As a new parent who constantly feels imperfect, the title alone of Matthews’ upcoming book, “Imperfect Parenting” immediately pulled me to it.

As soon as I started reading, there were passages I wanted to write down, phrases I wanted to commit to memory, and strategies I wanted to implement in my parenting style.

This book made me feel less alone in some of the struggles I am having to parent as well as I want, and gave me strategies to implement right away. My daughter is only 21 months, so it’s also a book that I will be coming back to throughout her life because the nice part is that within each section, Matthews’ breaks it down to how that lesson applies to children in different age ranges.

Particularly useful is how one can implement mindfulness in their own parenting as well as teach their children in small and big ways how to develop mindfulness. As someone who didn’t learn this practice until adulthood but would’ve benefited much sooner from this practice, I appreciate that Matthews’ talks about how this can be taught and practiced, even for a young child.

Beyond providing great strategies, Matthews’ weaves in real life case studies. There were several that I have experienced which gave me reassurance and strategies that are really easy to apply immediately.

This is a book that will get a spot on my shelf that’s easy to access because I will be referencing it again and again.

Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Review Copy that was provided for my review, and thank you to Dona Matthews for making me feel like I am not alone on this parenting journey.

Imperfect Parenting by Dona Matthews is a guide for parents of children aged 0-24, in regard to building and maintaining a relationship with their child. There is a quiz that parents take in order to determine the style of parenting. Parenting styles include: permissive, authoritarian, neglectful, and authoritative. Tips are provided on how to support your child during his/her different stages of development. Each chapter focuses on one relationship skill, with tips on how to use it at the different ages. Thank you the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was a fairly enjoyable book. I enjoyed the format and the breakdown of chapters by specific age groups. Like most parenting books, the author speaks from her experience and bias so some parts are more relatable than others. I would recommend taking and integrating what applies to you, as the reader, and shaping the useful information to fit your family. I found most of the information helpful and generally enjoyed the author's approach to most topics.

It's easy to start feeling overwhelmed thinking of all the ways your child looks to you in order to grow into a functioning and healthy adult. How are we as parents supposed to have the answers all the time? This book takes the pressure off to be the "perfect" parent. Matthews provides insightful and well-researched advice for parents, doing so in a way free of judgment. She explores how to take care of yourself as a parent, and what to encourage and focus on in children (empathy, creativity, mindfulness, etc) to help them thrive. She introduced several concepts that I found useful, like avoiding both positive and negative labels to help your child avoid a fixed mindset.

I particularly enjoyed how Matthews separated each section to tailor it toward different age ranges (birth-5, 6-10, 11-18, and 19-24), and how she included key points at the end of every chapter. I think the real-life case examples are engaging and help readers connect to the subject matter of each chapter. I also appreciated how the same people in the examples were brought back throughout the book, almost as if we could see how each relationship changed and encountered new problems and solutions as the child grew. The only thing I could have done without was the quizzes personally, but they may benefit other readers.

I feel this book would be extremely helpful to reference throughout a child's life, and parents can easily get a lot of use out of the tips inside. It is something I would go back and read every few years. I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

I found this to be both a very information and practical book about authoritative parenting. I particularly liked that each chapter breaks down how to apply the content to children in four age ranges: 0 - 5, 6 - 10, 11 - 18, and 19 - 25. It feels like an important reference book that I will return to.

This book had a lot of great ideas and recommendations. This book should be read by anyone who wants to improve their parenting to give their kids everything they need. Highly recommend