The September Book Corner introduces books to motivate, challenge and inspire parents. The following books bring a new light to hardships and challenges that come with parenthood. Bond with others over being an older parent, learn mindful practices for an ounce of calm in your everyday life, get insight into a complicated mother-daughter relationship and experience what it’s like to be able to heal your mind, body and soul.
Tick Tock: Essays on Becoming a Parent After 40
Edited by Vicki Breitbart and Nan Bauer-Maglin
Becoming a parent after forty is a growing occurrence, however, it is not treated as normal in our culture. “Tick Tock: Essays on Becoming a Parent After 40” is a collection of essays by more than 30 writers to break down this barrier. It discusses their experiences about being or having older parents and counters the negatives with raw, witty stories. This collection is divided into five parts, sharing truths about why people become older parents, pregnancy, adoption, hardships and creating a community. This book offers support and focuses on the joy of a parent-child relationship, regardless of our ages.
Baby Bomb
By Kara Hoppe MA, MFT and Stan Tatkin PsyD, MFT
A baby changes everything, including your relationship with your partner. How do you make time for each other if you can barely make time for yourself? How do you navigate the overwhelm of new parenthood without losing the romantic connection with your partner? Written by a relationship expert and a psychologist, “Baby Bomb” guides you through these common and natural questions that come up when a new baby arrives. Although you can never fully prepare for this moment, Hoppe and Tatkin offer solid, actionable advice based in neurobiology, while sharing their own personal stories along the way, that can help you survive — maybe thrive! — as a couple with a baby bomb.
Mindfulness Journal for Parents: Prompts and Practices to Stay Calm, Present, and Connected
By Josephine Atluri
It’s no secret that life as a parent has lots of moving parts. Some may even call it a bit chaotic. “Mindfulness Journal for Parents: Prompts and Practices to Stay Calm, Present, and Connected” by Josephine Atluri introduces everyday practices to help bring a little ounce of calm to the storm. This journal offers different exercises and prompts for parents such as reflection writing and practicing open communication. These ideas teach families how to bring mindfulness into their everyday routines and into interactions with their children. It also challenges parents to think in new ways to improve the goals and functioning of the family.
Pretty Girls Don’t Get Cancer
By M. Patricia Diaz
Everything changed for author M. Patricia Diaz during her last year of high school. What was supposed to be full of fun turned into a year of social isolation. Why? She was diagnosed with Stage IV terminal cancer. Her book “Pretty Girls Don’t Get Cancer” takes you back to her life in Venezuela and shares the story about her personal transformation through this experience. Not only did she defy medical odds, but she also found a way to heal her mind, body and spirit. You will get to see how Diaz embraced all her feelings to overcome difficulties and rise to be stronger than before. Part coming of age story, part motivational memoir, this book will inspire and show how restoring physical health is only the first step toward healing.
Driven: A Daughter’s Odyssey
by Julie Heldman
Retired American tennis star, Olympian and recent Tennis Hall of Famer Julie Heldman writes not only about her professional tennis career journey, but also about the difficult relationship she had with her mother, Gladys, in her memoir, “Driven: A Daughter’s Odyssey.” Gladys Heldman founded “World Tennis” magazine in 1953, which took up most of her time and energy, leaving Julie isolated and alone. The book reveals Julie’s struggle with bipolar disorder and the emotional abuse she suffered from her mother while she maintained an immense drive to succeed as a tennis player. You don’t have to be a tennis fan to connect to Julie’s story of navigating life with mental illness and a complicated parent.
For more book suggestions, check out the August Book Corner, which is all about health, history and rhymes.
