genuine love for God and His standards, the kind of love that holds when no one is watching, when the rules become costly, and when the pleasures of the world make disobedience look attractive. An appendix featuring questions and answers from Wilson and his wife Nancy grounds the book's principles in the messy, practical realities of actual family life.