Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms
Justin Whitmel Earley
Discover simple habits and easy-to-implement daily rhythms that will help you find meaning beyond the chaos of family life as you create a home where kids and parents alike practice how to love God and each other. You long for tender moments with your children--but do you ever find yourself too busy to stop, make eye contact, and say something you really mean. Daily habits are powerful ways to shape the heart--but do you find yourself giving in to screen time just to get through the day. more
240 pages, Paperback
First published Zondervan
4.62
Rating
8873
Ratings
1133
Reviews
Justin Whitmel Earley
5 books 276 followers
Justin Whitmel Earley (JD, Georgetown University) is the creator of The Common Rule, a program of habits designed to form us in the love of God and neighbor. He is also a mergers and acquisitions lawyer in Richmond, Virginia. He previously spent several years in China as the founder and general editor of The Urbanity Project and as the director of Thought and Culture Shapers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the community through arts. He and his wife, Lauren, have four sons and live in Richmond, Virginia.Community reviews
I tend to be hesitant to recommend books on habit formation - mostly because the weight of idealism can be overwhelming and burdensome when you are already trying to survive your home. I found this book to be full of grace and transparency. His premise is that you already have habits, let’s leverage them for purpose and worship. I laughed at many of his real life examples of his home, and teared up a bit in the last chapter. The best books are encouraging and challenging and I found this book did both for me. more
I’d give it 10 stars if I could. One of the most practical & realistic family life / parenting books I’ve ever read. Earley’s humility is evident in his writing - his personal anecdotes made me laugh aloud and make me feel a little less crazy. I feel convicted & inspired. I’ll keep this one near me at all times and will recommend to everyone. more
My endorsement: “I met Justin Earley fifteen years ago; we were fresh out of college serving together as missionaries overseas. Even then, I could tell he had wisdom beyond his years. And ever since, I have been encouraged to watch him develop his voice for the benefit of Christ’s people. It’s no secret that home life can be chaotic—many of us are in its throes now, settling for ‘survival mode’ as we simply try to make it through the day. We want to form our kids with Christian virtue, but sometimes the fight can feel futile. more
My new favorite books on habits and routines. SO very good. Loved this book much better than his other one. Intentionality. Living in the now. more
I enjoyed Earley's The Common Rule a while back, and Habits of the Household handily applies his ideas from that book to daily family life. He gives on-the-ground advice for parenting, neither too lofty nor too specific to be applied in the trenches. Earley is honest about the constant nature of parenting, and some of his ideas regarding very brief liturgies and prayer are easily applicable. Near the end of the book, he discusses casting a vision for family rhythms, but thankfully most of the book is more concrete than that. Every chapter ends in a sort of quick-reference section that is helpful for glancing at and using as reminders. more
I loved this book. My heart and mind were stirred to think more intentionally about how Emily and I are forming our children. We’ve already had some great discussions about rhythms of conversation, prayer, rest, and date night that we need to either re-emphasize or adopt. And then he had me crying at the end thinking about our kids age timeline and how a conversation with his dad changed his life. “We become our habits and our children become us. more
really close between a 2 and 3 star so I’m trying to be generous but I don’t want you to think I don’t hate the wokeness and feminism in it. Didn’t know this dude and the names on the back of book endorsing are troublesome people. But some of the content is very observant and profound. Warning this book has that type of writing Christian authors of a certain brand do that is long paragraphs revelling in how disorderly their house is. “Two kids are having a wrestling match in the bath tub; in another room a child is pouring flour in the carpet; I hear a terrible a scream upstairs; I can’t remember whose T. more
Loved it. Both honest and wise, inspiring and packed with practical ideas, it is really encouraging, making you want to roll up your sleeves and change the habits of your home. The approach was very relevant to the world we live in today. A plus for me, it was super-relatable, having 3 little boys under our roof. . more
4. 9 StarsRight after Jesus the most precious and important thing to me in my life is my family. There is so much beauty but also messiness when it comes to life in the home. In this book, "Habits of the Household," Justine Whitmel Earley captured all the feelings that I have about life in the home. His vision of home life was not only helpful and encouragement, but also just made my heart sing. more
A worthwhile book to read with your spouse or other parents. While each of these things are not in and of themselves revolutionary or exhaustive (he has resources for further study or exploration in each chapter), where this book shines is in its ability to show us the big picture of how everything we do on a daily and weekly basis adds up to our lives. They add up to our discipleship and spiritual formation. Discipleship and spiritual formation --whether for ourselves, our children, or our family as a whole-- is not a program, and doesn't primarily happen "over there. " It happens in the routine moments, if we will be diligent to practice them. more
I was hesitant to pick this up even after seeing many glowing reviews. After all, my kids are teenagers now. Would this book be solely geared towards those with younger kids. I’m really thankful that I decided to order it anyway. It’s full of not just concepts and good theology, but how parents can incorporate those beliefs into their daily “habits of the household” and routines. more
