Becoming a Soulful Parent: A Path to the Wisdom Within

Parents must listen to their own inner voices before they can attend to their children’s needs, advises educational consultant Berkowitz in her insightful debut. Many books on parenting are counterproductive, she writes, as parents often end up feeling like failures when they try to apply what they’ve learned and come up short. To reorient thinking, Berkowitz proposes four questions—“Where am I (given an issue or question)? How do I want to grow? What obstacles get in my way? What’s a small step I can take toward moving forward?”—rather than how-tos, personal anecdotes, or workbook exercises. Answering these questions, Berkowitz writes, will bring parents in touch with their own spirituality and inner voice, allowing for better communication and problem-solving. Frank about her own mistakes and struggles, she recounts how she dealt with her children’s outbursts at school (by asking herself what she was “called on” to teach in that moment ) and confronted unwelcome distance in her marriage (by checking in with herself and not letting the relationship function “on autopilot”). While references to Jewish philosophies and concepts are plentiful, the issues she confronts are universal, such as limiting screen time, dealing with sibling rivalries, and balancing differing parenting styles. Parents in search of a more spiritual approach to raising their kids will appreciate these useful lessons. (Mar.)