In April 2023 I posted a “What I’ve Been Reading” post. I’m slightly embarrassed to say how many books I’ve read since then, but at that point I had already read more books in a year than I had the prior year, so I guess my own progress should be my measuring stick. 🙂
That embarrassing number is three. I’ve read three books in the last nine months. Four, if you count reading Little House on the Prairie to my big boys. But for all practical purposes, three. All of them parenting books, two of them by the same author.
I read Abbie Halberstadt’s M Is for Mama and Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad back to back. I’d already read the first book a while ago but wanted a refresher before diving into her second book. Turns out I liked M Is for Mama even more the second time around. The first time I read it I was really hoping for a more formulaic approach. Your kid does this; you do this. Of course, that’s not how life, and especially not parenting, is. Going into it this time knowing it wasn’t going to be like that allowed me to better process what she was saying, and I really enjoyed and was blessed by both M Is for Mama and Hard Is Not the Same Thing as Bad. Highly recommend both books.
I also read Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley. After reading two books written from a mother’s perspective, it was really refreshing and interesting to read one written from a dad’s perspective. I started in right away with sticky-noted sections to show to Eric later. That's the real test of how much I like a book. 🙂
I’m actually not feeling very book-review-ish at all at the moment. I'm more excited about what I'm going to be reading next. 🙂 So if you want to know more about the afore-mentioned books and what’s inside them, just do yourself a favor and go borrow or buy a copy. Very worthwhile reading, all three of them, especially if you’re in the parenting trenches. ...continue reading
