Staying Centered is a smart book written for thinking parents.

The extremely organized mind of Janeen Solberg has created an easy-to-read, quick-reference guide to the basics of life at home with little ones. As anyone who's done the stay-at-home gig knows, "tell me quickly, and without complications!" Accordingly, Janeen doles out advice in chapters like "Day-to-Day with the Kids" and "Keeping Mom Sane." Yes! This is what we wanted to know!

Too many people I've met think staying home with kids is easy. All play, all day. Ha! I say.

And so does Janeen.

From the introduction: "Now I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I'm realizing it's not as simple as I thought it would be. If I screw this up, I can't even blame daycare and our two-income society." Good point!

Janeen has been at home for nearly seven years, and she seems to have the knack of it. There is plenty of description of the early, crazier years, though. This is very helpful in a book of parenting advice, as they can often sound preachy or judgmental, which is intimidating when you're new to the game.

A former teacher, Janeen is obviously a big-time planner and organiser. Now this, I did find a bit intimidating. After all, I've been at home for 10 years and I don't know what I'm doing tommorrow! But, since I'll probably never even be able to keep track of a day-planner, advice from an organising pro is a blessed thing.

One suggestion I love is the "gift stash." This is several boxes in the attic filled with teacher gifts, re-gifts, appealing clearance bin finds, whatever would make a good gift and save a last-minute trip to the store. Even gift wrap. What a great sanity-saving idea! I can't believe how many night-before-the-last-day-of-school trips I've made to K-Mart and still never thought of this!

For the most part, the ideas in the book focus on having very young children (Janeen's oldest is 6). So, it's probably not great for clues on what to do with teenagers. But even with a 10-year-old, I found much that was helpful.

Each chapter ends with "Further Thoughts on the Subject," advice from friends, relatives and aquaintances. This provides a nice balance, so it is not always just one person telling you what to do. My favorite is Helene, the California "earth mother" cousin. She had a home birth, family bed, nurses without schedules, my kind of mama. I think she brings a nice "alternative" voice to the more conservative views presented otherwise.

Staying Centered is a useful and enjoyable book for anyone who is deciding, or who has recently decided, that staying home to raise kids is better than letting daycare do it.

- Rambles
written by Katie Knapp
published 10 May 2003