Book Review - What Would Jesus Do? A Family Devotional for Preteens and Parents: Conversation Starters on Life, Love, and Faith by Lucy Rycroft

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

While this is a religious book and each week has a different thought provoking topic and an appropriate prayer, this book is also useful if you do not want to force or guide your child towards religion before they are mature enough for the decision. 

For example a lot of kids grow tired of school and find it a burden. This book will provide parents with guidance to talk to kids about education as a privilege. Even without including religious aspects, the write up in this book can easily be a guide for parents to have this conversation with kids and teach them that lesson. I learned that lesson from my parents without the inclusion of religion because my parents live through a time when access to education was limited to a privileged few. 

But if you are a religious family and look for ways as a parent to bring the lessons of Jesus closer to your child, this book will provide weeks of inspiration. The same lesson on education can be based on what education Jesus may have received and how we have progressed since that time. Even in current times, many people have no access to education and by talking to your child how that impacts the rest of their lives and we should view education as a gift that needs to be cherished not wasted, it something parents can receive guidance for from this book. 

The target audience are parents of preteens (aged 1o to 12 years of age). Each chapter is intended to be the focus of a week and covers a basic reading, discussion topics and a concluding prayer. 

Besides Education and Schooling, other chapters cover 

• live in a frugal manner and save, but do so in a balanced way without becoming a hoarder
• honor your teachers, even if we disagree with them - I personally struggled with that a lot as a child
• be gracious and apologize, even if we feel that the other person may be wrong because getting along with others is worth pursuing
• responsible use of a phone - this is really important for kids today, who seem glued to apps 

 I really enjoyed this book and I encourage people to look at the larger lessons, if you feel that your child may feel negatively about too much religion. This book is certainly adaptable to the larger lesson and I consider this an excellent book on child rearing. 

available on amazon.com

This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

Book Review - Two Truths and a Lie: Fun Facts, Unusual Knowledge, and Trivia to Test Your Wits by Drew Basile

  #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

This book will teach you something and you have fun in the process. The book has a number of chapters such as food or arts, then provide listings of three each in which the reader alone or in a group needs to figure out which is true and which is the lie. 

Whether you are killing time while waiting at an airport or you are stuck as a group until the movie theater opens, this book will easily move time along and do so in the fun and productive way. I have to say that I was impressed by the facts listed and was really enjoying that I learned something. It is important, and I can even after ready just a few pages, to check each word and focus on the questions. These are not intended for little kids - even though they can certainly learn. But the book is actually surprisingly challenging for adults too and I would say is more geared towards teenagers and older.

 You are sue to learn something in the listings for the 12 chapters included and no peeking because the solutions are at the end - so you have to use the brain first and then flip all the way to the back to see whether you were right. 

I like the versatility of this book because it can be used by one or a group of readers and the variety of topics covered are sure to find something of interest for everyone. If you like crossword puzzles or trivis games, this is the perfect book for you. 

 I highly recommend this book for the trivia fan and have it at home for when you need to have something on hand to make waiting easier or simply look for a fun way to entertain a group. 

 

available on amazon.com

 

 This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

Review: Self-Esteem Skills Deck: 100 Practices to Increase Your Confidence, Achieve Your Goals, and Find Happiness by Leslie Davis

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

A lot of adult as well as teenagers struggle with lack of self esteem and suffer every day when interacting with people. These 100 cards provide a number of exercises to increase your self esteem and grow resilient, even if thrown into new situations and being surrounded by strangers. 

Self esteem or lack thereof is debilitating, especially as an adult when being asked to work with colleagues or in a job that requires customer facing interactions. Lack of self- esteem prevents a person from putting their best foot forward and leaves many adult unhappy and feeling like a failure. 

The cards included in this set provide 100 exercises that can be used in any order and at your priority to improve your self esteem and give you the confidence to talk to strangers and friends, while being still yourself.  This Self-Esteem Skills Deck is like having a therapist by your side. 

The best thing is the card format does not require to set aside an hour, but just a brief period, often no more than 15 minutes to complete a simple exercise that tackles self esteem from various angles and in the long run will improve your confidence. The cards provide easy to understand instructions, so you do not need to have completed a therapy degree to understand the exercise.

Best of all, you can do the exercises that feel good to you. While the cards are organized into topics, you can arrange the exercises to your liking and build what you feel is the best sequence of exercises. I really liked the do what feels right to you approach, but having the therapy knowledge in the cards available to stepwise improve your self-esteem. 

I really think these types of card sets will be the way to go in the future. You can improve your life on a budget and still get expert assistance in your hand. 

available on amazon.com

Review: Self-Guided Somatic Therapy Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Regulate Your Nervous System by Sasha Stok

#partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

Time are not easy. With. money being tight, stress about money and budgeting is at an all time high for many families. 

Somatic exercises and therapy can help dealing with stress and are exercises you can do at home and on your own. Best deal yet, if you get into the habit of using these exercises, the relief and stress reduction can be permanent and have a long term positive impact on your well being. 

