This is a must read for any parent. We all know what we don't want to repeat from our childhoods but we often don't know what to do instead. This book helps you map it out and look at it from an adult's point of view instead of the child you were. In the first part we are invited to aknowledge our triggers and to get curious about our beliefs we've held since childhood. This can help us decide to do diffently for ourselves and our children. In the second we are encouraged to take a deeper look at our family cycles: both those we want to stop and repeat. What is the underlying reason for wanting to do so and how can we build upon them? The third part is about hearing our children (and ourselves) in ways we weren't seen or heard as children. The fourth part is all about power struggles and how to avoid them. I admit, I really got a lot out of this chapter specifically! Part five is about stress... how we manage it, how we sometimes cause it without meaning to, and how we can avoid it. This was also a particularly enlightening chapter. Last but not least in the final part is about getting back to ourselves. We all lose a bit of ourselves when we have children, and this helps encourage us to find it again.

I found this book very helpful and gentle. It wasn't "preachy" like a lot of parenting books can be. I admit, I sometimes avoid parenting books because they often make me feel like a failure for not parenting perfectly all of the time. This book doesn't do that. It holds your hand and guides you like a close friend would. I was able to see a lot of the things I would like to change about my parenting because I didn't feel like I needed to defend myself. As my children are learning and growing, so am I.

Excellent read. This was a super informative and un-pushy self-help parenting book that will make you feel like you can relate to many things the author talks about. The voice is refreshing, open, and honest, and I really enjoyed that. Really recommend for parents who love guidebooks and also books like Hunt, Gather, Parent.