It’s always an uplifting experience to read a title from the
Chicken Soup for the Soul anthologies. I
just finished “Parenthood – 101 Heartwarming and Humorous Stories about the
Joys of Raising (disclosure: we
received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review).Children of All Ages,” by authors Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Amy Newmark.
The book follows the Chicken Soup formula: presenting short
inspiring tales from different contributors; here, they relate the joys and
tribulations of childrearing. The book
is equal parts heartstring-tugging and funny.
Tales range, for instance, from a newborn who needs emergency surgery,
to a tired mom thwarted in her efforts to go to bed early, to a dad’s musings
on his daughter growing up, to a mom’s effort to communicate to her son with
autism.
While some might view these types of stories as schmaltzy,
for me, they are a reminder that every family has its own particular situations
to deal with. People have problems, make
mistakes and don’t have all the answers.
But somehow, the joys of having a child come through and (hopefully)
outweigh the negatives.
There were a few stories that resonated with me. “Priorities” details a father’s feeling
bogged down by the minutiae of life (bills, household tasks, etc.) until he
receives a wake-up call in the form of his toddler’s scream. “Suddenly, nothing in the world was
imperative except making sure that my girl was okay.” Thankfully, she was and he was left with a
readjusted view of life.
I think my favorite is “Listen and Learn,” told by the
mother of a son with autism. She writes
of how, while attending a gala function, she challenged herself to go the
entire night without mentioning autism.
She relates she thought to herself, “Can you talk about anything
else? Can you turn off the educator,
advocator, blogger for one night and just listen? Can you listen, for once,
without comparing? Can you genuinely
smile because her daughter does ballet and made the honor roll? Can you
understand that her concern is a valid one, her son talking too much in
class? Can you listen to another
mother’s story and just appreciate her because she’s a mother…with experiences
so different yet so similar to your own?”
The woman did listen.
And as another mom talked about her son and the woes of his toddlerhood,
she proceeded to say that every day with him was a blessing: he was born at 27
weeks, weighing less than two pounds, and spent five months in the
hospital. The author comments, “I
remember my friend Judith’s wise words: human suffering is not a competitive
sport. And all of us mothers treasure
our children, our gifts, with fierceness, and all of our children are
miracles.” To that I say, amen.
**Disclosure: We received a complimentary copy of this book to facilitate our reviews. No compensation was received. All opinions are 100% our own.
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