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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Parenting Books, Pretzels, and Dreaming of Spring


Happy Valentine's Day!  Oh wait, that was totally last week, then there was Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday yesterday.  Whew, I'm just getting caught up around here!  Well, I just don't think any of those things would count without a picture of the garland on the door, some tasty short ribs for Fat Tuesday, and our traditional pretzels for Ash Wednesday.  So there you have it.

The other day I started getting emails in the afternoon that various books had been purchased onto Ben's kindle.  I was scrolling through the titles and couldn't, for the life of me, remember buying a single one of them.  There was: 

"What Your Explosive Child Is Trying to Tell You: Discovering the Pathway from Symptoms to Solutions" 
"The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children"
"The Defiant Child: A Parent's Guide to Oppositional Defiant Disorder"

The list went on.  In total, over one hundred dollars of these parenting books had been ordered.  Curious more than anything, I gave Ben a call at work and asked if he had been doing some thinking about parenting, perhaps?  Was one of the children feeling particularly challenging?  No and no, and he hadn't been purchasing books.  "You should ask the kids about it," was his advice, and before I even uttered a single word, his suggestion triggered the memory: Hugo, out of the corner of my eye, darting to his room with something tucked under his arm.  I had thought it was a toy or book, but suddenly I knew.

So, quite ironically, it turns out that our three year old son stole our kindle and inadvertently purchased hundreds of dollars of parenting books about naughty children.  It's almost enough to make me a believer in karma.  Luckily, you can return kindle purchases for seven days.  Phew!

But before I discount the value of parenting books, can I tell you about one that I've been reading and absolutely love?  It's this book, entitled Parenting With Grace, and was recommended as a great book about Catholic parenting.  And can I tell you that these authors somehow manage to put into words exactly what I've thought and felt and tried to live out in my own home with utmost eloquence?  Their words and ideas are inspiring and manage to beautifully link good, attachment based parenting with Catholic theology, and I just love it.  And come to think of it, my recent purchase of this book onto Ben's kindle quite likely led to the chain of events (kindle recommending other parenting books, Hugo accidentally clicking on them as he explored the kindle) I have just described.  Parenting in the age of technology.  Sheesh!

And with that I'm off to get under many blankets and read something, preferably not a parenting book.  School has already been cancelled tomorrow because it is just too cold.  I know, I know, we Virginians are softies.  All it takes is for the thermometer to drop below zero for us to hide away in our warm homes and dream of spring, which is exactly what I will be doing tomorrow.

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