“The Super Mom Myth” is an amazing book filled with practical knowledge, wisdom, guidance and even doctrine. The title got my eye as I like most moms hold myself to an impossible standard of being the perfect mom, of doing it all, and of not allowing myself to make mistakes. But I was in for a surprise, I sat down on a Saturday morning to begin reading while I sipped my morning coffee and I was so intrigued by the book that I ended up reading it in one sitting. And I have but one question, where was this book before I started my journey of life known as motherhood. I could have used much of this wisdom during the last 18 years as I raised my daughter and it sure would have saved me much heartache and mistakes. Yet even the author acknowledges that no matter what situation we find ourselves in as mothers, we will make mistakes, the key is to learn from those mistakes and to be intentional about improving our responses the next challenge, next trial, next day and on it goes
The best thing I love about this book is that it is real. Through the book, the author shares the very real stories of her life as a mother, and you will see yourself in each one of these stories. Some of the stories made me laugh out loud, while others brought tears to my eyes. And many of the stories spoke directly to my heart and soul as they were not just the author’s stories, but they were also my stories with different names and different triggers but the same nonetheless. And in each case, she goes to scripture and draws a wise lesson for us to learn from her experiences.
In fact, this book is overflowing with scripture passages and applies those passages to our struggles and challenges as a mother. That is why I said at the beginning of my review that this book is packed with practical wisdom. As knowledge is just information but wisdom is applying that knowledge to real situations. As I mentioned, the author uses her stories to share not only her wisdom (applied knowledge) but also to share wisdom from God’s word to the situations we face as mothers. That is the second best thing I love about this book is that it is geared toward Christian moms. Because let’s face it, we are moms but more than that we are Christian moms. And as Christian moms, we have additional tools in our toolbox or additional weapons in our arsenal if you will, when we keep the perspective of Christian moms.
So what is the meat of the message? The author tackles 8 villains that seek to steal our joy as moms, 8 villains that undermine who we can be, and 8 villains that the enemy uses to hold us prisoner to the Super Mom myth, 8 villains that are very real emotions we will face in our life as a mom. Therefore, we need to know how to handle them when we do face them. And this book devotes an entire chapter to very practical, real life ways to be preparing for and respond to these villains. These 8 villains include: anger, worry, comparison, busyness, and unhealthy approaches to housework, exhaustion, husband neglect, and self-neglect.
So get a copy of this work, roll up your sleeves and prepare for God to do a work in your heart, to speak through this author into your very real challenges as a mother. And you will learn much in the journey. By the way, I didn’t realize it at first, but the author has included an appendix with both discussion questions and an application challenge for each chapter. These questions and applications can be used individually in your own studies or would be an excellent book for a book club and bible study group.
Personally, my daughter is starting her journey as an adult but I am still a mom and I learned much in these chapters. In fact, this book is for every mom no matter where you are on your journey of motherhood. I plan on purchasing several copies of this book and making it a Christmas gift to several moms in my family and in my church family.