Small Steps to Help Children Flourish in a Hurried World

Many children today are caught up in the frantic pace of life, rushed along by forces beyond their control. When kids grow up too quickly and experience life at top speed, they are left distracted, anxious, and struggling to find depth.

The good news is it's possible to help children experience life at a slower pace. In Savoring Childhood, you'll learn how to push back against the demands of our superficial, automatic, and always-on culture as you walk through five essential ways of slowing:



- Slow gratification

- Slow schedules

- Slow media

- Slow consuming

- Slow growing up



Drawn from an average family's experiments with resisting the rush of life and spiritual formation wisdom from voices like Dallas Willard and Richard Foster, Grace Pouch presents practical steps to slow things down so that children can grow deep relational roots, inward character, and a flourishing friendship with God.

With Savoring Childhood, you'll learn how to



- identify what's moving too fast in kids' lives;

- set a pace of life that supports freedom, connection, and depth; and

- implement practical solutions to give children a grounded, non-anxious, and spiritually rich childhood.



God designed childhood to be abundant. Whether in your home, your classroom, or your ministry, you can learn how to partner with God to slow things down so that the children in your life can flourish.



Grace P. Pouch is content manager for Renovaré, where she curates and produces resources for spiritual renewal. She previously served as a seminary professor and Christian education specialist for elementary school children. Grace and her husband,William, live with their two children, Charlotte and Henry, in Greenville, South Carolina.



Beginnings

Part 1: Slow Gratification



1. Sweet Countdowns



2. Stretching



3. Time Machines



4. Long-Term Projects

Part 2: Slow Schedules



5. A Palace in Time



6. Tidying Up



7. Speed Checks



8. Singletasking

Part 3: Slow Media



9. Offloading



10. Snail Mail



11. Library Carts



12. Record Players

Part 4: Slow Consuming



13. Simple Tastes



14. The Creative Option



15. Heartfelt Gifts



16. Revival Skills

Part 5: Slow Growing Up



17. Animal Friends



18. Reading Down



19. Counterpoints



Benediction



Acknowledgments



Notes