Jay Payleitner has collected 144 strategies or "parenting hacks" in his book, "Quick Tips for Busy Families."  Each strategy is about a page or two, making it a quick read, but something that may make you say "aha!" and have you waiting for the perfect moment to implement it or something that you may have tried, but now can tweak it just a little to make it more effective with your child or children.  Some of the strategies may not be ones that are applicable for you at this time because the age that your child or children are, but ones you may use in the future.  For example, visiting colleges, electronic device usage and sarcasm.  One of my favorite tips that Jay shares is being on a trip with the kids and the kids are loud, misbehaving, so instead of telling them if they stop you will stop and buy them a treat, which would be rewarding the negative behavior, you pull into a McDonald's run in and buy a treat for yourself.  Then you lean against the car enjoying the treat and then get in thank the kids for their patience while you enjoyed the treat and state if they behave and earn it then you will stop and get everyone a treat in a hour.  Simple, straight-forward tip that can be quick and easy to implement but so effective!  This is just one of many useful tips that Jay shares.  There is a topical index in the back of the book making this very easy to find a tip for a current struggle and refer to the book in times of need.  I highly recommend this book for parents!

This is a book filled with 144 tips/strategies to use with your kids. There is a lot of variety. There are tips that will work with young kids and some geared more towards older kids. I found there were a lot of things I’ve done or tried before and some were new ideas for me. Each tip is a page or two long. It’s a pretty fast read. There isn’t any real organization to the book. It’s more of a hodgepodge. One thing that I found interesting is that he doesn’t always tell you why he recommends doing something. For instance, he once stopped the car and told the kids to get out and to meet him on the other side of a bridge without really saying why. Is this just so his kids get more exercise? Or does he just want to be an unpredictable parent? I’m not sure. 🙂

Most of the tips make more sense to me than that one. One of my favorites is “If it’s important to your kids, it’s important to you.” (That is how I got my first tattoo.) My daughter has always drawn on herself and loves tattoos. I knew she was going to get one when she turned 18 so we got them together. By showing an interest, we created a special bond between us and I was able to help steer her towards a more reputable place and had more input in the process. With my son, it means I’m shooting zombies and tying on my roller skates each week.

Some tips are quirky and geared towards having fun with your kids. I hope to use the “three ways you can engage a tree stump” tip soon. Other tips are highly practical like taking a picture of your kids when you arrive at a theme park in case they get lost. You’ll know what clothes they were wearing and have an up-to-date picture on hand. Others were simple science lessons to prompt a good discussion.

The real gold of this book for me is the reminder to enter into their world….to make it my goal that every conversation my kids have with me makes them glad to have had it(location 1306). I need the reminder to listen and ask questions more and to talk less. This book gave lots of ideas to help me with this.

This is not a comprehensive how-to parenting book. You can’t go to an index and find a page for whatever you might be dealing with. However, if you’re looking for some fun, thought provoking ideas, give this book a try.

Thank you to Bethany House for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.