A Vision for Raising Kids With Character: Strong and Kind Review
What do you think of when you hear the words strong and kind? Do you think of a person? A verse maybe? I sat for a moment and thought of these two words and instantly I thought of my father. Anyone who knew him could attest to the strength, maybe not his muscles, but his resilience or sturdiness, but tempered with kindness. While his childhood was anything from easy, he purposed to provide an example for me and my sisters of a life filled with character to be imitated.
When I came across this new book Strong and Kind - And Other Important Character Traits Your Child Needs to Succeed by Korie Robertson, I couldn't wait to read it. My favorite part of having my kids at home is that we have greater opportunity to mold their character (by the sheer fact that we spend so much time together). Even though I am already working on it, character training is challenging business, and I need all the encouragement I can get! In her book, she expresses the importance of being the kind of person you want your children to grow up to become.
I received a free copy of this book to review. All opinions are my own.
For more information, see my full disclosure policy.
Pick Two: What do you Value?
One of the greatest discouragements to me as a mother can be seeing all of the amazing things that you could teach your kids or do with your kids that I'm not doing. When I take my eyes off of my vision for where we're going, I often feel like a failure. Even with something as wonderful as character building, the work required can be overwhelming. Korie Robertson is such a gracious mentor as she starts the book with pick two. She offers a beautiful list of qualities that could be cultivated, but encourages you to focus on two that are the most important. In addition, later in the book, she encourages you to focus on those two for a week.
"Sometimes we need the grace to go slow if we truly want to make a lasting impact on the lives of our children."
Takeaways from Strong and Kind
First of all, my husband has already asked to read this book because of all of the tidbits I've shared with him along the way. I'm excited for him to read it with me so that we can start building our vision together for our own children. Here are some other inspired thoughts I came away with after thinking through cultivating character with Korie:
- It's not only important to model good character, but it's important to surround my kids with adults who express the character as well. The fact that the Duck Dynasty family all live on the same street together attests to this. It helps to have other great examples for your children to learn from.
- It's important to know which way your child leans on the pendulum of a quality. There's a good and a bad side to honesty. If your child blurts out their "honest" opinion whenever they think of it, that might not be the quality you want to be cultivating. Each of your kids may need a bit different approach in their cultivation.
- Compassion begins at home. I love this quote: "We learn to function first in our immediate families. This is where our character traits are first challenged." Amen.
By far, the line I will write on the wall somewhere to meditate upon is this:
Being perfect parents and raising perfect children should never be our goal. Raising children who believe in a perfect God is.
Strong and Kind Giveaway
I'm so excited for you all to read this book, and I'm thrilled that I get to offer a free copy to one lucky winner! In addition to winning the book, I will also be giving away an exclusive PDF study guide to enrich your reading and thinking. If you would like to get your hands on this book sooner, it releases October 27th and you can find it on Amazon.
Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification
Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.
Thank you for the opportunity to win this book. Who couldn’t benefit from such wisdom?
Thanks for entering! It’s a great read. Good luck!
Working to build character in our children (and ourselves) isn’t easy but such a crucial part of parenting. It sounds like a great read with some excellent takeaways. Thank you for hosting this giveaway!
You are so right! It’s a great book. I love learning from people who are further down the road than I am in raising kids.
“Raising children who believe in a perfect God…” now those are words of truth and a goal that is definitely worth setting. Thank you for the post because it is so easy to get caught up in all of the subjects that we need to cover in our home school, that I fail at being intentional in trying to weave virtue in and around all that we do. Praise the Lord that He will bless our efforts no matter how small they are, and that He provides such wonderful encouragement through others.
Intelligence plus character is the goal of education, says Martin Luther King. Twenty years of homeschooling taught me that you should never stop learning and that the job of teaching (good character, etc) is never really over.
this would be a great book for ANY parent, regardless of where they are.
We’ve just started using the Book of Virtues to help build character in our home classroom. I’ve never seen Duck Dynasty, because we don’t have TV, but from what I’ve heard it’s a wholesome show, lots of emphasis on faith.
I love the Book of Virtues. I actually have never seen Duck Dynasty either, but I’ve heard good things too. This book is one of them!
Would love to win and pass this around my family!
Thank you for the opportunity to win!
Love the Robertson family. Great role models.
Great family and I’m sure this must be a good book!
i love this family. they are so traditional and close; they live by God’s word and have showed us that people who become famous can still hold true to their values. i believe this book will show no different!
I am excited for a chance to read this book. Even though my children are a little older, there are always new/good ideas to be incorporated into parenting.
I would love to read this with my girls big time!
I think building Godly character is very important in our children. I look forward to reading more about it in this book.
Thanks for offering this great giveaway Betsy!
Parenting is very difficult…in this sensational world we live in, character is one of the best traits we can instill in our children. I think this book sounds wonderful…just the parenting advice that we all need.
Would be great for my daughter