Plugged-In Parenting (book review)

Media saturates our lives. But it’s even more of a factor for the lives of our children. For years I’ve trusted the insights and movie/TV reviews from Focus On The Family’s Bob Waliszewski. Now in Plugged-In Parenting we get to go behind the reviews to learn the whys of the reviews.

In today’s world, we look at our presidents, our prime ministers, our princes and our potentates and we describe them as our leaders, but they’re not. They’re merely our rulers. The leaders are the people who change the minds and stimulate the imaginations of the public, whether children or adults. That means the movie makers, the people who make TV shows, the entertainment people in the business. —Douglas Gresham

Bob lays out some practical, biblically-sound principles that will help parents develop a framework for making sound decisions about media consumption. His approach is not a top-down, because-I-said-so approach, but one that involves even the kids in understanding why these decisions need to be made.

One of the more thought-provoking chapters is about developing a family constitution which gives the guidelines for what types of media are acceptable or unacceptable for your family.

I would recommend this book for every household who wants to ensure that only the highest quality media is being viewed in their homes. In addition, I appreciate the Plugged-In reviews both on their website and on the handy iPhone app.

I am a Tyndale book reviewer.

“The Best Movie Of The Year”

For a movie that won’t even open until September 30 to already be labeled “Best movie of the year,” you might think is merely marketing hype.

When you hear that the one who called it “Best movie of the year” is Pastor Rick Warren, you might think it’s a churchy movie.

But you’d be wrong.

I had a chance to see Courageous and I can tell you that this will be the best movie of 2011, and that it is definitely NOT a churchy movie.

Set against the backdrop of a city battling gang-related issues, four sheriff’s deputies struggle with being good dads and good law enforcement officers. In the process they learn what it takes to excel at both: it takes courage.

Courageous opens on September 30.

DO NOT MISS THE OPENING WEEKEND!
This is a movie that will challenge your whole family, but will be especially impacting for dads.

%d bloggers like this: