11 Comments
Sep 18Liked by Kathryn Barbash, PsyD

Loved reading all the different responses! Nancy’s definitely resonated with me most because telling an unvarnished truth feels so lonely. There are so many times I’ve said the unvarnished truth out loud and been horrified when an awkward silence descends. Almost as if you’ve gone against the very grain of motherhood by acknowledging it. I wish we gave parents more space to hold unvarnished truth without all the qualifiers.

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Yes, the need to always clarify that we love our children before one can state something that is hard or something you don't like about parenting. Let's just assume at baseline that everyone loves their kids and can still find things hard.

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Those responses were all wonderful in their own ways. It's not a parenting book, but a peopleing book, "The Gifts of Imperfection" by Brene Brown helped me accept my imperfections as a mother, that I can't do it all, but I do the best I can, and that's enough.

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Accepting imperfection is foundational to parenting, isn't it? And the words of Brene Brown do hit so right in so many contexts.

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She's so good. I have read most of her books and have found the more I work on and understand myself, the more I can show up for my kids and be a better parent.

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Sep 17Liked by Kathryn Barbash, PsyD

Love this so much. All of the different, fascinating answers. Nancy Reddy’s really resonating so strongly with me. And this question is giving me so much to think about for myself. What non-parenting book is currently influencing me? So much to ponder and be curious about.

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Once I started to explore it--it opens up so many avenues. Because at the core of parenthood are relationships versus all the "doing" of things which is so much where we focus when discussing parenting. And now I am reflecting on it constantly in books with relationships which is most of everything I read. It's a juicy question, so much fun.

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You did it! You received many perspectives on one subject!

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Thank you Cindy!

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Sep 16Liked by Kathryn Barbash, PsyD

Oh I loved all the responses! I’m also re-inspired to read “Beartown”…I looked into it once and despite some amazing praise, I thought the hockey theme wouldn’t be interesting to me. Now I’m intrigued again!

I am going to think on your question and see what comes up for me!

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I would love to hear your thoughts, Amber!

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