The Mother Dance: How Children Change Your Life

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Summary: Wonderful enlightening book!
Review: The Mother Dance spoke so clearly to my own experience of being a mother, including the highs and the lows. I especially loved Dr. Lerner's personal stories. She's one of the few national experts on families who doesn't write from "on high." Best were the parts about how fear and guilt operate once you become a mom. She also writes more clearly and candidly than anybody about exactly what happens to your marriage once a baby comes a long. Lerner writes from the heart, shares her own quirks and struggles and wisdom. She had me laughing and crying. I loved this book, and I gave it to my sister, who loved it as well. What mother wouldn't?

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Summary: A Totally Honest and Funny Book
Review: This book is full of great advice and heartwarming stories. Harriet Lerner had me laughing about serious things,like how children teach us all about fear and worry, and why advice like "set rules and consequences" isn't as easy as it sounds. Best of all, Lerner is searingly honest about her own experience ("Being a mother comes as naturally to me as being an astronaut," she writes) and includes lots of real-life stories about herself and other parents. So,on your Bad Mommy Days when you think someone should call the Parent Police on you, you know Harriet Lerner is right with you and that you are travelling in good company. I enjoyed every chapter and I highly recommend this book. --Jennifer Margulis,Ph.D., editor of Toddler: Real-Life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love

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Summary: Just one long justification
Review: Typically, I enjoy non-fiction, anecdotal books about a subject I can relate to--like mothering--but this book feels like one long justification of the mothering style and feelings of the author. She obviously feels guilty about the way she parented her children, and is using this book as the vehicle to help herself feel right about her own choices. There is NO consideration given for mothers who actually do choose to stay at home, would rather raise their children themselves than have someone else do it, and who actually enjoy the time they spend with their children as stay-at-home moms. She acts like these mothers are lying to themselves about their true aspirations. She claims that couples that feature a stay-at-home mom and a primary breadwinner husband are "backsliding" into traditional roles. If you're a working mom who feels guilty about the choices you've made, this book is for you. Otherwise, keep looking.