Erin Leyba, PhD, an individual and marriage counselor, specializes in helping parents of young children. In addition to writing her popular blogs, she speaks often to parenting and childcare groups. She is the mother of three young children and has been counseling parents on dealing with children for almost twenty years. She has developed techniques that help parents, not only cope, but also feel joy in their parenting and in their relationships with each other. The 101 short chapters focus on ideas that relate to both the inner work of shifting perspectives and the outer work of taking action. Leyba says, ideas in her book, Joy Fixes for Weary Parents, “are built on the premise that if you keep habits of joy at the forefront, then many challenges that parents face, like weariness, tend to resolve themselves.” Erin and her family live in the Chicago area. Please visit her at www.ErinLeyba.com
When my children were young, I remember reading a book about the dark side of parenting. I was so relieved to hear someone tell the truth about the range of feelings we experience as a parent that I recommended it to friends. They didn’t share my enthusiasm. Most of us enter into parenting with the naive notion that we’re going to do it better than our parents. We become the parent we wish we had, which is, of course, not the parent they need. Parenting is hands-down the hardest job on the planet. Each child is different and no manual comes at birth. You learn, if you’re lucky, as you go along. Research statistics paint a picture of parental conflict and stress with decreases in happiness due to the ongoing pressure of child rearing. Gratefully, there is much wisdom and practical help available now. In the end, parenting is about building a relationship through compassion, creativity and being fully present in the moment. Please join us Thursday to learn how to build joy as a parent.

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