As a new parent this book was a great read. Too often I find myself thinking I need to always go above and beyond for my daughter to make sure that everything is perfect for her. That everything doesn't have to be perfect and that that's OK.

Although this book aims to identify with most readers and parents, it really fell short with me. When I was a first time parent, this may have helped, but now, as a second time parent, it was not helpful at all. I found the advice to be interesting, odd, or sometimes even wrong. The opposite of what I would actually do in the situation described. Although some may love this parenting manual, it was not one for me.

The writing was engaging and it would be easy to fall into loving it, especially if inexperienced or a new parent. I also work in education, so some of what was being said in this book was opposite of my experience with children in general.

A really interesting and a insightful look into modern parenting through well written anecdotal work. A gentle alternative to parenting books of past.

I found this book to be inspirational and aspirational, but was less of a how-to guide and more of a compendium of self-reflection and stories. I enjoyed it, but was expecting more of a checklist for letting go and accepting parenting as it is rather than striving for perfection.

In From the Shelf column, Shelf Awareness for Readers, May 3, 2022:

Good-Enough Parenting in Trying Times
If parenting has taught me anything, it has taught me that I will get it wrong over and over and over again, all the while trying desperately to figure out what "right" even is.

With a mind toward raising a happy and compassionate kid, I was excited to dive into educator and activist Janice Johnson Dias's Parent Like It Matters: How to Raise Joyful, Change-Making Girls (Ballantine, $17)--despite the subtitle, I'd argue the lessons within could apply to children of any gender. In the foreword, Jacqueline Woodson calls the book "a manifesto for raising intentional, brilliant, change-making young people." Dias bases her book on the idea that we can help children tap into their potential to build their future world differently by instilling in them what she calls an "adventurous, can-do spirit" while also ensuring they feel emotionally and physically safe.

In that same vein, I'm looking forward to exploring Social Justice Parenting: How to Raise Compassionate, Anti-Racist, Justice-Minded Kids in an Unjust World by Florida Atlantic University professor Traci Baxley (Harper Wave, $27.99). Baxley invites readers to reconsider the basic principle behind most parenting decisions: doing what is best for our children, or what is best for all children. (While not a parenting book, per se, activist and parent Courtney E. Martin expounds on this theme in great detail in Learning in Public [Little, Brown, $28], as she considers educational options for her two daughters.)

And then there is The Good Enough Parent (School of Life, $19.99), a guide to 21st-century parenting from the School of Life book series, edited by Alain de Botton. With encouragement and practical tips on topics like soothing and siblings and confidence and play, it's an important reminder that at the end of the day, every parent is doing the best they can--and that's good enough. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

Thank you to NetGalley and The School of Life for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
#NetGalley #SchoolofLife #TheGoodEnoughParent

I don’t typically like to read parenting books, with a few exceptions. I liked how this book’s goal is not perfection…or even striving for perfection. Because perfection is unattainable both for the parent and the child, it’s pointless to stress about it. I really liked the practicality presented here. It addresses a lot of the concerns we have as parents but doesn’t inundate with too much information. It also has a quick reference guide. Finally, I found it readable and not presented in the dry way that is featured in a lot of parenting and self help books. I would recommend this to both seasoned and first time parents.

This little book of essays isn’t even relevant to my life since I’m not a parent (yet) but I found it so reassuring and wonderful. It’s broken into different themes and stages you may encounter as a parent. I hope it’s something I’m able to keep in mind and refer back to when I hopefully become a parent someday. This would make a great gift to a close family member who is expecting.

I am a little confused as to the purpose of this book. I work in academia so I expected gentle parenting advice grounded in research and theory. This feels more like a book of maxims and/or parenting lessons learned from someone's journal. There is no citing or referring of any kind. Though the author does draw in historical comparisons, they are generalized statements that are not rooted in any kind of citation or truth.

I appreciate what this book was trying to achieve but writing a book that feels like a tumblr version of Wikipedia does not really fit in our digital age where good parenting advice is at our fingertips. Try again.

This was a fascinating read.

It was really interesting to read about child development and what little ones need to develop well.

It made me think about my own parenting style and identify strengths and weaknesses. A definite recommendation from me.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

An easy to read reminder to parents. Often we parents have read many books on how to do parenting and the virtues of a particular style being Presented to us.

This little book was a pleasant escape from the perfection often implied in other books. It was a nice piece of tenderness to read something saying that our current good enough parenting is perfectly imperfect just as it is.

