An encouraging guide to helping parents find more happiness in their day-to-day family life, from the former lead editor of the New York Times’ Motherlode blog.In all the writing and reporting KJ Dell’Antonia has done on families over the years, one topic keeps coming up again and again: parents crave a greater sense of happiness in their daily lives. In this optimistic, solution-packed book, KJ … In this optimistic, solution-packed book, KJ asks: How can we change our family life so that it is full of the joy we’d always hoped for? Drawing from the latest research and interviews with families, KJ discovers that it’s possible to do more by doing less, and make our family life a refuge and pleasure, rather than another stress point in a hectic day. She focuses on nine common problem spots that cause parents the most grief, explores why they are hard, and offers small, doable, sometimes surprising steps you can take to make them better. Whether it’s getting everyone out the door on time in the morning or making sure chores and homework get done without another battle, How to Be a Happier Parent shows that having a family isn’t just about raising great kids and churning them out at destination: success. It’s about experiencing joy–real joy, the kind you look back on, look forward to, and live for–along the way.
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I want to give this to all my friends with kids! The scientific bits are fascinating, but that’s not even my favorite thing about it. This book wants me to relax and enjoy life more often. “You don’t have to get it right every time” is my favorite of the 10 mantras. Read it!
Parenting expert KJ Dell’Antonia draws on the latest research to find ways to make life happier with her family of four children. She’s candid (and often hilarious) about her own struggles, and her wise, practical advice for tackling common pain points such as chores, homework, sibling squabbles, devices, and discipline rings true, because she’s tried it all herself.
When it comes to parenting, KJ knows the research and the reality. We can be happier parents — if, that is, we understand what gets in our way and what we can change. With real advice and fascinating science, this book helps you be the parent you want to be.
With parenthood, it’s impossible to enjoy every minute. But you can enjoy more of your minutes if you follow KJ’s researched, practical tips to build happiness into the realities of daily life. Highly recommended for anyone whose kids sometimes drive them crazy.
How to Be a Happier Parent is a revelation, an entire book intended to support rather than undermine, parents who wish to lead with love and trust that everything else will follow. I am so grateful for her straight talk, sincerity, and willingness to share her own mistakes.
In this timely book, Dell’Antonia is realistic, grounded, smart and, importantly, specific. She provides the real-world experience and the research to understand what might be keeping you from feeling happy and then describes what you might do to make it better. This is a great book but, most importantly, it is a useful book, and I recommend it to any parent who sometimes feels overwhelmed.
An ideal blend of humble confessions, blunt reckonings, and relatable humor, offered with zero judgment and plenty of empathy. As this wise expert comes to feel like a close friend, we trust that we, too, can be far happier than we’d realized.
KJ Dell’Antonia knows the terrain of family life and has discovered fresh paths through the thickets. Reading this book will, without doubt, leave you a more grounded, relaxed, and yes, a happier parent.
Finally! A parenting book not about fine-tuning your child for some distant (and questionable) marker of success, but a book that focuses on the real task of parenting-creating a safe, warm, loving, and yes, happy family.
KJ Dell’Antonia has been at the center of the conversation about modern parenting for over a decade. During that time, she’s become an astute, experienced, sympathetic, and knowledgeable companion and provocateur. Also, a great writer. All of those qualities are on display here. How to Be a Happier Parent is sure to help many harried moms and dads find more joy in the everyday chaos of their lives.