Book Review: Raising Pure Teens

My oldest daughter is nine and judging by how quickly the kids in the neighborhood seem to grow up once they hit middle school (that's 5th grade in our township) saying that I'm a little concerned about how I'm going to maintain her innocence is a bit of an understatement.  I've taught 7th grade religious ed, and I can tell you that kids as young as thirteen have very little innocence.  So rather than totally freak out about how crazy the world seems to be these days, I decided to take a few deep breaths, relax and crack open Jason Evert and Chris Stefanick's Raising Pure Teens 10 Strategies to Protect (or Restore) Your Teenager's Innocence.

The book is well written and it can help a parent who feels like they're powerless to protect their child's innocence in this overly sexualized culture feel confident that they can indeed teach their child to understand the importance of chastity.  Some of the content in this book seemed like common sense, but I suppose that really depends on the world view of the parent.  Other areas of the book, such as the chapter entitled "Beware of sex education" are real eye openers.  That particular chapter confirmed that my concerns about the family life program offered by our district's public schools are certainly not in line with our beliefs.  (I had previously researched the scope and sequence of the program on a grade by grade basis and was less than thrilled with what I read.)

This book is jam packed with lots of valuable information for talking to your teens about sex and chastity.  The authors stress the need for open communication with your child.  Parents who are trying to be proactive in retaining their son or daughter's innocence and having their child understand why it is important will find this book to be a great resource.

I highly recommend this book for parents of teens and those, like me, who will have teenagers in their house in just a few short years.  This book would also make a great book for parent groups as there are discussion questions at the end of each chapter.  These discussion questions are just as valuable for an individual reader as they are for a group.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company.  Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Raising Pure Teens and be sure to check out their great selection of baptism gifts while you are there.

I was provided with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.