I have to admit, I struggled reading this book. I wanted to argue with the author SO OFTEN.
That said.. is there good to be had in a book that you argue with? Yes… if only to make you think. And that I think is part of why Danya Ruttenberg wrote this book entitled “Nurture the Wow“. To make people think.
One of the things I like about parenting books is the ability to either read through it cover to cover or to dance around the book, finding sections that appeal. This book is not only a parenting book but also a spiritual book.
Ms. Ruttenberg finds spiritual issues in areas I wouldn’t have thought possible… or rather, ways that I didn’t even think to, would probably be a better way of saying it.
Table of contents:
It’s hard being a parent.
It can be a challenge being a parent of faith.
Being a parent changes in ways that we don’t expect. From how we see things (like dirty diapers) to how we live our lives to how we live out our lives of faith.
This book will make you think.
You will (if you are like me) argue with the author. Through all that argument though, you just might be led to consider your life as a person of a faith, raising young ones, just a tad differently.
Now Danya Ruttenberg is a Jewish Rabbi, so she approaches her life from that perspective. I struggled with the sacrificial terminology, the focus on holy days and events, it’s out of my paradigm of thinking. A point that kept being returned to is how I matter, how you matter, how your children matter and the choices we make MATTER. They matter for how our children feel loved, how we feel loved, how we pass along that love to one another and share it around.
It WAS NOT an easy read, and I admittedly didn’t read the whole book.
But if you want to be encouraged to think outside the box a bit… this book just might be an aid to you. (or it might be too much of a struggle) it’s hard for me to tell.
Just know that YOU matter.
Your children matter.
Your faith very much MATTERS. Now go.. live it out as you raise your children. 🙂
Nurture the Wow was generously given to by Raincoast Books. It runs at 308 pages with small type in a compact book about 7 x 6 inches. Easily packed along in a purse or tablet bag.
