Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
I read a lot of books. And I read a lot of books on motherhood. Frankly, its the area of my life where I feel I need the most work; being a good mother comes naturally to some people, but I am not one of those. So of course when Jessica Fisher over at Life As Mom asked for people to review On The Road to Joyful Motherhood eons ago, I said yes.
One of the things I like best about this book is that its a 30-day journey to joyful motherhood. I don’t have to read a whole book. I can read a few pages and do a simple activity and begin to bring back the joy. It’s so easy for the joy to get sucked out of you. One snotty argument about bedtime can erase a whole day of fabulous behavior amiright? Or maybe potty training isn’t quite finished. Sigh. I need to revisit being a joyful mother. Daily. Or hourly. Or on a bad day, by the minute.
Obviously, I didn’t get to the readings daily. It look me 4 months to get through 30 days of reading. It’s been awesome to go through the tips and realize that something is out of control. Again. In fact I got stuck on simplify for about 2-1/2 of those months. The kids have NOTHING right now. It’s all locked away. If they don’t care about it enough to pick them up, they obviously don’t need them. Plus, it’s summer. So go outside. Ahem. They are happy to not have toys everywhere and not have to pick up much. Plus, mommy isn’t nagging them all. Day. Long. Ask me about this again in winter :).
On The Road to Joyful Motherhood is set up as a journey, complete with mile markers to number the articles. She talks about aspects of motherhood like simplicity, accepting parts of life that will not change (like boys, noise & wrestling), gratitude, going outside, reading good books and more. My favorite was the section on words. I felt very convicted to change after reading it and added to more resources to specifically help me change my ways. It’s really that big of a problem for me.
If you are feeling like you are in need of a reboot, the beginning of the school year is a good time to step back and reassess. Even if your kids are signed up for music lessons, 2 sports & youth group, it’s still not to late to calm down life. It might be too late to recoup your money outlay, but which is more important, $100 or your families happiness? Which will matter more in 3 years. Go check out On The Road to Joyful Motherhood. Then come back & share.
I’d love to hear what changes your family has made!
