Book Description for :
Ready to laugh about motherhood and be encouraged? Tired of feeling overwhelmed and stressed out in the baby and toddler season? Need some fresh vision and perspective so you can enjoy—not just endure—your young children?
Stop and Smell Your Children: Laugh and Enjoy the Little Years offers moms-to-be and moms of young children short, real-life parenting stories that encourage and inspire. Leah Spina, mother of three children ages five and under, and former journalist, unleashes humor and perspective for tired moms who are parenting the “little” years. From the excitement of the positive pregnancy test to morning sickness and the banes of pregnancy, to childbirth, babies, toddlers and new parent struggles, the stories will make you laugh and see beauty in the chaos. Each story also includes thought-provoking takeaways to help busy moms gain a fresh outlook.
Strangers remind us that our children will be small only for a short time and to enjoy each moment. But then we return to the wild reality of parenting young children! All-night crying sessions. Never-ending laundry. Every-three-hour feeding schedules. Diaper explosions and projectile spit-up. Teething. Potty training. Yes, we enjoy our children, but we’d also like to enjoy a shower that lasts more than two minutes, or a meal that isn’t lukewarm (if we’re lucky). The truth is, pregnancy and parenting young children can be hard at times. But it can also be one of the best chapters of our lives, if we can learn to laugh and change our mindset.
Young children are one of life’s greatest gifts. Each page of this easy read will help you truly enjoy the “little” years!
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Author's Bio:
Leah Spina is a former journalist of a national newsweekly magazine and also worked as a childbirth coordinator at a large adoption agency. She has her B.S in Business Administration from Thomas Edison State College. She has two adorable children – Samson and Esther – and resides in Dallas, Texas with her husband, David. When she’s not changing diapers, she enjoys singing Broadway, sun tanning on Italian beaches and riding horses.
Questions for author Leah Spina on her new book Stop and Smell Your Children: Laugh and
Enjoy the Little Years
1. Who is your target audience?
Expectant parents and parents of children age zero to five
years old is my target audience. But have I have also had grandparents and
parents of older children read it and say it was fun to relive the little years
through the stories.
2. What is the feel/tone of the book?
I love to laugh so a lot of it is humorous. But every
chapter ends with a takeaway for parents to apply to their specific season of
parenting – there’s even takeaway for expectant parents, as well. I tried to
order the chapters in chronological order so I start with pregnancy and then
build all the way up through the pre-school years. It’s an easy, short read!
Mothers of young children do not have a lot of time!
3. What sets your book apart from other
parenting books?
Oh, I will tell you. And I think this is a big point. I
wrote it right smack dab in the middle of parenting young children. I’m not a
mother of middle schoolers reminiscing about babies. I’m typing chapters with
baby spit-up on my shoulder. I am my target audience – a fellow friend-in-the-trenches
mother of young children. I’m up at nights with a sleepless baby and fighting
the diaper blizzard war by day. I can totally relate to the challenges of new
parenthood because I am in it with my readers.
4. What is your hope for your book and message?
I didn’t write this book because enjoying my young children
was easy for me. It wasn’t. Motherhood was really hard for me at first! I
didn’t know how to slow down and enjoy my life. This book is all the little
lessons I learned along the way from kind, seasoned parents and grandparents
that directed me to parent with perspective. They lifted my tired head up to
see the big picture. That totally changed my life and my parenting. I hope my
book with be that for my readers: helping them to gain perspective so they can
truly relish and enjoy their young children!
My Review:
I really wanted to review this book because I think that there is to much emphasis placed on little kids to learn. I am the type of person that loves the principal scene in Uncle Buck or the roller coaster metaphor from Parenthood. I think that kids learn best from play and that kids need to be kids. I also agree with the author that there are plenty of times to stop and just be with your kids (like in the middle of changing a diaper). I really liked that the author had a section at the end of the chapters to stop and reflect. I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.
I really wanted to review this book because I think that there is to much emphasis placed on little kids to learn. I am the type of person that loves the principal scene in Uncle Buck or the roller coaster metaphor from Parenthood. I think that kids learn best from play and that kids need to be kids. I also agree with the author that there are plenty of times to stop and just be with your kids (like in the middle of changing a diaper). I really liked that the author had a section at the end of the chapters to stop and reflect. I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.
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