Top 10 Books for Empowering Yourself as a Mother

Once I realized so many of the messages I recieved as a young girl and teenager didn’t serve me or make sense as an adult, I dove deep into books that rocked my world. I love books for this reason. They can offer a fresh new perspective and change the way you view and approach reality. One book can be a total paradigm shift for you. I have read several such books, and that is what I want to offer you here.

Bully-Proofing Won’t Work Until We Give Kids More Freedom

Children who are bullied in school have very few choices and very little recourse. Required by law to attend an assigned public school, many children and their parents have minimal agency to withdraw from a bullying scenario. Some parents will look for alternative schooling options for their bullied children, like private schools, charter schools, online schools, or homeschooling. But for many families, these choices are not available or accessible.

Decide Who You Want to Be, Not What You Want to Do

Some skepticism about “one true callings” is in order, but I do think there’s a reason we have the notion of vocation, and I don’t think it’s all just idle imagination to think that there are better and worse ways to spend your years. However, I do think there’s a better way to find what the right way is. Instead of asking myself what I want to do with my life, I ask myself what kind of person I want to be.

The -Ism No One is Talking About.

Children are wild and free. This alone can be very triggering to some people, but they are and that is the truth of their biology. They are meant to move, explore, be rowdy, run around, test things, play, and be in connection with other people. And not just for a couple of hours blocked off every day, but all the time. They are meant to live it. The problem is not children, the problem is a society that makes no room for them to be who they are. 

When Does Tradition Become Tyranny?

Traditions emerge for a reason.  Society is impossible without them.  Traditions provide lenses, rules, norms, and expectations that help make sense of the world, harmonize competing aims and interests, provide stability, and enable long-term planning. But tradition can be tyrannical.  Traditions can oppress, restrict, stagnate, and destroy individuals and society. So where’s the line?  When does tradition become tyranny?