Thank you School of Life and NetGalley for this ARC.

This book is a perfect read for first-time parents struggling to find the right path in which to lead their children. With the amount of information out in the world, it can often feel like you're at a confusing crossroads, and this book can help quiet the outside noise.

I so appreciate a practical parenting book like this one! The information provided is useful and given in bite-sized pieces that can be consumed while going about your day to day activities (nursing the baby, waiting in the carpool line, at practice, etc.) As with any book like this, you can pick and choose what information is useful to you or not.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

Really love the concept and think it would appeal to all parents struggling with the guilt especially in the present day social media world!
I didn't feel there was much in the book I wasn't semi aware of but a really handy guide collating everything you need to help navigate parenthood challenges.

I really liked this book and all the advice it gave. It reinforces the idea that there is no such thing as a perfect parent and trying to be one is futile.

Favorite quote:
"It is important to be merely good enough parents. Perfect parents would create particular headaches for children; they would set a standard besides which they would always feel like failures. Flawed but kind parents do their children an enormous service: they prepare them for the world as it is. With love, goodwill and plenty of mistakes, they ready them for the only life they are ever likely to lead: one that is deeply imperfect but good enough."

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Every parent should read this book to raise (semi) happy children and to stop feeling guilty! A refreshing counter to the Tiger Parent.

I was a little disappointed in this book. I may not be a parent yet, however, I was opening to use this book as a learning experience and a pre-read type book for before that event occurs in my life. I didn't read the whole thing and I was a little disappointed in the first few pages. The cover made it look intriguing but there wasn't any imagery the first few pages, which was a turn off in my opinion.

A philosophical and thought-provoking read for any parent or soon-to-be parent. It focuses on how to demonstrate empathy for a child and how to see things from their perspective. It is broken down into easily readable chunks and can be finished in a 'couple of sittings.

A great resource for parents-to-be, or ones with numerous kids. There's a quick-reference-guide feel to this book that doesn't give it a laborious or tedious read; to the contrary, it's something you'll likely complete in a couple of days or less, which, I say, makes it ripe for multiple read-throughs.

Addressing several areas of subject matter like a child's crying, melancholy, and aggression, you're given advice on how to approach, what to consider, possible ramifications of improperly managing poor behavior + positive outcomes of properly managing it, and allowed grace in knowing that you don't have to be perfect all of the while.

One good thing about reading parenting books is that there's no law that says that you have to implement what you're taking in--you can even piece-meal from it, if that's what works for your household--and a great feature of TGEP, which is basically in the title, is that overdoing it/helicopter-parenting it isn't helping anyone out. There's an emphasis here in respecting a child in their own area, frequent prompts to remember what it was like to be a child yourself, and to not sweat the small stuff.

There were a few spots within where I had to respectfully disagree with the author, and it wasn't that I disagreed *entirely*, but just felt that certain situations had to be handled case-by-case, or that what was being discussed was more of a gray area. It's not a new phenomenon for when I'm reading a parenting book, though, and maybe not for whoever's reading this, either. I'll never write a book about raising a kid, and so I dare not imagine the difficulties of communicating such advice. It didn't hamper my enjoyment of this work, but I wanted to be clear and honest in this review.

Of all of the parenting books I've had the pleasure of reading so far, this ranks high among them, and I'd absolutely recommend it to an aspiring or soon-to-be mom and dad. It does a great job at soothing a parent who might be worried about their competency level, and The School of Life has packaged together a work that's quite unique and versatile.

Many thanks to NetGalley and The School of Life for the advance read.

The Good Enough Parent explains what parents do to sabotage their children and what can be done to mitigate that. This is a book that wants to help parents reconnect with what childhood feels like and how regaining that sort of perspective can help their children.


THINGS I LOVE IN THIS BOOK
The author does not beat the parents over or claim to hold any particular secret knowledge. All we are being exhorted to do here is to understand what being a child feels like as well as develop an understanding of our own person as a parent.

DISLIKES
None.

WHO THIS IS FOR
The Good Enough Parent is for any parents who feel that their personality flaws are getting in the way of going a decent enough job. It is also for those trying to get better at what is seemingly one of the hardest jobs in the world.

Many thanks to The School Of Life for providing a review copy.

A pretty straightforward parenting book that emphasizes that we don't have to be perfect, we just need to be there for the kids. Not information I hadn't seen before but it's always nice to be reminded.