Parenting Today’s Teens: A Practical Devotional

Mark Gregston
Harvest House (2010)
ISBN 9780736928236
Reviewed by Chad Feight for Reader Views (08/10)


I recently read a copy of “Parenting Today’s Teens: A Practical Devotional” by Mark Gregston.  The purpose of the devotional was, like most devotionals, to provide daily, godly reminders of God’s goodness and practical advice on how to live that out.  In this case, as the title suggests, Gregston focused on parenting teenagers.  “Parenting Today’s Teens,” if read one devotional per day could fill about two-thirds of a year (just over 200 devotional thoughts).  Each day contains a brief devotional topic (Gregston’s advice on a topic), followed by a verse or two of scripture, and, if there’s space, a prayer, question to consider, or additional thought.

The advice given in this devotional is practical.  There are a lot of ideas that can be instantly implemented rather than just concepts and ideas.  However, I personally would prefer a little more depth to the different ideas discussed.  While I’m sure part of Gregston’s purpose was to make the devotionals brief to make it more likely to be read by the average, busy parent, I like to have a little “meat” with my studies.  On occasion, it seems as though the advice is cut short in order to make it into two or three separate devotionals. 

I must admit, I am not a parent of a teenager, so my view may be slightly skewed.  However, I am a middle ministry director of a middle school ministry of about 75 students, and have worked with a number of high school students over the years, as well.  The thoughts in this book, as stated in the review title are often helpful, but there is little that I haven’t heard before.  I’m sure that Christian parents of teenagers have probably heard most of these ideas before as well.

Mark Gregston does have a lot of experience in dealing with teenagers, especially those often considered the most difficult ones, so I do value his input.  However, it would have been nice to see a little more scripture utilized within the book as well.  It doesn’t feel as much like a devotional as it does a collection of random thoughts.  Speaking of random thoughts, some sort of index of topics would also have proved invaluable.  If I could just open it, find the topic I am interested in with the particular teenager I am working with, I think it would have been more valuable to myself.  I think this could have been done in conjunction with the day-to-day format, if it was just added to the back of the book.

Overall, “Parenting Today’s Teens: A Practical Devotional” does fulfill a need.  There aren’t a lot of devotionals focused on parenting teens.  The advice in the book is practical and the steps to take each day are clear.  However, a few additions, and a little more depth would have gone a long way to making this an exceptional devotional.

Make comment on weblog

FTC Disclosure