i need some help here!
Parenting is tough. It's not like a recipe where you just add the right amount of ingredients and your food turns out great each time. In parenting you can do all the right things and your kids can turn out totally opposite of what you were hoping.
I just finished a book by the hilarious Kathi Lipp and it is an encouragement to all those parents who are struggling with how things are going with their kids. She offers grace to moms who are discouraged and feeling guilty. She enables us to look at the bright side and see the spiritual gifts that result when your kids don't go according to your plan. She steeps each chapter in scripture and offers sample prayers for your child and for yourself.
I've heard a lot of people say, "I was such a good parent before I had children." Kathi offers a similar saying for judgmental people and how to determine other 'safe' people you can be real with...or rather who not to seek sympathy from. She says, "There are some people who feel that if only you had done everything right, your child wouldn't have problems. These people usually fall into three categories: those who have never had kids and think they could do better, parents who have one child under the age of three and think that the same principles of discipline apply to teens, and parents of children over age thirty who have blocked out all the bad years."
She offers a quote from Rob Teigen as instruction for us, "I think as parents we take way too much credit when things go right with our kids and take way too much blame when things go wrong." She helps parents see that we are not the only ones who are dealing with issues and gives encouragement and practical steps for a variety of different situations. The last chapters are broken into headings-'when my child is....different, overwhelmed, making poor choices, struggling' etc.
From the cover (loved it!) it seemed like a book for parents of young children but as I started reading it I worried that it would only deal with teens and young adults. But I found plenty to apply to parenting young children as well and it also gives me plenty to chew on and a good foundation as we head into the teenage years in a few years (eek!)
I received a copy of this book through the Revell Blogger Review Program, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
I just finished a book by the hilarious Kathi Lipp and it is an encouragement to all those parents who are struggling with how things are going with their kids. She offers grace to moms who are discouraged and feeling guilty. She enables us to look at the bright side and see the spiritual gifts that result when your kids don't go according to your plan. She steeps each chapter in scripture and offers sample prayers for your child and for yourself.
I've heard a lot of people say, "I was such a good parent before I had children." Kathi offers a similar saying for judgmental people and how to determine other 'safe' people you can be real with...or rather who not to seek sympathy from. She says, "There are some people who feel that if only you had done everything right, your child wouldn't have problems. These people usually fall into three categories: those who have never had kids and think they could do better, parents who have one child under the age of three and think that the same principles of discipline apply to teens, and parents of children over age thirty who have blocked out all the bad years."
She offers a quote from Rob Teigen as instruction for us, "I think as parents we take way too much credit when things go right with our kids and take way too much blame when things go wrong." She helps parents see that we are not the only ones who are dealing with issues and gives encouragement and practical steps for a variety of different situations. The last chapters are broken into headings-'when my child is....different, overwhelmed, making poor choices, struggling' etc.
From the cover (loved it!) it seemed like a book for parents of young children but as I started reading it I worried that it would only deal with teens and young adults. But I found plenty to apply to parenting young children as well and it also gives me plenty to chew on and a good foundation as we head into the teenage years in a few years (eek!)
I received a copy of this book through the Revell Blogger Review Program, in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
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