Parenting in the Pew is part memoir and part practical theology as a pastor's wife grapples with issues regarding children and the public worship service. For individuals and churches who are questioning participating in children's ministry programs through elementary school, Parenting in the Pew will provide food for thought and conviction that it is good, right and worthwhile for children to worship with their parents.

For those who already worship as a family or have minimal children's programming, Parenting in the Pew provides encouragement and helpful reminders that the point of having children in worship is to worship, and not to have them sit perfectly still so everyone knows you are the best parent in the room. That can be very important to hear.

Castleman believes that children can be expected to sit through the whole worship service at about age four and everything but the sermon by about two and a half. She does not advocate having children color or look at other books during the worship service. So, if you are looking for practical advice on how to keep your toddler quiet and busy, this book will not meet that need!

I'm glad this book was written and I think it's helpful for the church as a whole. It may or may not be a must-read for your family. I enjoyed her personal style, but she delved into personal beliefs I don't share at a few points, so I would not commend all of her theology. I don't think it was a waste of my time, but I admit, I was looking for toddler tips!

This book is full of fun and helpful suggestions for parents who love worship and want to share their worship experience with their children (toddlers to teens). I think her suggestions can easily cross a variety of worship styles. As a parent of grown sons, she can look back at the struggles and see the fruit that remained. I found her chapter on the sacraments particularly thought-provoking.

One of the perennial issues all parents have to deal with is how to effectively train their children to participate in the morning/evening worship service. This can be one of the most embarrassing seasons in any parents life. But it is also one of the most important seasons in the life of your child as they learn to participate in the right worship of God among congregation of the redeemed.

Robbie Castleman has written a very helpful book on how to train your children to be in the worship service. This book is a very practical guide to help you train-up your children to enjoy the worship service. She helps the reader understand that the quality of what happens on Sunday starts on Saturday evening. As a pastor's wife, Castleman had to sit with her children as a "single mother" because her husband was in the pulpit. She tells you how she not only survived but how she learned to make the time in the pew Christ honoring both for her and her children. I could not over state how helpful this book was to my wife and me as we brought our children into the worship service and toddlers. Great gift idea. Should be on every church's book table and a regular part of a congregations' helping young parents in training-up their children in the way they should go. This book should be given to every young family that attends church services.

My mother gave me this book. I wasn't very excited about it since we have some differences in how we parent and our views on church. I loved it though! I couldn't put it down and have been recomending it to every christian parent I know. In fact my parents have been getting large orders of this book and giving them away and I think that is what I am going to do as well.
This is a book about how to raise your children to be spiritual people who understand and know God. It is about including them in church instead of sending them off to be entertained so that the adults can worship. It is a very convicting book and if you follow it you will find church to be both harder work (parenting) and more fulfilling.

I am a church planter. Wondering what to do with kids and not feeling like "Children's ministry" was the way to go, I came upon this book. Robbie breaks us all out of our "children's ministry looks-like-this" mentality, to a new world where parents are actually together with their children.
Many people think that this is going back to and age of "children just be quiet" or gearing the service "just for kids" which it is neither. Robbie breaks us out of both paradigms bringing us to a place where parents are to parent and not simply escape into the mystical point of worship. Where worship is not simply seen as a feeling to attain, where children get in the way, but where worship is something children can be trained in. This is a must read for all who are thinking about church planting and bringing the family together in a practical way. I have made this manditory reading for all my leadership team.