Family matters

PARENTING WITHOUT PANIC
IN AN LGBT-AFFIRMING WORLD:
Discipling Our Kids with Jesus’ Truth
and Love
By Rachel Gilson
The Good Book Co. 112 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 802 541 120

Gilson is an experienced author and parent well acquainted with the challenges of an LGBT- affirming world. In this short book she shares Biblical and practical wisdom, addressing parental fear with a call to faith in responding to complex issues around gender and sexuality.

Gilson’s particular focus is on how to manage questions around sexuality in a faithful and age-appropriate way. She does this in six brief chapters:

1. God’s Positive Vision; spotlights the goodness of God in His creation of and purpose for relationships and marriage.

2. Sex Talk; highlights the need for ongoing and age-appropriate conversations at each stage of a child’s development, paving the way for more challenging conversations later.

3. The Impact of the Fall; tackles the reality of the fallenness of the world in which we live.

4. Tools for LGBT+ Conversations; gets into the nitty gritty of talking about real-life questions and scenarios that children face.

5. Fear Not; helps to normalise the cost and rewards of following Jesus and trusting His word whilst helping our children to do the same.

6. In the Family; addresses the issue of how to respond when it is your own child who is ‘coming out’.

Each chapter concludes with a summary of Key Principles and Practices for parenting. These would form a useful springboard for discussion in a book group.

Gilson’s ability to take and apply the truth and love of Jesus is evident throughout. I warmly commend this book to any parent of under-11’s who are fearfully navigating questions around gender and sexuality. This is a rich and accessible resource. I wish I had read this while my children were young!