This is a little late, but I want to start writing a monthly blog post summarizing the books I read during the month and telling what I got out of them. I know that one of the best ways to improve something is by tracking it. I really want to make reading a habitual, natural part of my life and I think this blog would be a great place to track it.
With all that said, I'll just jump right in!
For Him Only
We got these books for Christmas. This book outlined some things about women that men generally don't understand but that, if men did understand them, would help the relationship tremendously. It was very generic, so we followed the advice at the beginning of the book: I read the book first and underlined things and took notes so that Ben would know better what was most important to me and what might not apply from the books.
It was good for me to read it, because it actually helped me understand myself better. It put into words some things that I feel that I didn't understand before. Both Ben and I read both of these and it brought on a lot of really good discussions about ourselves and our relationship. It was very healthy for our marriage to read these together. I would highly recommend them.
For Her Only
So, the opposite of For Him Only. This book outlined some things about men that women generally don't understand but that, if women did understand them, would help the relationship tremendously. I loved reading this. It helped me understand why Ben does some of the things he does and helped me know how I can better serve him, as his wife. It also helped encouraged me to see some of the things I already do that fuel Ben's love tank. It definitely warrants a reread occasionally.
Parenting with Love and Logic
This is a book that my stepfather lent me. I had heard about this program before from other moms, in a positive light. I was excited to read it. I don't know that everything they discussed is exactly how I would do things, but I did get quite a bit from reading through it.
One concept they discussed was parenting with a win-win attitude in mind. I love this idea. For us, the way we do sleep is that way. We let our kids fall asleep on their own. For the first year of life, they might fuss while falling asleep. We let both Ashtyn and Parker cry for a while at one point. It was good for both them and us to do this. For us, it gives us the freedom to put them down and not have to worry about trying to get them to go to sleep. They just do it. It also allows us structure in our schedule, as we know when the girls will sleep and when they'll wake up (for the most part). And, of course, because the girls sleep better, we actually get sleep and free time, which helps us be more patient parents. It helps the girls because they get the rest they need, which helps them learn more effectively and feel better when they are awake. They know what's coming and have the structure of their sleep schedule in their life (that's really important for kids) and they have more patient parents. There are so many different areas that you can apply this concept.
The other main concept I pulled out of this book was to put the responsibility on the kids. This is really important, I think. I loved the "no problem" approach the book took. If the kid is doing something they shouldn't, no problem. There's a consequence for them, but it's not a problem for you. It is a problem for them if they don't like the consequence. I like this because not only does it put the responsibility for decision making on the kid, but it also removes the negative emotions (like frustration or anger) out of the equation for the parent.
The Millionaire Next Door
This is a book that I've been wanting to read for a long time. We are huge Dave Ramsey fans, we really like what he teaches, and he talks a lot about this book. We were trying out Kindle Unlimited (we decided that wasn't worth it for us, just fyi) and I was able to read it for free that way.
It was a very good book. It was interesting and motivated me once again to keep a frugal lifestyle in mind, even when we're making a lot of money. The main premise of the book is that it doesn't matter as much how much money you bring in but how much goes out that determines how wealthy you are. It was full of statistics and examples, which I loved.
Conclusion
So that's what I read in January. It was a good month for books. Stay tuned next month for an update on what I'm currently reading.
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