

For our children, we need to distinguish between our sense of righteousness and the real truth of God’s righteousness. We should show our children that God’s will is what truly satisfies us, compared to the temporary satisfaction of our own hunger.”After each spouse shares on their personal parenthood and The Holy Family, there is a section called “Bringing (Beatitude) Into Habit and Home.” They continue to shed light on the Beatitude while giving more of a glimpse into sharing the Beatitude with our children and those around us. “Action Plan” follows habit and home, where the authors give specific examples for teaching and implementing practices to model the Beatitudes to our children. They give examples for three age ranges; toddlers and preschoolers, elementary age and adolescence. So many of the suggestions were simple and easy to implement but spot on as far as giving a tangible experience of the Beatitudes to our children. For example, in Blessed Are The Meek, after explaining about being kind, gentle and humble, they suggest teaching a toddler about sharing, but out of generosity instead of obligation. Following the action plan, the couple shares with us, a saint, who exemplifies the specific Beatitude in their life. For example in Blessed Are They Who Mourn, they give us a summary of the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who experienced the loss of mother at young age, struggled with her step-mother, and suffered through the death of her husband and her sons. The examples brought the saints to life and were presented in a fashion that would be easy for my children to understand as well. Each chapter ends with a prayer, asking the Lord to help us to actively implement the specific Beatitude in our parenthood and to our children. Each chapter, while short and easy to read, left me with an insight to the Beatitudes, tangible ways to teach my children about the Beatitudes and a new knowledge of a saint I can turn to and also give as an example to my children. It filled so many facets of my life. I was just continually impressed with how I was growing in my faith, my parenthood, as a spouse, and as a person, all at once! This is the perfect book to give as a baby shower gift, to a new parent, and the perfect book to give to those seasoned parents who are looking for new approaches to parenthood. I would suggest one thing, and that would be that each week the reader would read one chapter. Start on Sunday, read the whole chapter, it’s about 20 pages. Then I would suggest spending the week contemplating on that specific Beatitude and working on implementing it with your children. Perhaps spending even more than a week on each chapter, would really solidify the Beatitude in our homes? The book is so engaging that I wanted to just keep reading it, but I feel like if I had read one week at a time, that it would have been better implemented into my motherhood. I will defiantly be recommending this book to Catholic moms!
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Copyright 2019 Courtney Vallejo
About the Author

Courtney Vallejo
Courtney Vallejo is a convert to the Catholic faith. She and her husband are homeschooling parents of three adopted children. She loves speaking at women's groups and Catholic conferences! Courtney is a Barton tutor for Dyslexic children. She writes for her own blog, CourtneyVallejo.com. She is also the co-founder of AMomRevolution.com and has a master's degree in Film Production.
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