Abunga Blog

I recently ran across the online version of The Bridge, which is the magazine of my alma mater. They had what looks like a great list of parenting books reviewed/recommended by some of the faculty. (Link to full article). I’ve grabbed most of the books they listed to share with you here. Enjoy the books!

The Mystery of the Child by Martin E. Marty, ( Eerdmans, 2007)

Well-known theologian, historian, and award-winning author Martin Marty here turns his attention to the child, and the result is a wide-ranging and wonderful exploration of children. The book is driven by a deep love for and perhaps deeper wonder at children, whom Marty views as a mystery to behold rather than a set of problems to be solved. The book is typically insightful and incisive, and not a little bit counter-cultural. Parents and other caregivers are challenged to exchange the urge to control for the chance to respond creatively and seek our own “childness.”
— Brian Smith, senior lecturer in Bible and teaching pastor

The Heart of Parenting (audio book) by John Gottman (Simon & Schuster, 1997)

This book is well written and has a solid research base that tells parents how to help their children to “understand and regulate their emotional world.” Gottman has found that children who “acknowledge and master their emotions” tend to be more self-confident, physically healthier, do better in school, and are more likely to grow into emotionally healthy adults.

— John Addleman, professor of psychology

The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties by William J. Doherty (Harper Paperbacks, 1999)

In this book, Dr. Bill Doherty, a nationally recognized marriage and family therapist, offers suggestions for “reviving a lost sense of family.” Recognizing the need to attend to marriages and families in order to keep them strong, Doherty outlines a variety of practical strategies that families can employ to enhance family communication and connectedness.

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John M. Gottman and Nan Silver (Crown, 1999)

After years of research with married couples, John Gottman claims to be able to predict whether a couple’s marriage will succeed or fail with 91% accuracy after observing and listening to them for five minutes. In this book, he shares scientifically verifiable secrets that contribute to marital happiness.
— Raeann R. Hamon, distinguished professor of family science and gerontology

Active Start for Healthy Kids - Activities, Exercises, and Nutritional Tips by Stephen J. Virgilio ( Human Kinetics Publishers, 2005)

The author realizes the importance of encouragement and structure if children are to develop positive attitudes towards exercise. In this book he presents more than more than 50 developmental exercises and activities for flexibility, muscular fitness, and cardiorespiratory endurance and another 20 fun family physical activities that parents can use with their children in the early formative years.

—Doug Miller, professor of health and human performance and Wellness Director at Messiah’s Wellness Center

I was a really good mom before I had kids: Reinventing modern motherhood by Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile ( Chronicle Books, 2007)

The authors interviewed mothers and uncovered some little-talked-about, yet strikingly common, themes about the challenges of modern motherhood. The authors cleverly use humor and story to let mothers know they are not alone in their struggles and in so doing help them recover more of the joy of motherhood.
— Jennifer Fisler, assistant professor of education

Techonomics predicts massive upheavals in three significant markets: healthcare, education, and energy. You have the power to change things from the Oval Office (after all, its an election year!) – pick a societal challenge and offer your suggestions for corrective policies or reasons that things ought to be left alone.

One of the key trends pointed to by Techonomics is that we are headed to a “virtual” world - the ability to do more and more (productive output) with less and less (resources) until we will be able to do just about anything with almost nothing (virtualization). List things that you do “virtually” today that you used to do in person. Anticipate something that you do in person today that you may do virtually in the future.

Expand the list of things you currently do in person that you anticipate will be done “virtually” within 5 years. What needs to be done to enable each new entry?

Cashflow is the heart of the success of a business in the long run. How a business deploys capital to support its cashflow is often a critical measure of financial success. Dell and Walmart use capital from their suppliers to fund their inventory. Walgreens uses capital from developers to fund their great store locations. Describe another business that effectively uses other people’s money to support their operations OR describe how you as an individual use other peoples money to support your lifestyle. Are there any unforeseen consequences to these approaches?

Observe in your workplace or your home a product or service that is currently or recently been affected by one or more of the first three techonomic laws. Describe the product/service, which of the Laws are in effect and the impact of the technology on the economics of supplying the product/service.

Name one function performed internally by an organization that you are involved with that could be more effectively outsourced and support your reasoning. Do you think that outsourcing is a good or bad business practice and why?

The Apple iPod has revolutionized music (and is headed to do the same with video). Discuss any observations that you have as to 1) why digital downloads are overtaking other distribution methods, 2) why Apple has established such a dominant position in this market, and 3) strategically, how do you think can Apple keep its lead in this marketplace?

“Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe - this isn’t just about a top-down approach. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.”Dr Tanya Bryon (more info on Dr Byron - Wikipedia)

As I read an article today by Jemima Kiss titled, “Minister backs Byron’s web safety push” I realized that awareness is picking up on internet safety, and the effects of easy access to pornography our disturbingly coming to the forefront.

Dr. Bryon’s anaology is spot on, we need to limit access, but it doesn’t stop there.  We need to educate children, and teens on how to use the Internet safely.  Which means as mentors and leaders we ourselves need to know what they are getting into.

