Make the most of the Training Young Hearts board books with this short Guide for Grown-ups.
Part of the Training Young Hearts series.
Author Abbey Wedgeworth shares some of the principles behind the Training Young Hearts board books and provides tips on how to use them as you seek to lead your little ones to Jesus and to train them in positive behaviour.
Starting with the story of redemption, she explores some of the reasons children need help to behave well and explains why moments of discipline can actually be the perfect opportunity to share the gospel with our kids.
This encouraging, simple guide offers plenty of practical advice about how to respond well when little ones misbehave, how to help children resolve conflict, and how to build emotional resilience in our kids. You'll be reminded that God is at work even in the most challenging moments of parenting.
A Note from the Author
1. The Pattern of Redemption
2. Understanding Misbehavior
3. What to Do When They Fail
4. Training Refrains
5. Conflict Resolution
6. Emotions and Empathy
A Word of Encouragement
| Contributors | Abbey Wedgeworth, Emma Randall |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781802543452 |
| Format | Paperback |
| First published | August 2025 |
| Dimensions | 171mm x 171mm x 4mm |
| Weight | 0.10 kg |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 32 |
| Publisher | The Good Book Company |
I love the Training Young Hearts series for kids. These are concrete, practical, gospel-centered books that will help young children make meaningful connections. What great resources for parents and educators!
I am incredibly excited about these new books from Abbey Wedgeworth. Engaging, helpful, and full of truth, these books are sure to become a favorite in your home!
One of the most important ways we can train young children is to teach them what is right as well as teach them what is wrong. In the Training Young Hearts series Abbey Wedgeworth faithfully shows children how to live while also telling them the good news of God’s grace. These board books are such an engaging (and fun!) way to teach big truths to young hearts.
Guide for Grown-Ups is a concise and practical companion to the Training Young Hearts series by Abbey Wedgeworth. Written for parents and caregivers, this guide helps adults go deeper into the gospel-centered lessons introduced in the children’s books, offering biblical insights for applying those truths within everyday family life.
Encouraging and proactive in its approach, the book emphasizes connection and heart-level discipleship over shame-based discipline. Its short format makes it highly accessible, while its rich biblical perspective provides parents with a helpful framework for redirecting and resetting their parenting goals with grace.
At just $3.99, Guide for Grown-Ups is an affordable, impactful resource that equips parents to cultivate gospel-centered homes where both children and adults are reminded of God’s grace in everyday moments.
*I received a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
This little book, Guide for Grown‑Ups, is a treasure for any parent using the Training Young Hearts series with their children.
At just thirty‑one pages, the guide is refreshingly concise yet powerful. It opens with the story of redemption, then gently walks parents through understanding misbehavior—not just as something to punish, but as teaching moments rooted in grace. With compassion and clarity, Wedgeworth offers guidance on correcting behavior, guiding emotional growth, resolving conflicts, and fostering empathy. She equips parents with “training refrains,” tips for confession and repentance, and insights into how a child’s developmental limits intersect with spiritual formation. 
What stands out is how this guide frames disciplinary moments not as failures, but as opportunities for gospel-centered growth. The tone remains calm, gentle, and Christ-focused throughout, reminding readers that God is at work even in the toughest parenting moments.
I love that it’s short yet rich—easy to revisit whenever I need perspective or a word of encouragement.
Guide for Grown-Ups isn’t just a companion to the board books—it’s a comforting reminder that parenting doesn’t have to be perfect to point our children toward Jesus.
This short pamphlet for adults goes with the six lift-the-flap board books in the Training Young Hearts series, which teach little kids about appropriate behaviors. For example, "What Are Hands For?" gives positive examples about what God made our hands to do, and then talks about what God did not make our hands for, like hitting other people. Each book introduces God's creative design, how we misuse our bodies when we sin, and what Jesus did to bring us back to a right relationship with God. The books emphasize that through the help of the Holy Spirit, we can choose to do the right thing. In this supplementary guide for adults, author Abbey Wedgeworth explains how to best use this series with kids, and she shares some additional parenting insights.
This guide is just thirty-one pages long, and it explains the pattern that the series follows related to the story of redemption, as well as ways that parents can recognize and have compassion for their child's developmental limitations, while also correcting harmful behaviors like biting and hitting. The book also includes outlines for teaching confession and repentance, scripts some training refrains, and gives some advice for teaching age-appropriate conflict resolution and emotional regulation.
This is a helpful supplement to the board book series. This pamphlet is very brief, but it offers clear, gospel-centered advice, and it emphasizes how important it is for parents to remain calm and gentle when training their kids, instead of being emotionally reactive to bad behaviors. This title is available as a low-priced paperback or ebook, and it also comes with the boxed set of Training Young Hearts board books. Although not everyone who uses the board book series will feel a need for this book, it's a nice, optional add-on.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Our families loves the Training Young Hearts series; the simple terminology and clear presentation of the gospel is so helpful in our own discipleship parenting conversations with our children. I appreciate this guides that expands on the refrain concepts in the board books, giving the mindset and biblical basis for each approach. Highly recommend as a parenting resource as you attempt to parent according to the Bible.
Parenting is such a joy, and I appreciate finding quick guides. This one is a great one, helping give quick strategies and understanding of littles that also point to God!
Focusing on different areas, such as emotions and working through conflicts, the chapters are clear and easy to follow. They all give suggestions that simplify it while keeping God at the lead. And it’s a quick one, only about 31 pages.
It doesn’t go far in depth, but it’s a nice quick guide. And also points to how to use the other books in the series - Training Young Hearts. It shows how the books are organized as well as the patterns, with explanations of the different parts. It give suggestions on how to use them in your daily life, and to teach from these books.
Overall, a wonderful book for parents, and a quick, easy, and clear tool to help teach! Definitely excited to keep this one in my own library!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, received from The Good Book Company. However, all thoughts and views reflected are strictly my own opinions.
This is such a simple, but impactful book to go along with the “Training Young Hearts” series. I’m already a big fan of this series, but this little guide really seals the deal for me.
It has 6 sections:
1. The Pattern of Redemption - a clear presentation of the creation-fall-redemption model
2. Understanding Misbehavior - helps distinguish between willful sin and developmental limitations
3. What to Do When They Fail - applying the good news of the gospel to our everyday lives using Scripture for confession, repentance, dependence on Jesus, and reconciliation
4. Training Refrains - practical application for how to train right behavior during discipline moments with things you’ve read in the books outside of discipline moments
5. Conflict Resolution - helping our children not only stop bad behavior, but equipping them for dealing with difficulties
6. Emotions and Empathy - a reminder that cultivating emotional intelligence takes time as our children grow
It also includes a note from the author at the beginning with a word of encouragement at the end. Both show the heart and intent of the author and encourage the parent in wonderful and weighty journey of training our children in righteousness.
Even if you don’t read any of the other books in the “Training Young Hearts” series - read this one! It’s so short, but such a good reminder for all parents. My kids are 8 and 10 now and I wish this book and the whole series was around when they were babies.
I received a complimentary copy as a reviewer and all opinions shared are my own.
A beautiful companion guide to go along with my toddlers favorite series. This would be excellent as a new parent gift with the board books.
