Rating: 
Summary: Romancing Your Child's Heart
Review: "Romancing Your Child's Heart" is simply one of the most practical and powerful books on life and parenting ever written! You will find spirit filled adventure, romance and wisdom gleaned from the life of Monte and Carrie Swan. Monte is willing to offer the insights that work in life, and has the courage to reveal his mistakes along the challenging and sometimes confusing path of parenting. Monte and Carrie's story is a wonderful, meaningful experience they are willing to share with the reader. This is a must read for any parent (or person) with an interest in understanding the techniques of parenting...or just living! This book could easily have been titled: "Romancing The Reader's Heart". Dan Karns
President of the White Light Company
Rating: 
Summary: Good as a companion book only!
Review: Although I found the general idea of this book helpful the practical application was wanting. The title will catch you but after the first five chapters you will find it is filled far more with recollections from the authors childhood then with realistic pracical application. At times this book is slightly unbeliveable. This book should be read only after solid biblical child rearing is in place in your home (read Shepherding a Child's Heart). It can help to keep things balanced but without a solid foundation I fear this book good bring about other less profitable results. I can say I gained a better perspecitve of the need to value and take time with my children but that could have been accomplished with less enlarged portrayals of sometimes unrealistic allowances. I would recomend this book but only cautiously.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! A book that speaks to the heart!
Review: At last what parents have been searching for to complete the parenting puzzle! We have been given so many "how to" pieces and this book gives us the substance to fit it all together. Written in a non-tech style, it is a pleasure to read. There are numerous real life stories to hold everyone's attention and also to apply & define the principles Monte is introducing. The meaning is clear and challenge is unmistakable! We've got to reach the heart of our children or we will lose all that we claim is so important to us in the area of family.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! A book that speaks to the heart!
Review: At last what parents have been searching for to complete the parenting puzzle! We have been given so many "how to" pieces and this book gives us the substance to fit it all together. Written in a non-tech style, it is a pleasure to read. There are numerous real life stories to hold everyone's attention and also to apply & define the principles Monte is introducing. The meaning is clear and challenge is unmistakable! We've got to reach the heart of our children or we will lose all that we claim is so important to us in the area of family.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! A book that speaks to the heart!
Review: At last what parents have been searching for to complete the parenting puzzle! We have been given so many "how to" pieces and this book gives us the substance to fit it all together. Written in a non-tech style, it is a pleasure to read. There are numerous real life stories to hold everyone's attention and also to apply & define the principles Monte is introducing. The meaning is clear and challenge is unmistakable! We've got to reach the heart of our children or we will lose all that we claim is so important to us in the area of family.
Rating:
Summary: An awesome book to encourage and challenge parents...
Review: For parents who are looking for the key to their child's heart.... welcome to an excellent answer! Monte shares truths and personal insights that has come with 25 years of on-the-job experience in parenting. He has captured the essence of a parents' highest calling in his title: "romancing" your children's hearts. He compares romancing a child's heart to a classic Fairy Tale: a tale of the king's daughter who has been captured by the evil villain... who wasn't prepared for the prince coming to rescue her! :-) Speaking of stories, there are plenty of them in this book... stories that range from Monte's first water-skiing episode that almost ends in disaster, to the time when Monte and his wife, Karey, are driving across Western America with 3 small children. The stories were highly enjoyable, but the point of the book is to become very aware, as parents, of the person God is forming your own child/ren to be, and how to best help that child become that awesome person! I appreciated and took to heart many of the philosophical truths Monte has sprinkled throughout the book. Every chapter is well blended, which makes for enjoyable, yet thought-provoking reading. I would recommend this book to any parent who desires to have a closer relationship with their child/ren. You will always be glad you found "Romancing Your Child's Heart". Are you ready to become the prince? - then go out and buy the book!
Rating:
Summary: What a treasure!!!
Review: I am an avid reader, with an extensive library of parenting books collected in these past 22 years of raising four children. Although each book adds something of value to my insights into the "living out" of this mothering role, it is a rare book that becomes a bedrock to build upon for years to come. This is such a book. The wisdom, life, humor and joy that pour through each page of "Romancing Your Child's Heart" has revitalized and inspired our home...for Monte's passion for Jesus is real and extremely contagious! It's so clear in these chapters that the One Who captured this author's heart has also given him the burning desire to share the reality of this Divine Drama with his own children...and also with us. I am so grateful for that, and confident that this book will shine a whole new light on the high honor we have of introducing our children to the Author of what Monte calls "the original Love Story".
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing but not scriptural
Review: I commend Monte Swan for the great investment of himself he has made in his children's lives. I am glad for him and his family that this methodology has worked well in their experience but it ignores two foundational facts that scripture teach: "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child" and "All men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Mr. Swan recalls two episodes that required parental-directed negative consequences in a child's life: One in his own childhood and the other in his son's (when Mr. Swan took the punishment for his son). Other episodes that destroyed property or were careless were seen as the child discovering their talents and creativity. Parental responses (to be romancing your child's heart) needed to be encouraging and joining in the fun. "It brought a smile to my lips." Mr. Swan contends that children are "naturally generous". The other warning I have here is that the parent is instructed to provide resources to the point of sacrifice for a child's interest, even if it is temporary. This attitude could continue the self-centeredness that we are born with and it de-emphasizes God's call to be a servant. Another article I read called this the "Prince Syndrome"--we are raising children as the center of our worlds. Instead, let's view children as a valuable part of our family. Though Mr. Swan does make some valuable points in romancing our children, his book would have been better if it had been balanced with Hebrews recount of God disciplining his sons as proof of His love.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing but not scriptural
Review: I commend Monte Swan for the great investment of himself he has made in his children's lives. I am glad for him and his family that this methodology has worked well in their experience but it ignores two foundational facts that scripture teach: "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child" and "All men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". Mr. Swan recalls two episodes that required parental-directed negative consequences in a child's life: One in his own childhood and the other in his son's (when Mr. Swan took the punishment for his son). Other episodes that destroyed property or were careless were seen as the child discovering their talents and creativity. Parental responses (to be romancing your child's heart) needed to be encouraging and joining in the fun. "It brought a smile to my lips." Mr. Swan contends that children are "naturally generous". The other warning I have here is that the parent is instructed to provide resources to the point of sacrifice for a child's interest, even if it is temporary. This attitude could continue the self-centeredness that we are born with and it de-emphasizes God's call to be a servant. Another article I read called this the "Prince Syndrome"--we are raising children as the center of our worlds. Instead, let's view children as a valuable part of our family. Though Mr. Swan does make some valuable points in romancing our children, his book would have been better if it had been balanced with Hebrews recount of God disciplining his sons as proof of His love.
Rating:
Summary: 5 STARS ARE NOT ENOUGH.......IT IS A 10 STAR BOOK!
Review: Parents across the world need to have a copy of this book. Monte not only delivers what might be considered the best parenting book out there, he also delivers a sure recipe for parents to reach the heart of their children. In a time in our society where it is even more important that we stick together as a country, we need to strengthen the bonds of our family as well. As a new dad I was not only moved by what Monte had to say, I was moved to change the way in which I was raising my children. It breaks my heart to know that there are parents out there that would raise their children in any other way. If you don't get a chance to read this book you will be doing a disservice to society, yourself, and most of all your children. So my advice to you is stop working late at the expense of your family and invest in your true retirement. Put down your remote control and let your attention be spent on what will truly entertain your life. If you take a little time out of your schedule to read this book, I guarantee you will never regret it.
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