Some books are meant to be read...

...slowly. I just finished Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children: Becoming a Mindful Parent by Sarah Napthali, which was wonderful. But it was not one I wanted to rush through. I have had the book 3 months, a gift from the author (thank you again!) and I loved all that it had to say. It is parenting philosophy, Buddhism style, which is my favorite kind of book these days. It is a book that is meant to be sipped, not gulped. In fact, my intention is to immediately read it again because it is the kind of book that has many layers that only diffuse into your mind with multiple exposures.

Other books are meant to be wolfed down. The No-Cry Discipline Solution: Gentle Ways to Encourage Good Behavior Without Whining, Tantrums, and Tears by Elizabeth Pantley (another gift from the author, thank you so much!) is a perfect example. If you are struggling with parenting issues, this book has awesome down to earth TOOLS to use. There is little philosophy here. It is a tool box. I dividethe techniques in 4 categories: 1) tools I knew and forgot, 2) tools that never occurred to me, 3) tools I choose not to use (ie reward/punishment kinds of techniques... Alphi Kohn is right, even if he is depressing), and 4) the tools I was using but hadn't given myself credit for. Lovely. Many of the tools remind me of Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen, but this book is organized for the mom who is frantically looking for a solution. It came in very handy when I was freaking out a couple of weeks ago. We are currently trying to implement the "get your kid to stop interrupting you partially by noticing how often you interrupt others" one. eek.

Both books I consider must reads, and my top 10 will just have to expand. And in the mean time, I find myself wondering: does everyone writing mom blogs get books sent to them, or am I just speshul (as in, "oh my gawd we need to help this poor woman" kind of speshul...)? I think I will just assume that my honesty and wit draw a literary crowd who are both wise and generous. Yeah... that's it!