In his new book, No Regrets Parenting: Turning Long Days and Short Years into Cherished Moments with Your Kids, Harley Rotbart helps busy parents make important adjustments that will help them find the joy and small moments with their children amidst the daily chaos.
A familiar story
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
It seems like just yesterday when your child smiled for the first time. Those first steps feel like happened just months ago.
Yet, many of us find ourselves lamenting the fact that the years have flown by and our babies seem to age at warp speed.
An empathetic author
Pediatrician Harley A. Rotbart knows that feeling all too well. In his latest book, No Regrets Parenting: Turning Long Days and Short Years into Cherished Moments with Your Kids, he faces head on the idea that unless we parent in a way that recognizes how quickly time flies by, it will do exactly that and we may look back and regret letting other things take priority over those fleeting moments of childhood.
His book is written for parents who recognize that in the blink of an eye, “the colorful mobiles hanging from their cribs morph into tricycles, which morph into driving permits.”
Rotbart has his finger on the pulse of busy parents today and recognizes that the time we can allocate to reading parenting books—or anything else, for that matter—is limited.
His book is broken into bite-sized sections that we can, as he recommends, read in the carpool lane or even in the bathroom.
A helpful guide
No Regrets Parenting is not a book on parenting philosophy, but rather a guide on finding time for what matters most—being truly present for our children.
Part one of Rotbart’s guide discusses the “Eight Essentials” that our chidren need from us: security, consistency, stability, emotional support, love, education, positive role models and structure.
Adding weight to Rotbart’s advice is the recognition that not all aspects of parenting are easy or fun. His inclusion of a section on staying sane makes him feel like one of us and proves that he’s also been there in those same parenting trenches that we sometimes find ourselves in.
Part two offers parents 60 specific strategies covering all aspects of raising children. From making time for everything from pajama walks and story time to lemonade stands and a standing taco night, Rotbart’s tips are practical, but meaningful, ways to turn the minutes with our children into special moments.
Rotbart closes with an epilogue that discusses sending kids of to college and congratulates parents on a job well done.
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A way to slow time
No Regrets Parenting, in 212 pages that span the time from when our children are small to when they’ve gone off to college, echoes the way life passes by in the blink of an eye.
One day our children are asking for one more book at bedtime or to watch them hula hoop for the hundredth time in a day and the next, they’re choosing a college and heading off to explore the world on their own.
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A worthy read
Those small moments will mean so much to us one day and with Rotbart’s guidance, we can savor the small moments and avoid ever feeling regret that we’ve squandered away the precious and fleeting time with our children.
No Regrets Parenting is available on Amazon for $10.
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