Justin Whitmel Earley's "Habits of the Household" helps guides parents (especially those with young children) who want to establish healthy spiritual rhythms in their home. Earley has a knack for reducing spiritual aspirations to spiritual practices. His first book "The Common Rule" has become my go-to book for helping people integrate spiritual disciplines in their lives. Earley takes us through a day and considers how we can inject habits that invite God's grace into our homes. He wants us to think of our homes as "schools of love. more
one of the best books I’ve read this year. so encouraging and practical. this quote got me:“we had such high hopes for having kids and now it seems more work than love, more exhaustion than fulfillment. at best we feel tired, at worst we feel trapped, in between we feel lonely, and more likely than not, we feel bad about our parenting. ”If that resonates with you, read this book. more
Definitely recommend. And definitely recommend reading with your spouse if possible. It helped us have conversations we didn't know we needed. And while we certainly aren't adopting all the ideas, we have already adopted some and -- perhaps even better -- are coming up with some habits of our own. more
Easy to read. Practical. Biblical. Would recommend couples with kids at home to read together and pick a couple of the rhythms to try to implement in their family. . more
I just turned to my husband and gave this book a resounding endorsement. It is an excellent parenting book. I think I often get bogged down in spiritual nonfiction, unfortunately, but I kept coming back to this one, curious to hear what he had to say about the next habit in parenting. He starts from the place of acknowledging we all DO have habits, whether we mean to or not. Then he challenges each one in turn (waking, marriage, screentime, discipline, bedtime, etc. more
I enjoyed this very practical book that is mostly about rhythms that relate to parenting small children. I appreciated his honesty in the trenches of life and he does not sugarcoat anything. He’s accomplished a lot in his life, yet he still regards parenting as THE hardest job in life. 😎He’s big into liturgy and I wouldn’t agree with absolutely everything, but it made me think more deeply on how our home/family rhythms make us function. Some quotes to remember:📖 “The longer we have unhealthy habits, the more normal they will become to us. more
An awesome read. I laughed, I felt encouraged, challenged, convicted, and inspired to change habits. Most of all so relatable and practical. I’ll be buying a personal copy to reference often. Here are some of my favorite quotes: “It is always the smallest routines that build the strongest foundations. more
If you’re a Christian parent, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Earley writes from the position of a fellow practitioner, not an expert, and he humbly shared his failures as well as his successes. This book is incredibly practical and provides lots of ideas to get help you get started on creating healthy rhythms for your family. I’ve already put things into practice and I’m excited to continue shaping my family’s habits to help shape all of us into the people God made us to be. . more
A billion stars. The best parenting book I’ve read. Will return to this often. more
I had to laugh because so many of the conversations the author talks about having with his wife or kids sounded so much like me and Brian, specifically the convo with his wife in which they went back and forth nuancing what the other had just said to their kids - we realized several years ago that we do that and talk so much, probably too much, to our kids, haha. Also his kids’ names were even similar to our kids (he has an Ash and a Shep, which is Henry’s middle name and we call him often) and has four boys, similar in age to ours. So all those things made this very relatable and enjoyable to read. Because I felt so similar to them I also felt like we already do a lot of the habits he outlines in the book - just not as organized and thought out as he seems to be, or as philosophical about it. Still, I was encouraged a lot by this book and it’s made me think a lot about being intentional (Brian hates that word and I love to say it to trigger him, hehe) about the habits WE have and how we can begin to form our kids’ daily habits. more
I started this book over a year ago and was taking my time through it because every page is so so so good. I set it aside for several busier months because I didn’t want to miss a thing. Picked it back up a couple of weeks ago and finished and wow this will absolutely be a book I come back to time and time again, and will be added to my rotation of books I read annually. It is filled with such great habits that are super practical and Christ-centered. Earley mentions in the “How to Read This Book” section that he hopes this is not a book you sit down and read alone quietly. more
A++ Gonna be buying this one for sure . more
A great reminder of the importance of habit within family and our role as parents. I needed these reminders and this is a great book to revisit in the future. more
This ranks as one of the top most impactful books of my adult life. It will keep permanent rank on my shelf. We become our habits. And our kids become us. So our habits are important. more
A book I would recommend for any family. Very practical, very insightful - will be adding a number of these practices to my daily/weekly family habits. more
Definitely a book I want to own and reread in the future. . more
(3. 5 would be a more accurate rating for me personally)Part 1 of this book was excellent and motivating, I could have left the book feeling inspired and encouraged if I stopped after this section. Very Charlotte Mason-esque. I want to be as generous as I possibly can with this book because I overall thought it was heartwarming and sweet. The personal stories of the author's parenting woes and victories were great. more
Justin is awesome. I’ve loved both his books and think that they do an awesome job of introducing the spiritual formation habits and practices that I love from authors like John Mark Comer, but he frames them in the language of authors that I think conservative, reformed Christians will be used to. I think he is an amazing gateway author for people to enter into great spiritual formation books. I am spreading news of this book widely at my church. more