Let Them be Kids

Author: Jessica Smartt

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: June 9, 2020

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A very practical guide to helping raise strong, well-mannered kids which also focuses on letting kids be kids and how to foster that childlike nature and fun within all of us.

Jessica Smartt crafts a well-balanced guide on raising kids that have values, good manners and also know how to have fun. It’s one thing to raise kids that are nice but also foster creativity and fun. Being a former English teacher and homeschooling mom of three, Jessica Smartt has spent years with young kids discovering the trial and error of what works and what doesn’t when raising kids. We don’t want to be the Pintrest mom or the Facebook mom who all we see is little snippets of their greatest moments, we have to be ourselves and let our kids see us as our true selves so they can be comfortable in their own skin.

Let Them Be Kids is a perfect read for parents, new and experienced. We can all learn something from the pages of this book. Being part story and part guidebook, readers will find great resources to help them in the trying times of raising young ones. I loved the way she talks about helping instill creativity in young children and how it is okay for them to be bored and learn to entertain themselves. That is so key; it would be easy to hand over a screen for entertainment these days but if we think back to when we were kids, we didn’t have near the options our kids do today for entertainment. I have to tell my boys a lot that it’s not my job to entertain them all the time. Several of the chapters give great advice on ways to entertain kids and help them entertain themselves. Never once does Smartt make us feel as if we aren’t doing a good job as parents, instead she gives us tools to help instill confidence in us as parents and ways to enjoy this time with our children. We only have a short amount of time with our kids and it would be a shame to look back and regret these younger years having not spent enough time together and enjoying the little moments. This is a book for all parents and parents to be, so many good take-aways that I will be pondering for days to come to implement in my routine with my boys.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.