“In Shepherding a Child’s Heart (SCH), one of the things Dr. Tedd Tripp strongly emphasizes is the authority of the parents. That’s not problematic. The problem in my opinion, is that there is an unhealthy, unbiblical, and unbalanced emphasis on authority and obedience. Apparently, this is because he believes most parents, including Christian parents, do not know they have parental authority or have not exercised much of it.
The first time I read the book, it bolstered my view that I was the king of the home, the boss, the buck-stops-here big man. Looking back, the challenge was it encouraged me to view the home as my little kingdom to do what I wanted when I wanted. I have since come to see that Tripp’s book presents a Christianized authoritarian model for parenting. On many levels, this position, while popular is quite wrong.”