Caring for the Souls of Children - Book Review

Recently my most watched stories ever on Instagram were when I took you all on a book tour around my house - I tend to have a lot of them going at the same time!  The past year and a half I’ve been documenting my reading over on Goodreads and you can follow me there for short recommendations and lists of what I’m reading.  But I thought I would do an old fashioned blog book review once in a while here on the website.

Today’s book is Caring for the Souls of Children by Amy Baker.  I received a digital copy of this book for free in order to review it, but the first thing I need to tell you is that I ordered a hard copy of this book for my office.  And another one for our youth pastor.  And I will for anyone else I can think of that needs this book.  I know it will be one that I return to again and again.

With chapters contributed by many different counsellors, this book gives a great overview of the many issues facing children today and is full of practical and biblical wisdom coupled with many years of experience between all the counsellors.  Each chapter not only speaks to the counsellor, but I also appreciated that each chapter also addressed parents.  This book was so helpful to me as the parent of three teenagers.  I loved that the sections to parents applied to me as a parent reading, or could help me in my counselling to speak to the parent’s needs directly.

Also included in many chapters were helpful charts, lists, practical ideas to use during sessions and of course, each chapter included a Bible passage to work through with the children.  These practical helps is what spurred me to order a hard copy for myself - I see myself turning to specific chapters for ideas when needed.

I appreciated this book’s wide range of topics.  Nothing was shied away from, including many hard topics that kids face today.  Anxiety, cutting, suicide, abuse, disabilities, divorce, and more are all covered with wisdom and grace.  “Wisdom is knowing what type of intervention they need, while wisely, consistently pointing them to greater faith.”  

Whether you’re a counsellor, a parent, a pastor, a youth pastor, a teacher, or anyone who might find themselves in a spot to speak into the life of a child, you’ll find this resource invaluable.  I think the heart of this book can be summed up with this quote.  “As you seek to build a relationship, try to understand what it would be like to live in their world. See the children as individuals who suffer and need your compassion.”