📖My Thoughts📖


I’ve never read any sort of parenting book before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. This was a pretty good book! It was easy to understand and follow and the way it stands, you can either read it all cover to cover, skip around, or even just read the parts that apply to you, which is nice. The book is very insightful and thought provoking, allowing you to see different approaches and methods to different scenarios which is pretty cool. I like how the author addressed his audience as being human (meaning we all have our way of doing things). It was very refreshing. This book brought up a lot of ways to open up spending more time with your kids and I will definitely be implementing some of these techniques with my own children. Whether you’re a first time parent, a parent of a few kids or a step parent, I this book has some useful tips and suggestions. This is something that would be a great addition to your book collection. I was granted the audiobook version of this book and the narrator was pretty animated.
Thank you Netgalley, Harley A. Rotbart and Andrews McMeel Audio for the opportunity to read and review this book. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

As the title states this is a guide to know regrets parenting. It's quite informative and shows how to snatch up every opportunity to have quality time with your children.

As a parent of three preschoolers who struggles to survive each day just trying to keep the kids safe, fed, and entertained, this book was a reminder to slow down and enjoy every moment with them. It's so easy to put them in front of a screen in order to make dinner, clean the house, or even go to the bathroom by myself. We forget that kids grow up at a blink of an eye and before we know it, they are out of the house on their own leaving us as lonely empty nesters. I love that this book provided busy parents with practical and fun activities that can be done everyday and any circumstance. Kids don't have to be sent to play by themselves in order for us to get things done. We just have to find creative ways to include them in our everyday tasks. This not only gives us precious time with our kids but it also makes them feel like they have a purpose in the family. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to any parent.

No Regrets Parenting is a guide to have a future without regrets as a parent. How to harness every opportunity to have a quality time with your kids. So not to regret even the tiny fleeting moments.

What I came to focus on after this book is giving your kid even a half hour a day of undivided attention is a great deal.

He tackled the journey of the kids until adulthood. With a part dedicated to no regrets grandparenting.

I received an audiobook from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The things I liked about this book were that the chapters are short and easy to start and stop when you are able. The narrator is easy to listen to. There is a lot of information given without being monotonous. There is some good tips on ways to increase you’re quality time with your kids. The author also does not endorse any one parenting style.

Things that I thought could be improved upon are that the book comes from a very privileged view point. Some of the activities that are casually mentioned are financially out of reach for many. The amount of time suggested to spend with your kids is unattainable for many parents. Also, many don’t have the support needed to be leave work before their shift is over to have dinner together every day, or babysitters to spend one on one time with your kids, or family or partners to give them a break. The author does tries to acknowledge these things but more realistic advice could be given to address these things.

This book was a great reminder into parenthood and how your children are humans too. In the age of always trying to catch up, this book had great tips on slowing down and how to have intentional time with your kids. It covered all stages of childhood along with parenting and grandparents. Would recommend

I wish I had read this book before my oldest child was born. As a parent of two teenagers and a kindergartner, I have learned a lot through trial and error. However, this book's advice helped me feel less guilty about not being the perfect parent and reminded me to enjoy the limited amount of time I have with my children. While this book is best when read as a new parent or grandparent, it is never too late to start making the most of each moment with children. I recommend this book to those wishing to learn to parent without regrets and those needing a reminder.

I enjoyed this book, because even though it wasn’t necessarily any new parenting information for me, it was a great reminder. I definitely relate to feeling like my kids lives are flying by, and I appreciated the strategies outlined here to have “no regrets.”

I agreed with the beginning of this book and it’s sentiments that it isn’t necessarily a book you’d sit down and read start to finish, but rather check out certain parts and chapters here and there. I listened to this on audio but would recommend a hard copy. I think it’s a good reference book to have on hand but it’s not easy to quickly reference the audio.

I was drawn to this book because my children are now at an age where I already want to tell parents of small babies to "cherish every moment" but at the same time I can still recall the visceral desire to destroy anyone who said to me "cherish every moment" when they were babies. But, I do feel like the years are whizzing by and I don't want to regret missing their childhood.

The main premise of the book - which is then expanded over several chapters is "prioritise spending time with your children and make sure it's time actually spent interacting together, not just in the same house/room/car". In truth, it's a simple concept and the individual chapters explaining how you can do this are a little repetitive. But, it does also reiterate that just being in the same room is not spending time together and gives ideas to involve your children in activities rather than being by-standers.

The only issue I take with the book is that this is a seriously labour intensive parenting style, and the author occasionally made me feel like it was an almost oppressive parenting style for the kids. Not a lot of emphasis on the benefits of giving your kids some space and time away from the family unit. But that really comes down to personal choice and style, and there is plenty to take from the book even if you don't adopt 100% of the suggestions.

The expanded edition has sections on adult kids and grandparents, which are a way off for me, but still had some interesting tips.

No Regrets Parenting offers advice on how to make the most of your time with your children. It is broken into very short chapters and emphasizes limiting distractions (for both you and your kids), being intentional, and developing a strong child-parent relationship. The advice was practical, yet not groundbreaking and although the tone was generally positive, I did feel a bit lectured to at certain points.

