More Love, Less Panic by Claude Knobler (2015)

I was drawn to this book after reading an excerpt from it in Kiwi magazine.  The title alone hooked me, More Love, Less Panic.  Yes, that is precisely what I need.

Claude Knobler’s book is funny, endearing, honest, entertaining and, for me, incredibly easy to relate to.  While Mr. Knobler does talk about his family’s unexpected adoption of a young Ethiopian boy, the lessons of the book are meant to apply to any parent.  Like myself, the author tends to worry.  A lot.  He worries about his children and their habits and futures, their friends and schooling.  While parents may not all share the same worries or the same intensity of worrying, we all do it; it just comes with the territory.  So, to hear the thoughts of how this father learned to relax into parenthood a bit was a big help for me.  A very likable author, relatable stories, and wonderful lessons.  I wish there was an audio version of this book!

 

Quotes from More Love, Less Panic (waaay too many to choose from):

from Lesson One
“Children, after all, do tend to be childish, and then they tend to grow out of it, all on their own.  I let go of my fears about what will happen if I don’t nag, because they’re going to grow out of being children and this is my life too.  And I refuse to spend too much of it panicked about things I can’t control.”

“And if I believe, as I truly do, that I am not driving a car but am rather, more or less, a passenger on a train whose tracks have already been laid out for me, what’s next is for me to try to figure out how best to relax and enjoy the ride.”

from Lesson Two
“The answer to fear isn’t to try to solve problems that may not exist.  It’s to relax and find just a little bit of faith that my kids will find their own paths in life.”

“I have to trust that my kids will respond better to the sight of my positive example than they do to the sound of my shrill nagging.”

from Lesson Three
“If our kids are who they are from the day they’re born, isn’t it possible that our jobs as parents should be a lot more about appreciating them than molding them?”

from Lesson Four
“He did not need to learn how to be more mature any more than I needed to teach him how to get taller.”

from Lesson Five
“The absolute, unavoidable truth about parenting is this:  If you never lose your temper with your child, you are not spending enough time with your child.”

from Lesson Seven
“And therein lies the greatest secret of all.  The miracle has already happened.  All we have to do is never lose sight of it.”