There are some basic truths to parenting: Babies will cry and not sleep, 2-year-olds will cry and not sleep, and teens will bring parents to tears and sleep till noon.
Does knowing this make parenting any easier? Maybe not, but at least you’ll know you’re not alone.
Ann Pleshette Murphy’s “The 7 Stages of Motherhood” (Knopf, $22.95) comforts and enlightens, all in the reasonable tones of a mother of two whose credentials also include a 10-year stint as editor of Parents magazine.
Murphy, currently a parenting expert on television’s “Good Morning America,” offers thoughtful guidance for mothering a child through what she sees as seven stages: birth and the first three months of life, four months through the 1st birthday, ages 1 through 2, 3 to 6, 6 to 10, 10 to 13 and finally the “letting-go” phase: ages 13 to 18.
Murphy makes her points by drawing on her own parenting experience–warts and all–along with anecdotes from others in the parenting trenches. She also makes use of her ready access to expert opinion.
The result is a parenting overview that steers gently rather than dictates.
Give yourself a break: “Pay attention to the little acts of caring you perform every day.”
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