~A Little Gem~

If you are a fan of Shepherding_a_Child's_Heart... or Don't_make_me_Count_to_Three... or any parenting books that deal with nurture instead of control... you're gonna love this one! (I struggle with wanting to be in control... can you believe that!?!?! LOL) I totally agree with Shepherding_a_Child's_Heart but living it out can be very difficult. What exactly does it look like!?!??! Don't_make_me_Count_to_Three was helpful to me but didn't really make things memorable.

This book is great! The author is a mother of five, all ages 5 and younger. Her descriptions of life with littles is comical and so very true! Her examples are amazingly accurate and so very helpful. She is totally honest too! Messes and failures do happen!

It is a short book with short chapters... great for a busy mom!

Trying to not give too much away... here were some of the high points!

* She remembers being so "godly" as a younger person. God was smoothing out her rough spots in a bubbly quiet brook. Then she had kids. It was like she was thrown into a rock tumbler... LOVE that illustration!

* Some children have problems picking at each other. Some parents do to for that matter;-) We deal with that a little around our house;-) She likened that to chickens that peck at each other. We have seen that first hand and have been amazed at how mean they are to each other. We have even had the chickens kill one of the others! We currently have one removed from the main cage because they pecked it so much it was bleeding. What a great illustration!

* A great chapter about girls and their emotions. I haven't had that problem yet but I've heard enough about it that the chapter was very helpful. She likened that to the emotions being a horse, you don't cripple the horse... you equip the rider. Well said.

So many other great illustrations!

My very favorite chapter, and one that stomped on my toes the most was the idea of the "bulk effect" in chapter 9. I printed out this quote and put it on my calendar for the whole month so I would remember this!

"Individually they are being precious and curious and excited. As their mother, I am responsible to see them individually, even when they are presenting themselves to me en masse."

I am often overstimulated...too much, too many, too quickly, too loud. In a fun way, I need to remember they are all curious or excited and change my behavior to join in with them... sometimes that means letting all 5 tell me the same story in their own words... for the third time. In a bad way I can not discipline an individual child for a collective situation! (like the last straw kinda thing... the last person may have created a little disturbance, but I am not to punish them for everyone else disturbances before them. Did that make sense?

Anyway, a great read.. HIGHLY recommended for every Mom Bookshelf!