What I liked:

This book centered the reader on ways to make sure that you are spending time that counts with your children and not getting caught up in the day to day. I related to the idea that it is of the utmost importance to not deprive your kids of the 8 essential requirements:
1. Security
2. Stability
3. Consistency
4. Emotional support
5. Love
6. Education
7. Positive role models
8. Structure
I also liked the sections focused on grandparenting, and how parents should set boundaries and talk with their parents/in-laws about desired caretaking responsibilities and values.

What I didn’t like:

Some parts almost made me feel guilty for taking time to myself when needed. With a young child at home, it is crucial for me to take some “me” time so that I can offer my best self when I am home with my daughter. I don’t feel guilty about this when she is in the care of loving caretakers. At times, Rotbart seemed to emphasize that togetherness is the most important thing – and finding ways to include your kids in your day to day activities, even bringing them to work. I personally like to keep some boundaries, though I understood his intent.

As previously mentioned, I didn’t find that anything was especially revolutionary about the advice given. However, I did appreciate listening to this audiobook and considering how to apply (or not apply) the advice within my own family. If anything, it encouraged me to take a step back and think about what kind of parent I want to be.

I enjoyed this brief listen. Nothing mentioned was earthshaking for me, but I appreciate the recommendations on ways to be creative and focus on time with children, such as the "double dipping" mentality. I love the references to mindfulness and present moment centering.

Loved this book. Being a parent it's not easy, trying to be a good parent it's even more overwhelming as you try to get your hands on different tools that will help you succeed.how many times are parents even reading books hoping to find there a Holly grail of parenting wisdom. What I liked about this book is simplicity, simple truts that are unfolded in short chapters, little ideas,common practices sprinkled with bits of humour, personal exemples. It's straightforward, and easy to digest and gives you lots of homework in relation to your children,parents and even grand parents
This audiobook was also great because of the narrator,a really pleasant voice to listen, and maybe this also added to the fact that I liked this book.
Thank you to the publisher for the chance to have this book in exchange for a review.

This was a good listen. The narrator was clear and intoned well.

The book was interesting and gave some practical advice for engaging with your kids and grandkids. Most of the time rationale was offered for why doing (or not doing) something is beneficial.

Many of the suggestions seemed obvious to me. As a homeschool mama I have always tried to be intentional with my interactions with my kids.

I actually found parts 2 and 3, about parenting adult kids and grandparenting, to be the most interesting and beneficial (for better understanding my relationship to my parents).

This book definitely had a few good takeaways, but overall was not a very engaging or groundbreaking listen.

This book made me stop dead in my tracks and reevaluate how fast I'm letting time slip through my fingers by pushing my kids and rushing them through everyday. I did feel like it was the same information over and over again.
Thanks netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

No Regrets Parenting was my first read in the parental self-help genre. I went into this one with an open mind, as I do not have any kids of my own, and tried to set aside my own upbringing to fully absorb what the author was saying. I gave this audiobook 3 stars- it seemed pretty middle-of-the-road in my opinion and didn’t really offer any groundbreaking advice. Of course, my mind may change once I have children, but for now this is my opinion.

I was very on board the first few chapters. I even started taking notes on the book because I thought it was very good content and would serve me well when I become a mother. I was particularly interested in the 8 essential requirements of kids but, like I said, none of it was groundbreaking. Kids need security, stability, consistency, emotional support, love, education, positive role models, and structure. Rotbart dives into each of those a little bit further, saying kids need their lives to be disrupted as little as possible, need a group of like-minded individuals to surround them and make them feel included and accepted, and need parents who are on the same page. All of this advice makes sense, and I agreed with everything in the early sections of the book.

Then, Rotbart goes off the rails a little too much for me to be on board with him. I agreed with the gist of the book- spend as much time you can *handle* with your kids so that when they are grown, you don’t have regrets. The MEANS to which Rotbart suggests accomplishing said task was not the way I would go about it. For example, he suggested saying no to having your child sleepover with friends, or say yes on the condition that the sleepover happens at your home. That way you, as the parent, can dictate what food your kid eats, what time they go to sleep, and what time they wake up. All while preaching “teach your kid independence” and “time with friends is important”. His reasoning? “You don’t want another parent telling your kid what to do”. I’m sorry, but if your child will be soured beyond repair after a single night away from home, I believe there is a bigger issue at play. Also, maybe I want a night of peace with my husband and having my kid shipped off to a friend’s house is just the way to have a childless night????

I felt this was a good start to my parenting research. It certainly didn’t hinder anything, make me have any “aha” moments, or shoot me down any rabbit holes, but I thought it was refreshing to hear a glaringly obvious suggestion and how one person would approach the end goal of raising your kids and having no regrets when they leave the nest.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! This book is set to be published on September 28th, 2021.

The narrator and the guide for the book definitely suggested that to some, this parenting guide would seem superfluous and obvious. To others, it would feel mind-blowing and life saving. To me, not being a parent quite yet, it was somewhere in between. I received a few ideas that I know I'll use when the time finally comes, but I don't feel at all like I learned anything essential for my to-be parent toolbox. It's more like aphorisms from a parent than a guidebook.