Book Review: Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovic
Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches by Rachel Jankovic
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Own.
I was sick this week and thought I’d pick up something quick and easy to read. I chose poorly.
Quick, yes. Short chapters, easily read in the spaces of time or for a couple minutes before turning off the light for sleep.
Easy, not so much.
Jankovic has written a book that forces the reader to consider parenting techniques, philosophy, the ends and the means. It turns parenting on its head in many ways. It has me considering, as a recent sermon, who my audience is in parenting: the children or others for my own glory. (Oh, no! A theme!) It has me considering my use of time, words, and interaction with my children. How to train them and love them and enjoy them and have fun with them. I found it helpful with some fleshing out of Charlotte Mason’s idea that children are born persons.
My children are mostly out of the baby/toddler stage, but I still found (too) much to think on and will have to re-read. Happily, it is a very short book with very short essays.
The only reason for four stars instead of five is that some of the essays seemed a little esoteric and left me thinking “huh?” what was that about.
I can happily recommend the book to others.
Yeah! I'm glad you enjoyed it too!
It does give one loads to think about, doesn't it? She has definitely challenged me even more than her mom did when I was at a Bible study for newly married women at their house. 🙂
Rachel's encouragement and perspective has helped me see where I need to shift my efforts and attention — to myself. I feel like there were things in there I had noticed before or maybe even thought before, but never nailed them down or did anything about it.
My new blog name — Convivial Home, coming soon — is pretty much directly inspired by Rachel, because I decided this last fall that my sense of humor and keeping fellowship with the children was precisely what I needed to address even more than my dishes and laundry. 🙂 A good local friend and I have decided to consciously focus on keeping cheerfulness this year together.
Have you seen Rachel's other articles? They are all collected at her new site: http://www.lovingthelittleyears.com/