The Stay-At-Home Survival Guide: Field-Tested Strategies for Staying Smart, Sane, and Connected When You're Raising Kids at Home

I think maybe I’m just not self helpable

This book is a must-read for all women who are either considering staying home with their kids or who have been doing it for years. It is encouraging and honest without being condescending. I love staying home with my kids but it's frustrating that when I complain about something in my day it means that I don't love my kids, or that I made the wrong decision. Ms. Stanton gets that and it made me feel great about myself and the decision I've been lucky enough to make. And it's ok to not always feel thrilled to play Candy Land with a cheating toddler...It's the big picture that matters!

This book is refreshing in its honesty! Finally a REAL perspective on what it's like to be at home, with kids, all day, every day...and not loving it all day, every day. I found the book totally validating - I felt like the author had a window into my actual life. It's crystal clear that Melissa Stanton has walked the walk, and her perspective will make so many of us SAHMs feel supported and understood. I keep this book right next to my well-referenced collection of parenting books by the Sears and Brazeltons out there, but the difference is that THIS author has truly lived what I am living today. I am grateful to be a SAHM for my kids, but it certainly isn't a fairytale, and Melissa Stanton GETS IT. The good days are SO GOOD, and on the not-so-good days, I can pull out this book and remember that I am not alone. Finally, I feel connected, understood and supported. Thank you, Melissa, for being totally unapologetic and unflinching in your book - it's honest and real.

I love this book! I just got it and am still reading through it but I really love the way Stanton writes. Very natural, candid, anecdotal and entertaining yet getting some wonderful points across that will help so many of us moms cope with the day to day challenges and joys of parenting. I found myself nodding my head in agreement at so many of the observations she shares. This is a real world book for real world moms. I am going to bring this with me on vacation to share with my girlfriends who are fellow moms- lots of great conversation starters and wonderful coping strategies we can all use.

This author totally gets what it's like to be a stay at home mom, especially to little kids. I felt like she and the moms interviewed for the book totally understand what I'm going through. I love my three children, but sometimes I'd like a break from caring for them all day everyday with no help. The advice given is supportive, not demeaning. I learned a lot from the Money chapter. (And also the Sex chapter!) The chapter called Who's the Expert is also great. I agree with the author that being a stay at home mother is a job, even though people think stay at home moms don't "work." The back cover describes The Stay-at-Home Survival Guide as a "Support-Group-in-a-Book." It really is. I'm glad I found this book, which I first read about on a blog. It's a good gift for current or future stay at home moms.

Cross-post with my review of the book on http://www.askmoxie.org I loved this book. There are a couple books I recommend without reservation, and this is one of them. I don't think you'll get much out of it if you're not a SAH parent and don't plan to be one, but if you are or have been or want to be or are planning to be a SAH mother, you will get something out of this book. The first strength of this book is that the author had a big career, then was home for a year with her first child, went back to work more-than-full-time for a few years, and is not back at home with her (now) three kids (including a set of twins, one of whom has special needs). So she's seen the gig from a lot of different angles. There were things I took for granted about being at home before I went back, and I know I'd have a different view of being at home now if I could go back to thatom and I think the book does a good job of picking out things that are unique to the at-home gig, but also universal to at-home moms. The second strength of this book is that it hits the correct topics. The central tension of being at home, IME, is that tug-of-war between wanting to be with your kids all the time and feeling like you're missing something by being at home. (I think the flip side is the central tension of WOH--being out in the working world, but feeling like you're missing something with your kids.) And that's one of the central themes of this book. It is not at all one of those "yes it can be tough but SAH moms are riding along on a cloud of rainbows raising the future of the world" books. It acknowledges that there are many reasons women stay home to care for their children, and that sometimes it's not because that's what they'd choose if the choice was really possible. It gives equal weight to the joy and also the tedious nature of being at home, and discusses the very real sacrifices women make to stay home. The chapter on finances, in particular, is strong. I've seen other things about finances for SAHM, and they all seem to be about how to economize on paper towels to stretch your family's money. Stanton's chapter on SAHM finances stresses knowing what your finances are, different ways of dividing the labor and responsibility of keeping track of money, and making sure you are not left in the lurch if your partner dies or you separate. Another big theme of the book is laying on the table the idea that being a SAHM sometimes ends up being a 24/7 job, and one that your partner devalues because you aren't contributing any money. That's something that causes tons of pain for lots of women (as seen in the comments on yesterday's post here, for example), and there doesn't seem to be an answer. The right thing, clearly, is for a partner to look around and realize that forcing one person to be on duty all the time while the other's work hours are limited to 40-60 hours a week is patently ridiculous. But there are still partners out there who seem to think that they deserve