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Title: Simplify Your Life With Kids by Elaine St. James, Vera Cole ISBN: 0-7407-0664-0 Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing Pub. Date: 15 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.36 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Simplify your life with kids is packed with usable advice
Comment: This is the second book I have read by Elaine St. James and once again came away feeling that I could really make a difference in my family life by implementing some, if not all of the suggestions in this book. I have a one and two year old and after reading her suggestions, I now feel I can get some control over the family. This book is packed with very user friendly advice that anyone can implement in their own home. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to make their family life more of an enjoyable experience.
Rating: 1
Summary: Terribly Disappointing
Comment: I guess this book falls into the category of "never take parenting advice from someone who never had children". I bought this book because I LOVED "Simplify your life" by this author. I found it very helpful. This book, however, was mostly confounding and fairly depressing. While St. James *did* seek out advice from her friends who had children, these friends apparently take a very 'hands off' approach to their kids.
The book opens with a scenario in which a mother has forgotten to pick up her child and the child is stranded somewhere late in the evening while she tries to figure out a way to get someone else to go pick him up now that she's home and needs to make dinner. This did not bode well for the rest of the book [for those of us who don't routinely completely forget about our children and leave them alone in public places late at night....]
Much of the advice in this book falls into the category of "simplify your life with children by paying someone else to deal with the little brats". There is much about how parents should put their children in day care all day [and don't EVER let your child think they have the ability to cause you to delay your departure because of their pathetic tears, etc, etc, etc] and then get a sitter to care for the children in the evenings so mom can have "Me" time and parents can have "Us" time. Apparently, if you schedule 2 hours of "quality time" on Sunday afternoon with your kids, that's really all they need.
There was also a big push to teach the kids "self sufficiency" - as in, your 5 year old really can get his own breakfast so he doesn't "bother" you. I'm all for self sufficient kids and encouraging my children to be strong and independant, but too much of this book was geared towards forcing your kids to basically survive without any parental assistance or interaction - yeah... I guess that would be simplier than actually caring for your kids yourself. At least until they turn 13 and get put in jail for shooting up the school or something.
There were a few good ideas in this book, but not nearly enough to warrant wading through all the bad parenting advice and depressing disregard for children's well being. "Shelter for the Spirit" by Victoria Moran includes some great chapters on re-prioritizing and simplifying that are very child-friendly and would lead to strong parent-child relationships. In my opinion, parents would do better to read what Moran has to say and skip this particular book by St. James.
Rating: 4
Summary: Skim
Comment: It is probably most effective to read the first twenty pages or so and skim the rest. Not up to par with "Simplify Your Life", but the early parts still have some very good advice. The rest is also good, but can easily be condensed by skimming and reading paragraphs of interest.
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Title: Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down & Enjoy the Things That Really.... by Elaine St. James ISBN: 0786880007 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 01 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Living the Simple Life: Guide to Scaling Down and Enjoying More by Elaine St. James ISBN: 0786882425 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 08 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Simplify Your Work Life: Ways to Change the Way You Work So You Have More Time to Live by Elaine St. James ISBN: 0786885963 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 02 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Inner Simplicity: 100 Ways to Regain Peace and Nourish Your Souls by Elaine St. James ISBN: 078688097X Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 04 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Simplify Your Christmas: 100 Ways to Reduce the Stress and Recapture the Joy of the Holidays by Elaine St James, Elaine St. James ISBN: 0836267850 Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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