The Mother Dance: How Children Change Your Life

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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.

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Summary: As a soon-to-be mom, I loved this book . . .
Review: When I found out I was pregnant, I didn't want to be. I had never been around kids, much less babies. Reading this book has helped me immensly to find inner peace. By the time I found this book, I had experiences so many people, telling me that I will love being a mom and my identity shouldn't matter. Thank you Harriet Lerner for letting me know it does matter and that having an identity doesn't impair my ability to be a parent.

Rating:
Summary: Initially intriguing, then somewhat tedious
Review: When I initially recieved this book, I devoured it, so happy to find a book that addresses my feelings as a new mother. However, the author frequently refers to the ideas of other experts and authors, and fails to provide her opinion with respect to same. I preferred hearing her ideas and opinions, and became disenchanted when the book began to read more like a compilation of other authors'/experts' theories, especially since I had already identified with the author's voice, and was unfamiliar with these other individuals. The book is certainly easy reading, but my enthusiasm for reading it had diminished by the middle of the book, so that it has now become a chore to complete.