Member Reviews
This book by author and parenting expert Anita Cleare gives advice on how to balance your time, manage your stress levels, and focus on positive interactions with your children. (American readers, note that Cleare is a UK parenting expert; but don't worry if you don't get the cricket reference, it isn't really important.)
The advanced copy I read had three parts, with a total of 14 chapters. Part One: Meaningful Moments, focuses on avoiding common parenting mistakes, learning to separate your work mode from your parenting mode, and building a solid relationship with your children by listening and playing together. Part Two: Calm House, Happy Family, discusses the importance of positive attention, creating boundaries while trying to remain calm, and creating a stress-free morning routine. I personally liked the Action Point idea of keeping an attention diary. There is also advice for dealing with sibling fights, tackling homework, and managing screen time. Part Three: Balancing Well-Being and Workload, focuses on managing stress, building your child's self esteem without over-parenting, and helping your child manage their emotions.
This is a fairly short book that is easy to read. There is some good parenting advice here, and personally I feel like there is always room to improve as a parent; so there is almost always something useful you can get out of a book on parenting. I felt like some of the content was common sense, but maybe newer parents would find it even more useful; as some things you tend to pick up with experience.
Most parents these days work full time. This book markets itself to offer strategies and guidance to building a happier family life by doing less not more, and parenting smarter not harder.
This has a lot of the same strategies as other parenting books I have read. There was nothing really new or revolutionary here. That being said it as solid premisses and strategies. However, if you have read more than 3 other parenting books the information will be repetitive and falls flat.
*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*