Morgenstern, Julie. Time To Parent: Organizing Your Life To Bring Out the Best in Your Child and You. Holt. Sept. 2018. 320p. ISBN 9781627797436. pap. $18; ebk. ISBN 9781627797443. CHILD REARING
What more common emotion for parents to experience than doubt, says best-selling author Morgenstern (Organizing from the Inside Out). They must balance the impossible: raising humans and being human. Here, the professional organizer and time-management coach offers the book she craved as her children grew up, a guide to organizing the job of parenting that allows moms and dads to spend more time with their kids, partners, friends, and for self-care by carefully prioritizing their limited hours. According to the author, a lack of clarity often leads to time clutter, which hijacks our time, steals our focus, and results in neglect of not only our children but our own needs. A self-assessment section aids readers in zeroing in on strengths and struggles, with Morgenstern emphasizing a growth-and-presence perspective and providing a multitude of time-saving strategies across the age spectrum to combat the need for perfection that too often paralyzes parents.
VERDICT Morgenstern’s many fans will appreciate the organizational insights she brings to the parenting arena as well as the concrete ideas for finding more time for family and self-care.

Nelsen, Jane & others. Positive Discipline for Today’s Busy (and Overwhelmed) Parent: How To Balance Work, Parenting, and Self for Lasting Well-Being. Harmony: Crown. Sept. 2018. 368p. ISBN 9780525574897. pap. $17; ebk. ISBN 9780525574903. CHILD REARING
Coauthor of the popular “Positive Discipline” series, licensed marriage, family, and child therapist Nelsen, with parent educator Joy Marchese and life coach Kristina Bill, presents a manual for balancing work, parenting, and myriad other demands that can lead to anxiety, exhaustion, and depression. Lack of time, increasing competition, and confusing advice ramp up the pressure further as women officially outnumber men in the workforce, according to a 2011 poll. The focus of the positive discipline philosophy is on adults changing themselves from within instead of changing their child. In a world of perfection parenting—those determined to provide the ideal childhood—adults may find their own health suffering or that they no longer strive toward their own goals. The positive discipline strategy is based on avoiding both punitive and permissive parenting to teach social and life skills to children in a respectful and encouraging way. While a popular program, a more concise narrative and user-friendly format (with sidebars and bullet points) would have better served “busy and overwhelmed” parents hoping for a quick read.
VERDICT Although this title will no doubt appeal to some readers, numerous other volumes in the series offer the majority of the same information.