An insightful parenting book had hit the shelves, this one by debut author, Julie Lyles Carr. I have had the pleasure of being on her launch team, with the opportunity to read and to give an honest review of the book prior to its release.
After reading this book, it is most definitely unlike other parenting books I have read (and I have read many!) and I’ll tell you why you need to read it too.
Throughout the book, Julie is skillful at relating examples from Scripture and history into today’s parenting scenarios while sharing her own family experiences from which we can learn. She gives constructive, practical advice gained from parenting eight children, (yes, eight!) all Originals. It is straightforward, always encouraging and very practical for parents with kids of all ages.
The most valuable information in the book is something that I am pleased is finally being addressed in detail, and that is “parenting each child according to their unique God-given temperament.” To be an effective parent, it is necessary to discover a child’s personality style.
While many of us have probably used personality tests (such as the DiSC assessment) as a leadership or management tool, or have completed similar assessments for marriage, it has always seemed to me that this helpful tool has been overlooked for parenting.
Julie resolves this by introducing her ROPES assessment (ROPES = Raising an Original Personality Evaluation Summary) which is designed to “seek threads of personality in our children.” By building a profile on each of our kids, we understand just how original they have been designed by our Creator.
As parents, we see the incredible differences that can appear in each of our children, and we understand that with these differences come variances in how we parent each child.
Taking the ROPES assessment is an incredible tool for learning what exactly makes them tick. As Julie writes: “We’re on a journey to become thread seekers, parents passionate about seeing their kids for who they truly are.” The assessment is designed for children of any age and helps for leading them into the unique, purposed children that God wants them to be.
“God hasn’t asked us to raise perfect children.
He’s asked us to raise purposed children.”
Even though my two boys are teens (19 and 13 years), I still found the ROPES assessment to be invaluable, in addition to many other facets of the book that I will put into practice.
No, “Raising an Original” is not another parenting book. It is a must-have parenting “manual” that will not just be read but will be referred to repeatedly while coaching and mentoring our children, who are “a unique gift and contribution to be realized in this world.”
You can purchase this book (paperback or e-book) right now on Amazon or from her website.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for my review. As an Amazon Affiliate, there may be links in this post, which if you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission that helps support this blog. You are in no way obligated to use these links.