This is self-guided and constitute4s a workbook; meaning you can do the exercises to fit your schedule and the author provides guidance, but how you implement and what combination works best for you is really your decision. The author provides a variety of exercises to relief stress, help with current or past trauma and improve your nervous system to enable you to lead a more relaxed and healthy life. 

Ideally, you will perform these exercises daily. But if that is not possible, work on establishing a routine that works for you and then long term improvement will happen. The instructions are clear and easy to follow and most importantly, you are in charge and decide on how to proceed and implement these exercises.  

I really enjoyed this book. It adds another component or variation to a mindful exercise regime. While some progression is intended, such as moving from awareness over stability to active integration. This is not a competitive approach and no specific timeline is given nor expected. Proceed at your own pace and comfort level. The important thing is that a more relaxed and at ease person is gained through this workbook. 

available on amazon.com

 

 

Book Review = Self-Guided Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD by Natalia Aíza

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

OCD can be very debilitating. I have mild tendencies towards OCD, but have seen in my own family how impactful OCD can be in preventing family members from leading happy and independent lives. 

 This book provides one avenue to prevent OCD from becoming an all-consuming aspect of life by introducing the reader to ERP therapy, which stands for Exposure and response prevention therapy. This is not a new approach, but has been studied for decades. This therapy centers on the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps the OCD sufferer to face the fears through mindful challenges. The approach is intended to turn moments of anxiety into opportunities to exhibit calm and confident behavior. What was cause for failure before, can now be seen as a success to be celebrated.  

Long-term the hope to enable OCD sufferers to lead healthy and happy lives by introducing ERP therapy into an approach that reduces moments of anxiety and turns them into episodes that show the person how far they have come and that this challenge can be handled. 

The author introduces as an introduction the reader to the ability to map their OCD cycle, design exposure plans, and guide the rader through every stage of recovery.  One important aspect of the healing process is self-compassion to boost recovery. The reader will learn to replace self-criticism with patience and empathy; increasing the ability to overcome setbacks with kindness.

I really liked this book and support any therapy that is enabling the sufferer by introducing positive feelings instead of punishing the patient or stigmatizing the patient further. The positive reinforcement makes it easier to continue to the therapy and empowers the reader to not give up, but count the little wins as important steps to focus on and be encouraged to continue on the healing journey. 

 

available on amazon

 

This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

 

 

Book Review = Strength Training for Longevity: Simple Workouts for a Lifetime of Health and Mobility by Matt Schifferle

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

As our bodies age, we still need to ensure a certain level of strength. This type of strength training is known to help prevent issues such as muscle loss in seniors and also improve our general well being. This book contains exercises that help with issues specific to ageing such as bone health, balance and overall well being. As with most exercise regimens, we start off at different levels, so this book can easily be customized to your level of ability, fitness and what your priorities are. The variety of exercises and the limited set of equipment needed, allow you to do the exercises at home or in most any basic gym, such as when traveling and staying in a hotel. This ensure a consistent exercise regime that is so important for results. 

The exercises included in this book are not geared to give you a bikini body, but to allow you to function and live independently into old age. There are clear functional benefits with these exercises and as you go about your daily routine, you will notice that certain chores are now becoming easier. I really appreciated the focus on balance because so many seniors suffer from the long term effects of falls around the house. So improving balance and hopefully preventing falls is one key aspect this book focuses on and this to me is so important in ensuring independent living by seniors. 

I liked this book because I felt it empowered me to work on my priorities and slowly build up strength that showed me I was improving. This really helped to keep my going and made me excited to exercise consistently. 

available on amazon

This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.  

Book Review = Follow the Money: A Fun Financial Literacy Game for Kids by Alaina Trivax

 #partner @penguinrandomhouse Thanks for the free book  

This game is intended for kids aged 8 to 12, which in my opinion is a good age to introduce the concept of money and savings to kids. This was the age I received an allowance for the first time and my mom was really good at showing me how much fin it was to save some of the allowance in my piggy bank and then deposit it in my own savings account at a local bank. She managed to making savings fun and doing banking "business" just being part of regular life. 

This game is intending to make kids interested in money and savings nad teaching healthy financial habits in the process. it is so important that kids develop financial skills before leaving the home to ensure that they make informed choices even without a parent around. This game will help parents who don’t feel comfortable teaching finances to their child with guidance and to make talk about money fun for kids.

Lessons are in an easy to understand format with real examples that show life for everyday people. From budgeting to setting priorities when making purchases and teaching concepts like debt and savings, this book covers the basics of financial literacy. 

In this game, kids can be in charge and since it is play money, they learn consequences of their actions without actually putting money at risk, Important lessons are learned by the kids early on and the parents can also determine, which areas the kids need the most help with. Even though the most relevant financial terms are covered, the parents do not need to worry about confusing kids because the authors have included a glossary that explains the terms and concepts in age-appropriate terms. 

I very much support teaching kids about finances and money early on and this game does so in an entertaining manner that allows the parents to see their kids grow up and ready to leave the home without worrying about kids getting into debt. 

available on amazon

 

 This book was provided free of charge to me in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and have not influenced by any third party.