What little boys are made of...

I try to be very honest in my book reviews, so here is my first admission about this book. I didn't like it--at first. But, by the end, I was laughing and enjoying my time reading this book.

How Do You Tuck in a Superhero? Is a collection of short stories (each about the length of a newspaper column). Rachel Balducci is the mother of 5 boys (with another little one expected any day now) . Her book is about raising boys--each story is about one of the joys or funny stories that she experienced as the mother of these boys.

I am the mom of 2 girls--very girly girls and only 1 boy--who happens to be a boy's boy. As I listen to friends who have all boys, I realize that it is a very different world than the one I live in. My girls are pretty quiet, though high maintenance as girls tend to be. My son is one of those that climbs on everything and gives me at least one heart attack a month. I'm also a pretty structured mom. We don't do junk food and the kids don't get a lot of desserts. It's one of those things my husband and I feel convicted about for our kids.

Knowing those things about me will help me explain why my style of parenting is different than this author's. Because Rachel Balducci's style of parenting is so different than mine, I struggled to find the first few stories funny. I found myself cringing and simply not laughing as I know she hoped the reader would do. But, I pressed on as I'm obligated to do when I read and review a book.

I'm glad I did. Only a few stories later, I began to laugh and smile. And through the rest of the book, I started to appreciate our differences as parents and enjoy her stories as I would those that my friends tell me about their children. That night, my husband and I had a rough dinner with our middle daughter and I walked downstairs to where my husband and older daughter were. I pulled out the book and began to read him the short anecdotes that the author wrote amidst the other stories. We both started to laugh and enjoyed a much needed break filled with laughter from the stresses of parenting. For that break, I am very thankful for this book.

Lastly, I read him her story about her sons' and husband's phone allergy. My husband suffers from the same allergy. I've tried for the past 9 years to explain it to friends and family, but I think I'm going to simply start telling them that he has a phone allergy.

Here is a good quote "I think I have loosened the leash a bit. The old me, the mother I was before I had children, wouldn't have allowed some of the things I allow now. Not necessarily with what shows we watch or what language we use--there are plenty of issues I stand firm on.

The changes are centered more on the adventures I permit my boys to have. When we go to the ocean, I don't want them to go past their ankles, but it cannot always be that way.

As they grow and bloom and spread their wings, I have to do the same. I ahve to keep up with them, while allowing them to be who God created them to be." p. 190 from How Do You Tuck in a Superhero?

I agree. I'm working on protecting my children, yet letting them spread their wings at the same time.

In her book, Rachel Balducci expresses so many of the things that all of us, I think, realize to be the blessings of being a mom--whether you have boys or girls. The very end of her last story is one that I won't forget. But, I don't want to share it in this review and ruin it for you--I hope you'll read it for yourself =)

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from Revell books.

Comparison of Verses

Tonight I was reading the Mom's Bible again (NCV) and compared this verse: NCV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, yield to your husbands, as you do to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. And he is the Savior of the body, which is the church. 24 As the church yields to Christ, so you wives should yield to your husbands in everything. NIV Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. The Message 22-24 Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewis...

Grieved

Why is it that my generation (I belong to Gen X) and generations after us always seem to think that they know more than the generations that have come before us? Why is there such a lack of respect in our generation for our elders? Why do we think that the liturgy of the church and hymns are irrelevant? It is ironic to me that the emergent movement is saying that the seeker sensitive movement is irrelevant. It seems as if it was only a few years ago when it was the seeker sensitive movement that said to the traditional church that it (the traditional church) was irrelevant. I'm reading a book with all of these big words and I want to be honest--I didn't understand a lot of it. I'm not dumb. I understood most of it, but the author was assuming a lot of background knowledge on the part of the reader. Most of the time I learn deep theological concepts and then I have to store them in my "attic" (as Autumn would say) because there isn't enough room in the ...

ESV, NIV, or NASB and then there's the ICB, ESV or NIrV...which should we read?

I am so thankful for my friend's question about the ESV vs. NASB and NIV. I couldn't remember the difference so I went to look it up. I knew that John Piper and Tim Keller, both pastors and authors that I deeply respect have switched over to the ESV. All of the churches that we have attended over the past few years PCA or Reformed Baptist have also switched to the ESV. I did find a blog that explained the differences and that helped me ( http://thefoolishgalatian.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/niv-vs-esv-and-why-piper-switched/ ) I knew why I didn't like the KJV--it was written in the days when writers were paid by a patron and that often slanted the translation. The NKJV, from what I understand, is a revision of the KJV that uses more modern language. Most churches I have attended used the NIV until the ESV came out. The blog I found explained that the ESV is a more literal translation---like the NASB. The NASB is a very literal translation. The ESV has come to be consid...

love to paint

Search This Blog