Check out the entire Guardian article here: Minister backs Byron’s web safety push  by Jemima Kiss
guardian.co.uk, Thursday March 27 2008

I glanced through her study and pulled out some of her findings that I thought support the case that pornography is harmful.  You can read the full report here (PDF).

The internet has undoubtedly increased children’s exposure to sexually explicit
material

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The internet has undoubtedly made it easier to distribute, obtain and for children to come

across pornography either accidentally or on purpose. Livingstone and Bober (2005) report
that 57% of 9-19 year-olds have come into contact with online pornography. Of these, 38%
have seen a pornographic pop-up advert whilst doing something else, 36% have
accidentally stumbled upon a pornographic website, 25% have received unsolicited
pornographic material by email or instant messaging and 10% admit to having visited a
pornographic website on purpose. These high figures are echoed across a number of
studies in Europe (see Millwood Hargrave and Livingstone, 2006) and in the US, where
34% of young people said they had seen sexual material accidentally (Wolak, Mitchell and
Finkelhor, 2007).

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Recent research by Ofcom found sexual content to be one of the two biggest issues

concerning parents of 8-17 year olds (37%) and was mentioned by 28% of 8-17 year olds as
the issue they are most concerned about with the internet (Millwood Hargrave and
Livingstone, 2006).

There is a small but accumulating body of evidence showing a link between exposure
to sexually explicit material and negative beliefs and attitudes, although this
research cannot decipher the direction of causality

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There is a growing body of evidence on the effects of sexually explicit material on attitudes,

values and beliefs. Peter and Valkenburg (2006) have found correlations between exposure
to sexually explicit online content and attitudes towards sex such as respect for women
and understanding of sex as related to love. This was found in the Netherlands and was
particularly in relation to male adolescents. Ybarra and Mitchell (2005) has also found an
association between the use of pornography and depression. Some very recent research is
beginning to show an association between exposure to pornography and attitudes
towards sexual exploitation along with pro-rape attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in adults
(Itzin et al, 2007; Shim, Lee and Paul, 2007). All of this research is correlational and therefore
does not prove causality, but it constitutes a small but increasing body of research
demonstrating a relationship between exposure to sexually inappropriate material and the
development and validation of negative beliefs and ideas.

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The American Psychological Association taskforce recently published a paper which
examined the sexualised messages targeting girls across the media and found negative
cognitive, emotional and attitudinal consequences of this increased sexualisation
(Zurbriggen, Collings, Lam, Roberts, Tolman, Ward and Blake, 2007). Increased exposure to
such content on the internet is likely to contribute to this.

Christianity Today reviews and picks the top books published in the last year, and yesterday they released the titles for 2008. Not only is this a list, it’s a comprehensive review including the judges thoughts as well as any other coverage such as blogs, articles, etc. This is what CT says about the selection:

This year, 49 publishers nominated 359 titles published in 2007. CT editors selected the top books in each category, and then panels of judges — one panel per category — voted. In the end, we chose 10 winners and gave 11 awards of merit to the books that best shed light on people, events, and ideas that shape evangelical life, thought, and mission. Selections from judges’ comments are below.

Of all the titles on the list, I’m most excited about reading Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy partially because one of the authors, David L Weaver-Zercher is a professor at Messiah College, my alma mater. I also find the Amish people very interesting, and this book should be an interesting read on how a tight knit community handles tremendous loss.

If you like this list you may also be interested in the lists from 2006, and 2007.

Most of what they listed on their site is included below but check out their site for a additional information. Link to the original article.

Enjoy!

-Gavin

2008 Christianity Today Book Awards

Apologetics/Evangelism

There Is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind

by Antony Flew

Our judges said:

“Makes the philosophical search for God both accessible and exciting. After a meal of Flew’s rich stew of argument and opinion, one lifts a spoonful of most professional apologetics and mutters, ‘Thin soup indeed.’”

Continue reading ‘Christianity Today Awards Top Books for 2008′

Keeping your kids safe online isn’t an easy task, but there are a few companies out there that offer all kinds of methods. Some of the methods include: filters, blockers, surveillance, and all methods in between. Many of them work with IM, MySpace, Facebook and are constantly adding new features and technologies.

Check out the links below to see which option works best for you and your family.

Credit for sources goes to MySpace’s Safety Resources Page

Just last week, Apple released notice of the long awaited iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit). This SDK allow’s third-party developers to create programs that will run on the iPhone itself, not just web applications.

“We’re excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community with potentially thousands of native applications for iPhone and iPod touch,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO

As part of the announcement Jobs listed a few categories of applications that would not be allowed on the iPhone. The most important category restriction in my opinion is pornography. That’s right, Apple will not distribute software for the iPhone that allows the viewing of pornography.

The mental, and societal impact of viewing pornography cannot be understated, and I applaud Apple and Jobs for taking this stance against such material.

This update will also add another important feature and that is parental controls. Parents will be able to disable iPhone features such as Safari, the App Store or YouTube to restrict access to these programs.

Thanks for Empowering Decency Apple!

-Gavin

Credits to PC Mag for the information contained within this post. View their article here.