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Only You Can Be You – Children’s Book Review and Giveaway!
Celebrating Our God-Given Differences
“Everyone’s different, and that’s okay. The Maker of everything made us that way.”
These beautiful words are the opener of the latest book by Sally Clarkson and her son Nathan, Only You Can Be You! I’ve long admired Sally Clarkson and the entire Clarkson family for their many Christ-centered, practical, and honest books on living out the Christian life within the context of family.
***Read to the end of this post to discover how you can WIN a copy of Only You Can Be You! for your home library. Also, you should know this is a sponsored post containing my honest thoughts about this product.***
A Tiny Book with a Big Message for Children
Only You Can Be You! is a beautifully illustrated children’s book that celebrates our differences with memorable verses.
It is a reminder to children and children at heart that we are all truly “…fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14, KJV).
Nathan and Sally Clarkson know well the challenges that come with being different.
They have spoken previously in an earlier book for adults on their journey together as son and mother to cope with Nathan’s mental health needs and learning disabilities.
Thanks to the prayers, Biblical guidance, and love of his parents, Nathan is a grown man who is thriving.
He and his mother Sally have turned the experiences of the past into a hope-filled message for all children and their parents.
“…a hope-filled message for all children and their parents.”
From Bread Baker to Bread Maker
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When Differences Breed Insecurity
It’s easy for your child to feel insecure for a myriad of reasons.
Perhaps they are too tall, too slight, too quiet, too imaginative…or maybe it’s because they are too short, too pudgy, too loud, and too practical!
All these characteristics and more are part of what makes a person unique. But it’s all too easy to feel a desire to be just like everyone else.
My children are generally confident, carefree, and happy individuals which is just as it should be for them.
They are still quite young, so it’s (thankfully) a little early for them to be carrying loads of negative feelings about what makes them stand out.
However, my husband and I have already had to do the work to help them process certain careless remarks and situations that could make a dent in their self-esteem:
-Remarks about their weight when they were seriously chubby babies.
-Intrusive questions about their skin tones and hair textures that would likely never be a cause of curiosity for strangers if they looked more obviously like my husband, or like me, or if we were a family that “matches”.
-Situations where they’ve encountered out of control bullies on the playground.
-Being subjected to discouragement from well-meaning relatives who don’t understand their interests and hobbies.
And so on.
A Conversation Starter
My husband and I know we can’t shield our children from every little thing that threatens their contentment, but we do our best to be proactive by having conversations designed to encourage them to embrace every bit of their God-given identities.
More importantly, we teach them to keep the focus on praising God for His choices regarding the details of their existence and to be thankful to be counted among His “Marvellous works” (Psalm 139:14, KJV).
Only You Can Be You! has been a great source of conversation during our daily Symposium time and bedtime read-aloud sessions.
We have enjoyed having positive language to discuss the differences in how we think, feel, and look.
It is affirming to see how God used these variables and more to form an endless variety of human beings.”
And I have become a little teary-eyed nearly every time we re-read this book as I consider how special it is to have the privilege of raising these unique people I call my babies.
I may not always understand how they think or why they approach life the way they do, whether now or in the future, but what I can always do is thank God for the wisdom He used to create each one of my children.
Enter the Only You Can Be You Giveaway!
If you’d like a chance to WIN a copy of Only You Can Be You! you can enter the giveaway here.
To purchase copies for yourself or for friends, you can find them here.
This sweet book would make an excellent birthday gift or holiday present for a child you love!
How do you affirm your children’s differences? Let me know in the comments!
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