Love Centered Parenting by Maria Gavriel

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Our modern culture has lowered the volume on our inner voice. We, as parents, are often left disempowered and unclear about our parenting choices. What exactly has been muffling that inner voice, and where do we go from here? Love Centered Parenting offers friendly guidance to help you find your own inner wisdom, so that you hear it loudly and clearly during your parenting journey. It is an intimate share about fertility challenges, pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, sleep issues, diet, natural healing, and healthy choices-encouraging you to tune into your own intuition, while reaching out to community to support you. As you read through this book, you will be reminded to tap into your innate intelligence so that you are left feeling empowered with your conscious parenting choices. 

MY THOUGHTS: 

Maria Gavriel's book is a refreshing read for those who are expecting a child or in the newborn phase of parenting. Love Centered Parenting is broken into 2 parts. The first part talks about Gavriel's own journey to motherhood and what it means to invite a child into your body and into your life at delivery. After each chapter, Gavriel invites her readers to do a simple meditation that is based on the chapter that you just read. I like how she broke part 1 into talking about how hard it was to conceive, how to have a natural healthy pregnancy, the different approaches to delivery and how each woman has the right to decide for themselves and for their families what their roles should be after the baby is born--whether they should go to work or not-- and how women should not feel guilt about their own decisions. 

The second half of Love Centered Parenting, gives a spiritual and holistic approach to raising your infant. The topics include sleep patterns, breastfeeding, having a healthy diet, whether or not vaccination is right for you, etc. While I did not agree with every point Gavriel made, I never felt like I was being lectured as I was reading. In fact, I felt that she would tell me that it would be okay to disagree with some of her points; in fact she writes "So take from this book what you like and what resonates with you. Then feel free to tweak what you learned and customize it according to your own and your family's needs."(p.157)

I loved her main message that ultimately it is up to the parents to believe that they know what is best for their child and for their family.  will admit that I wasn't sure if I would get a lot out of this book. We are done with the trying to conceive stage of our lives and are currently enjoying parenting and raising 3 children--ages 8, 5 and 2. However, it was refreshing to hear someone else solidify what I have felt. My husband and I as parents know what is best for our children and for our family and it is with help from resources such as Gavriel's book that we can gain confidence in our parenting abilities. 

 

DISCLAIMER: 

I received this book for free from Westwind Book Marketing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.