Am I a normal parent?

Posted by Karin | 0 comments

As a homeschooling mother of 4 children, 5 and under, I would imagine that I am not a normal parent by society’s standards. However, according to Sara Dimerman’s, “Am I a normal parent?” I just might be. Ms. Dimerman is a married psychologist and mother of two living in Canada. Included in her book are 50 questions to help you decide if you are indeed a normal parent—-the books 155 pages should help you decide if you WANT to be. Test questions that are answered within the book include: Do you ever feel like running away from home? If you answered yes, you are not alone, a whopping 62 percent of parents admitted that they had thought of running away from their responsibilities at home, even for just one night.

Also included in the questionaire are questions concerning the appropriate age to walk to school alone, tell you (rather than ask permission) to go out, own an ipod/cell phone, stop sleeping in the same bed with parents of the opposite sex, be left alone in the house, and be allowed to drink alcohol in the home. Surprisingly, I was again in the “norm” to the ipod and cell phone question as age 10 was the youngest and age 18, the oldest to be granted these items. Looking around the malls in the US I wonder if mostly Canadian parents were polled, or, if in fact parents believed this notion while doing the opposite with their own children, due to “parental peer pressure”? According to Ms. Dimerman’s research 33% of parents do change their opinions based on what other parents are condoning.

Overall, Ms. Dimerman’s book is a light, entertaining and easy read. While you won’t gleam any strong parenting advice or solve any of your parental dilemmas it is interesting to see how your own beliefs fall within the “norm”. You may also be comforted to know you aren’t the only one having a bad day and struggling with balancing your own personal desires with those of your child! Parents who have secret thoughts of preferring one child over another, resenting parenthood, or feeling seemingly uncontrollable strong anger towards their child might indeed find some comfort in knowing they are, sadly, not alone.

In my opinion this is not a parenting book so much as a book of interesting parenting statistics with a few thoughtful and sometimes entertaining anecdotes thrown in for good measure. New parents or those who tend to worry excessively about their parenting, will no doubt thoroughly enjoy the book. I plan on sending a copy to my cousin whom our family loves to tease because of the way she worries. I think she will enjoy this book not only as a new mother, but as a fellow psychologist.

You can visit the author’s website at http://www.helpmesara.com/
The book retails at major bookstores for $15.95

Karin Katherine is a proud stay-at-home mother of four who feels blessed to be the mother of 5 year old fraternal twin boys and two daughters, ages three and 4 months. As someone who never changed a diaper until she had children, Karin is surprised by the fact that she has been changing diapers for the past 5 years straight with no end in sight! As the 7th of 8 children, Karin feels blessed by her average size (in her mind anyway) family and wouldn’t mind a few more– God willing and her husband notwithstanding. Her biggest homeschooling dream is to one day homeschool across the United States in an RV. Please visit her new blog Passport Academy.