Parenting Books

At the kids 1 and 2 year old appointments I was asking Dr. Booth if he had any suggestions on good book to read about parenting toddlers. He had a few suggestions but nothing that he highly recommended. At least none that I remember. About a week later Johnny came home from Hastings with several parenting books for me to read. I guess Hastings was having a 4 for $20 sale or something like that. One of the books he brought home was a book about Jewish parenting. My first thought was "Really??? I am not a super religious person and I am pretty sure that religion is not going to help me be a better parent." Surprisingly I ended up LOVING this book. To date it is the best parenting book I have read. It is called "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee" by Wendy Mogal, Ph.D. The idea behind the book is using Jewish teachings to raise a self-reliant child.

A few take aways I got from the book are as follows: (1) teach your children to respect you (i.e. Honor Your Mother and Father), (2) every child is unique (i.e. respect your child's strengths), (3) it is never to early to start chores even if all they can do is put their shoes on and put dirty clothes in the laundry basket, (4) don't over protect your child (FYI - I am really good that this one. Most parents would freak out about how much trust I have in my children), (5) eating dinner together is VERY important (in Judaism this all centers around Friday Night Shabbat Dinner with family and friends), (6) teach your children the value of work (I think this one is really important since a lot of parents these days are not doing a very good job at teaching their children how hard you have to work for somethings), (7) teach your child to value the present moment (smells in the air, the scenery around you, ect. The idea behind this one is that the world around us is moving so fast that we need children to know what boredom feels like and to appreciate what is currently going on in the world around you) and (8) spend time with your children (not just being in the room with them but really being with them. This one makes me realize that just because you are a stay at home parent doesn't mean that you are really spending quality time with your children. Working parents can actually be better at spending quality time with their children.)

Honestly I could go on and on and on about how wonder I thought this book was. I would highly recommend this book to anyone. The book even comes with group discussion questions about each of the chapters. All I can say is this book was fabulous.