Here it is folks….
I have never read a parenting book.
Well….since my boys have been born…I have not read a parenting book.
Perhaps it’s because I am arrogant enough to think, “well a lot of people have been doing this parenting thing for millennia without a book, so I’m sure I’ll be okay.” But I suspect, less than my ego, (cause we all know some of it is my ego) is the fact that there are so many wonderful books out there and parenting books have simply never hit the top of my priority list. I have a few on my shelves…quietly mocking me and teasing me with a plethora of information I am sure would enhance my mothering and relationship to my children. But alas, they remain unopened and honestly 95% of me is totally okay with that…yep, definitely the world’s okayest mom over here…
Here’s the twist of it though, I have now read two, count them two books, having disguised themselves as non-fiction reads on personalities yet provided some rather helpful parenting tips. I just finished Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking and now needless to say, provided some excellent insight in regards to general parenting and specifically parenting introverted children both at a young age and as they mature and navigate school. As Cain dived into these chapters (I was listening on Audible and Cain reads the book herself) I was blown away by the usefulness of considering different parenting approaches and I was reminded of the only other book which challenged me to reflect on my parenting, Adam Grant’s Originals: How Non-Conformist Move the World. Grant also had a few interesting thoughts on parenting and ways to cultivate and value a child’s originality.
What’s fascinating to me, is even as I have enjoyed both of these books’ reflections on parenting and how they have provided 1) a challenge to my own parenting, 2) a few excellent conversations with Leonel and 3) changes in my personal approaches, I still have no desire to pick up those other “parenting books” that remain on my shelves.
I guess that’s makes me the world’s okayest mom….
Happy reading everyone!
