BellyitchBlog

A lot of parenting books can come off as “judgy” or “preachy”. Or, alternatively, they can overwhelm you with all the advise, suggestions and recommendations in them. You may finish them thinking that you’ll never ever be able to accomplish this thing called “parenting” successfully.

Certainly, in the public, well-meaning friends, colleagues, family and heck, random strangers, feel comfortable interjecting their opinion on your parenting skills and decisions.

“You’re Doing a Great Job! 100 Ways You’re Winning at Parenting” by Biz Ellis and Theresa Thorn is that inspirational and motivational, “don’t take yourself too seriously” book you read to decompress and realize that you rock! It’s about celebrating the tiny wins.

Within the 156 pages of this hardback coffee table gift style book, you’ll find colorful pages and over 100, pretty short entries about how awesome you are given the task at hand and the fact that you haven’t and most likely won’t cause too much harm on your kiddies.

I read the book from cover to cover while vacationing with my family this Summer and literally chuckled out loud at a few relatable and humorous quips. Like “You went out for milk…and came back afterwards. You could have used the opportunity to run away and start a new life! But you didn’t! You came back. Good job! Enjoy your milk!”

The authors, who have a very popular podcast “One Bad Mother“, did an excellent job setting the bar so low that you cannot help but smile at all the winning you’re doing as a parent every day! Yay for us!

It even covers unconventional topics many other books miss; single parenting, partnered parents and commune parents. Yeah, they still exist, I think. ha!

I would highly recommend this book not just for an expectant parent or a new one but for any parent at any stage who maybe has been beating herself or himself up about something that is likely out of their control.

It’s a quick and worthwhile read and one you can pass along to a friend in need.

Get this book at Amazon for just $10.86! Yeah can’t beat that price for a hard back book!

photo: Courtesy LA Parent by IBARIONEX PERELLO

If you ever wanted to go into the world of a couple that has

everything except a child, then are

suddenly thrust into an opportunity to raise a child of a coma-induced friend, then you would enjoy

reading Award-winning journalist Katrina Onstad’s novel “Everybody has Everything.”

The tale opens with the tragedy that ushers in a whole new

life and way of living for a pair of DINKS (dual income no kids) who must quickly

learn the way of being parents. Before their friends Sarah and Marcus’ car accident

(which Marcus does not survive) and even after, Ana and her hubby James are a

bit narcissistic, self-absorbed and affluent, existing in upper crust intelligentsia

Toronto social circles.

The prose is written poetically and with fluidity, so much

so that it reads quickly. The dialogue between the characters is real and the

timing and spacing of events from going through the formality of being a

guardian to the 2 ½ year old almost new

orphan, Finn, to a trip back in time to the years of struggling to conceive and

back to the process of coming to grips with all the happenstance and unpredictability

of life.

There are plenty moments in the novel where there is

discussion of modern unspoken taboos like society’s treatment, and de facto,

rejection of women who have no desire to be mothers. One of the main characters

is such a person and for flashes while reading this book, transports you into

the mind of a non-maternal person – correction a non-maternal woman. This

difference matters because aren’t all women supposed to want to be moms?

It is refreshing and

eye opening if you happen to be one of those persons who do not “get” child-free

people. You still may not be able to relate because Ana and James may not be

your kind of people, but you can at least understand more. And complex characters make books more fun to read.

The book doesn’t drag too often because the words Onstad

selects to tell the fictional story are colorful and quite descriptive. It’s a

wonderful addition to your library, for parents –non-parents and would be ones

as well. Onstad is a brilliant writer and story teller.

I enjoyed the book and you may too. It’s certainly perfect for book clubs!

We may be giving away a copy to a Bellyitch Reader. Stay tuned!

book review

The One Book You Get When You Think You Suck at Parenting and Need a Pick Me Up (REVIEW)

Review: ‘Everybody has Everything’ tells tale of parenthood forced on the ‘Child-free’