Book Review: The Better Mom

Disclaimer: I received a book to review. All opinions are my own.

The Better Mom: Growing in Grace Between Perfection and the Mess

Mothering is messy. Our joy and hope in raising children doesn’t change the reality that being a mom can be frustrating, stressful, and tiring. But just as God is using us to shape our children, God is using our children and motherhood to shape us.

In The Better Mom, author Ruth Schwenk, herself a mother of four children, encourages us with the good news that there is more to being a mom than the extremes of striving for perfection or simply embracing the mess. We don’t need to settle for surviving our kids’ childhood. We can grow through it.

With refreshing and heartfelt honesty Ruth emboldens moms to:

• Find freedom and walk confidently in purpose
• Create a God-honoring home environment 
• Overcome unhealthy and destructive emotions such as anger, anxiety, and more
• Avoid glorifying the mess of mom-ing or idolizing perfection
• Cultivate life-giving friendships 

At the heart of The Better Mom is the message that Jesus calls us to live not a weary life, but a worthy life. We don’t have to settle for either being apathetic or struggling to be perfect. Both visions of motherhood go too far. Ruth offers a better option. She says, “It’s okay to come as we are, but what we’re called to do and be is far too important to stay there! The way to becoming a better mom starts not with what we are doing, but with who God is inviting us to become."

I have said to my children on more than one occasion: "My job is not to be nice and not to make you happy all the time. My job is to raise you to become responsible, caring, God-loving, contributing members of society." They never like this answer and I'm sure that I could probably say it in a nicer way, but it gets my point across. That is why I love this so much. Motherhood is messy and there is so much stress and pressure put on moms to be perfect and to have perfect kids, then the other moms say we're trying too hard when our kids do behave and we do actually hit the mark on something one out of one million times. Mom culture is like high school and it should not be like that.

Ruth Schwenk becomes a mom mentor helping you find the right balance and reminding you that every day while you are teaching your children lessons, they are teaching you lessons as well. Believe me- when you are with your children 24/7 like me (homeschool, work at home, take kids everywhere) having someone on your side through it all is a relief.