Dr. Schlessinger on Moms

I guess I agree with you, Andrea! Throughout the entire first chapter I kept thinking to myself, "I don't need to read this book". But by the end I was glad that I had read it. It made me feel much better about myself and more motivated to continue on. Timing, definitely, is everything.

One of the things that changed most for me after reading this book is that I'm finding so much more joy in my toddler. I think, cute as she is, I was starting to see her as something to be gotten out of the way so we could go on with our really important and/or fun stuff. Oddly enough, as I spend more time with my little girl, I'm seeing a reduction in her grumpiness. She really was just crying out for attention. Poor, neglected little tyke. :-)

One thing we know from the Gospel is the importance of revisiting the fundamentals - and that's just what this book does. It covers the fundamental joy and importance of motherhood.

***********************************

I'm about half way through "The Hurried Child". So far I've found it fairly right-on. In fact, it addresses and supports one of my main reasons for choosing to homeschool: I wanted to be able to keep my children unhurried. I've seen some interesting effects of that recently. We have a family in our ward with children of similar ages to my children. These kids were adopted 1.5 years ago (they are a family of 4 kids). Prior to the adoption they bounced from mom, to foster care, to mom, to foster care - many times. They are great kids. Their parents are doing a great job with them. There are still some quirks that I think are effects of their history - most noticeable to me is that they don't have any imagination! The kids have all grown up too fast and are trying really hard to be mini adults. I'm sure that is partially a coping mechanism for the rough childhoods they've had. Only the three year old, who has mostly been with his adoptive parents, likes to do pretend play. The six year old seems to really struggle with it (thus, my six year old finds he has more in common with the younger brother). I was just reflecting on these kids and my own and I'm grateful that my kids have had time to spend developing their creativity without worrying about clothes, boys, music, stability, etc.

And that's the end of my little ramble.

Oh! I did want to say, Andrea, that I liked what you said about the correlation between working mothers and hurried children. I hadn't really stopped to think about that. What did you think of the chapter on testing?
Julia, I have noticed the clothing every time I take my girls clothes shopping - especially for shorts. Hannah and I can never find longer shorts for girls her age. This last time I finally decided to try the Juniors department and, lo and behold, we found some bermuda shorts! Finally, length! Hannah just barely fits into the smallest Juniors size now. Little girls' clothes are so indecent sometimes!