Answering Your Kids' Toughest Questions

Book excerpt: The Honest, Loving Answers Children Need to Hear What should you say when your five-year-old asks about his dying grandma? Or when your seven-year-old wonders if the devil is real? Or when the sixth graders in your Sunday school class are talking about a tragedy they heard about on the news? When it comes to the dark and tragic aspects of our world, it can be hard to know what to say and how much. Mother/daughter team Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson will carefully walk you through difficult conversations, one topic at a time. Speaking from personal experience, informed by child development research, these two moms offer practical insights and age-appropriate guidance. Talking about tough topics may not be as hard as you think, and, more important, you'll see how these conversations can lead to meaningful discussions of God's unchanging goodness. "I love this book! I will recommend it again and again. It is street-level theology for children that drips with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Parents, read it, live with it, share it daily with your children, and not only will they learn and grow, you will, too."--Paul David Tripp, president, Paul Tripp Ministries "This is a scripturally rooted and profoundly wise guide for parents who desire to weave gospel truths into the answers to their kids' toughest questions. I highly recommend this book. It takes the pressure off of parents to have all the perfect answers, reveals the radical nature of God's grace, and weaves the 'scarlet thread of redemption' through every answer."--Jeannie Cunnion, MSW, author of Parenting the Wholehearted Child "These hard questions aren't random--children wonder about these issues, and they impact our everyday lives. Now talking about these questions doesn't have to be overwhelming for lack of resources. I'm so thankful for Elyse and Jessica's hard work, precision, and focus on Christ in this book."--Gloria Furman, author of Glimpses of Grace and Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full "Martin Luther once said he measured his ability as a preacher by his ability to communicate the gospel to the young. This book is filled with such gospel truth, so simply articulated. No one has helped me connect the gospel to parenting more than Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson."--J. D. Greear, PhD, author of Ready to Launch: Jesus-Centered Parenting in a Child-Centered World and Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart "As a mother of seven, I'm always interested in grace-filled, Bible-based answers to the tough questions of this life. Elyse and Jessica do a beautiful job of balancing truth with grace, while offering parents practical, solid answers to topics that many parents cringe over. I'll be looking at this great guide again and again, not because it contains all the answers, but because the authors humbly point parents back to the only source of truth that's ever existed: the Bible."--Heidi St. John, author and speaker "This is a great book to help answer the big theological questions of little children."--Pastor Mark Driscoll "Elyse and Jessica have written a must-have book for parents and those involved with ministry to children. It provides helpful, gracious, wise, and faithful answers to some of the most difficult questions children can ask about the Christian faith.."--Justin S. Holcomb, Episcopal priest and seminary professor The Honest, Loving Answers Children Need to Hear What should you say when your five-year-old asks about his dying grandma? Or when your seven-year-old wonders if the devil is real? Or when the sixth graders in your Sunday school class are talking about a tragedy they heard about on the news? When it comes to the dark and tragic aspects of our world, it can be hard to know what to say and how much. Mother/daughter team Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson will carefully walk you through difficult conversations, one topic at a time. Speaking from personal experience, informed by child development research, these two moms offer practical insights and age-appropriate guidance. Talking about tough topics may not be as hard as you think, and, more important, you'll see how these conversations can lead to meaningful discussions of God's unchanging goodness. "I love this book! I will recommend it again and again. It is street-level theology for children that drips with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Parents, read it, live with it, share it daily with your children, and not only will they learn and grow, you will, too."--Paul David Tripp, president, Paul Tripp Ministries "This is a scripturally rooted and profoundly wise guide for parents who desire to weave gospel truths into the answers to their kids' toughest questions. I highly recommend this book. It takes the pressure off of parents to have all the perfect answers, reveals the radical nature of God's grace, and weaves the 'scarlet thread of redemption' through every answer."--Jeannie Cunnion, MSW, author of Parenting the Wholehearted Child "These hard questions aren't random--children wonder about these issues, and they impact our everyday lives. Now talking about these questions doesn't have to be overwhelming for lack of resources. I'm so thankful for Elyse and Jessica's hard work, precision, and focus on Christ in this book."--Gloria Furman, author of Glimpses of Grace and Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full "Martin Luther once said he measured his ability as a preacher by his ability to communicate the gospel to the young. This book is filled with such gospel truth, so simply articulated. No one has helped me connect the gospel to parenting more than Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson."--J. D. Greear, PhD, author of Ready to Launch: Jesus-Centered Parenting in a Child-Centered World and Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart "As a mother of seven, I'm always interested in grace-filled, Bible-based answers to the tough questions of this life. Elyse and Jessica do a beautiful job of balancing truth with grace, while offering parents practical, solid answers to topics that many parents cringe over. I'll be looking at this great guide again and again, not because it contains all the answers, but because the authors humbly point parents back to the only source of truth that's ever existed: the Bible."--Heidi St. John, author and speaker "This is a great book to help answer the big theological questions of little children."--Pastor Mark Driscoll "Elyse and Jessica have written a must-have book for parents and those involved with ministry to children. It provides helpful, gracious, wise, and faithful answers to some of the most difficult questions children can ask about the Christian faith.."--Justin S. Holcomb, Episcopal priest and seminary professor