Recommended Resources – Jess Connell

–FAVORITE RESOURCES BY TOPIC–

GROW as a Disciple:

GROW in your Marriage:

GROW as a Parent:

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN about GOD’S DESIGN for SEX:

TO BEGIN THE ON-GOING CONVERSATION: This series — “God’s Design For Sex” — is EXCELLENT! (4 books targeting 4 different ages/maturity levels)
FOR BOYS’ BODY ISSUES: The Boys Body Book: Everything You Need to Know for Growing Up YOU(for pre-puberty and puberty boys) I turn this over to my boys around age 8-9, and we start talking through the coming changes.
FOR GIRLS’ BODY ISSUES: The Care & Keeping of YOU: The Body Book for Younger Girls (for pre-puberty and puberty aged girls) I turned this over to my daughter around age 8 & we began talking through the coming changes for her body. 8 may seem young, but a LOT of girls are getting their cycles sooner than “they” used to in previous generations (perhaps due to hormones in the milk? perhaps due to hormones in the water?)… anyway, 8-9 seems about right if you want to be sure to “make it” before she gets her cycle. (Which I would highly recommend not letting her get to that point without giving her clear awareness of that coming event.)
For all pre-pubescent and adolescents, I would HIGHLY recommend going through this series: Passport 2 Purity: A Life-Changing Getaway with your Pre-teen We took our 12 year old away for a weekend together last fall and I was so impressed with the material, the presentation, and the God-centered teaching throughout. It is heavy. It is serious. It presents needful information in the day & age that we live in, but it does so in a Christ-centered, full-picture of life way (i.e., wet dreams are not simply biological… they are preparing your body for the ability to become one with your wife one day, and to make children). My husband and I were so impressed with this material, and our son expressed (again and again) his thankfulness for that special time away with us. We listened to the material, went hiking, talked through the questions they proposed, had our own discussions along the way, and made a lot of great memories. I can’t say enough good things about this program.
The Wonderful Way Babies Are Made — This book offers both a large-text option for younger children, and a more detailed small-text option to read with older children, and gives the basics of marriage, sex, and babies in a biblical context. It also has a section at the end that talks about adoption and how Jesus grew in Mary’s tummy but was adopted by Joseph.
For those with a baby on the way and preschoolers who can sit still for documentaries, we’ve LOVED the visuals & explanations in National Geographic’s DVD, In The Womb. This gives an amazing narrative of the growth of human babies inside the womb, and our kids have absolutely been enthralled with it. There is also a corresponding book (also called In The Womb) that our children (after watching the video) enjoy flipping through to remind themselves about the incredible way God grows babies.

As with anything else intended for your child’s consumption, if you have any concerns at all, I encourage you to review these materials first, before presenting them to your child.