Parent Resources | West Side Church

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Parent Resources

Here are some staff-recommended resources to help you grow in your parenting and understanding of culture and support you as you guide your children in their faith.

Emotions

Books on Emotions

A Small Book for the Anxious Heart

Fear and anxiety are chronic struggles for many people that are only intensifying and increasing. Best-selling author Edward T. Welch shares the comfort and peace of Jesus in fifty brief readings for those who wrestle with fear.

A Small Book for Why We Hide

As humans, we are prone to insecurities, fear of failure, and regrets which we try to hide and cover up, resulting in isolation from both those around us and God. Through fifty devotionals, counselor Edward T. Welch shows us how God speaks with gentleness, depth, and hope that will lead us out of hiding and to live more openly, authentic, and regret-free.

A Small Book for A Big Problem

A Small Book about a Big Problem by biblical counselor and psychologist Edward T. Welch guides readers to look carefully at how their anger affects them and others through short, daily meditations.

In a fifty-day reading plan journey, Welch unpacks anger while encouraging and teaching readers to respond with patience to life’s difficulties.

A Small Book for the Hurting Heart

Grief may threaten to overtake us or destroy our joy. In this powerful devotional book, men and women will see Jesus Christ, the Man of Sorrows, who is well-acquainted with grief and sadness.

When your child or unborn baby is facing serious medical problems, it can be hard to know what to pray. The shock, uncertainty, and fear can mean that even though you want to cry out to God in prayer, your words just dry up.

The Moon is Always Round

Even young children want answers to the hard questions about God, the Bible, Jesus Christ and suffering. In The Moon Is Always Round, seminary professor and author Jonathan Gibson uses the vivid imagery of the moon to explain to children how God's goodness is always present, even when it might appear to be obscured by upsetting or difficult circumstances.

Culture & Technology

Books on Culture & Technology

Which media outlets will help me be a responsible news consumer? How do I know what is true and whom I can trust? What can I do to combat all the misinformation and how it's impacting people I love?

You may have seen signs with some of these messages in your neighborhood. They offer us an all-or-nothing package deal in short, a secular creed.

Be Careful, Little Eyes

There were over 65.4 million pieces of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)in 2020 alone. There was also a 97.5% increase in online enticement reports reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in 2020.

Sex, Dating & Sexuality

Books on Sex, Dating & Sexuality

You may have seen signs with some of these messages in your neighborhood. They offer us an all-or-nothing package deal in short, a secular creed.

Sex, Dating and Relationships

Considering the sex-crazed, hook-up based culture we live in―not to mention the ever-climbing divorce rate―it’s clear that we need a better understanding of sex, dating, and relationships. Pastors Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas give us a paradigm-shifting view of purity and relationships―a view that accounts for the biblical evidence and helps us guard against unnecessary heartache.

Fictional Books

Clean, quality fiction

Little Pilgrim's Progress

Perceiving the need for a simpler version of a timeless classic, Helen Taylor faithfully adapted John Bunyan’s allegory of the Christian life, The Pilgrim’s Progress, for young readers—hoping to bring its treasury of wisdom nearer to children’s hearts and minds. That version has sold over 800,000 copies! It preserves the original plotlines of Bunyan’s classic while telling the story of Little Christian and Christiana in a way that kids can understand.

The Pilgrim's Progress

Reading The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan can be a bit challenging even for the best of readers. Not so with this new, easy-to-read version that translates the original archaic language into simple conversational English allowing readers of all ages to easily navigate the most popular Christian allegory of all time.

Chronicles of Narnia Box Set

C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia has captivated readers of all ages for over sixty years, enchanting them with fantastical talking creatures, epic battles between good and evil, and magical doorways into new lands.