Book Review: Christian Mama's Guide

The Christian Mama's Guide to Parenting a Toddler
By Erin MacPherson
Thomas Nelson, 2013
English, 224 pgs

Description:
What's a mom to do when her sweet baby's smiles and snuggles turn to tears and tantrums? This take on everything toddler—from throwing food to potty training to massive toddler fits—is filled with sanity-saving advice every mom wants to hear. Helpful tips include how to:

• stop a tantrum in its tracks (or at least survive the tantrum without breaking into tears of your own)
• discipline your child in a way that demonstrates Christ's redeeming love
• make your marriage a priority when your kid is a squeaky wheel that always seems to need your time and attention
• introduce your child to Jesus in a way that leads to authentic faith
• convince a one-and-a-half year old that broccoli really is better than cookies—even if you don't believe it yourself

Moms will be entertained and encouraged by the amusing anecdotes and godly advice of this comprehensive, topical approach to parenting one and two year olds.

Review:
 I wish I'd read this before my oldest turned two. My youngest is now 3 and I still found lots of great tips and tricks that I can use. Because we all know the Terrible Twos does not just last one year.

I found the potty training chapter particularly funny. Especially since she tells you that she doesn't know all the answers, but here's what she has found that works. And doesn't.

Erin writes with a sly humor that I love and appreciate. Being a Mom is hard, but there are more moments of laughter than anything else in our lives and it's nice to see a book that isn't all serious.

Some of her tantrum tips for when you're in a store are still going to be handy for me since my son is in the "gimme" stage.

My number one favorite part of the book, though, is that she emphasizes over and over that our number one job is to lead our kids to Christ. We are to discipline with justice, grace and mercy, just as we are disciplined by God.

I'm going to try the tips on getting a toddler to eat. Mine seems to think that only bread and cheese are acceptable. There are really easy toddler approved meal ideas that I'm going to start adding into our diets.

I received a copy of the book from Book Sneeze in exchange for a review. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.