Book Review: Instinctive Parenting

It was a rough week in our home a few weeks back. The lil man just was a mess. I felt like I knew nothing about parenting and just needed more help than anyone could give. How did I solve this? By goig to my friendly local library, of course!

I really wanted the Supernanny book, but it's always out. I may have to breakdown and just put it on reserve. Instead, I ended up with Instinctive Parenting and a few others just to glance through. The only one I really took the time to look at and read was Instinctive Parenting. I'm not sure why. It just seemed like me.

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If only I'd known that this was not a traditional parenting book with fix-it easy solutions... or any solutions... This book is simply a journal of what the author, Ada Calhoun, has gone through with her son, Oliver. Could you learn something from it? Sure. I took a few things away, but it's not a true parenting book.

I actually had to laugh when I was reading it in several locations, but primarily in the school chapter. I guess it was hilarious to me because at the time I was reading this, I had just finished discussing preschool and such with the hubs the week before. Then, I had a few people ask me about what preschool I was sending my son to. Huh? I don't think we are for a few reasons, but that doesn't mean I'm less of a parent. Thank you, Ms. Calhoun for helping me feel okay about my decisions.

Essentially, this book just states to do what is best for you and your family so long as it doesn't cause harm to anyone. Whereever you live is fine, what you have is fine, what you wear is fine, whether or not your child goes to daycare or preschool is fine. It's about what works for your family. Her experiences help to see what works for her family and she clearly states that what works for one may not work for others. Because of this, I found this to be freeing! No need for more guilt for what I'm doing or not doing or have done. It's what works for our family and we're happy with it so that's what matters. Did I need a book to tell me that? No, but reading someone else's ventures was quite fun! If you want a light read that's somewhat entertaining (though at times slightly annoying), pick it up.