{ Let them be kids by Jessica Smartt - TLC Book Tour }

Paperback: 256 Pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (June 9, 2020)

As every parent hopes to raise kids with good manners and values, Jessica Smartt’s practical guide fills the gaps of uncertainty and provides tips on how parents can equip their children in purity, faith, and creativity.

Former English teacher and homeschooling mother of three, Jessica Smartt felt the weight of helping prepare her kids for life, especially with all the outside pressures and influence of the world. She struggled with how she could raise her children with a sense of adventure, self-confidence, manners, faith, and the ability to utilize technology wisely.

Let Them Be Kids is Jessica’s offering of grace and confidence to moms, giving them practical ideas to meet these challenges. Her well-researched, tested methods, woven together with her personal stories and witty humor, deliver wisdom on the tough topics of life, such as

• family time vs. outside activities,
• being “cool” or not,
• boredom,
• technology usage
• sexual purity, and
• showing grace when kids disobey.

Part story and part guidebook, every chapter includes doable strategies and encouragement for the journey.

Let Them Be Kids helps moms feel confident and equipped with ways to provide a safe, healthy, Christ-centered childhood for their children. It leads them to conquer fear and find truth that transforms them and their families as it reminds them how to enjoy and cherish the special memory-making moments of building family values together.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Jessica Smartt

Jessica Smartt is a former English teacher turned homeschooling mama of three. A week after her first baby was born, she began her motherhood blog “Smartter” Each Day. Jessica and her husband live in beautiful North Carolina, where she loves hiking with kids (mostly), steaming coffee in the afternoon, family bike rides, and anything that’s ever been done to a potato.

Connect with Jessica

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

REVIEW
Motherhood, so many feelings that come from that single word.

The biggest feeling is that of unconditional, all encompassing, truest form of love.  They are our babies, from the moment they are conceived, all through the crazy toddler years, the harder teenage years and even into adulthood.

See, you never stop being a parent, it's not a job that ends when they turn 21 or move away from home, the circumstances just change, and their need for us too.  It's not that they don't need us, it's just that they need us in a different way.

When I accepted the review request for Let them be kids, I wasn't quite sure how it would apply to me at this point of my life.  My daughter is 21, my son is 17, so not exactly the little kid age anymore.  But I am so glad that I read the book.

One thing that caught my eye, is that every chapter in the book begins with The Gift of......

So often when we are caught in the humdrum of every day life, especially with little ones, where we have one on one side of the room throwing a tantrum, have just stepped for the millionth time over a sharp toy, and wiped snotty noses non stop, we tend to not look at our children as gifts, but as handfuls.

Jessica Smartt focuses on those things that we sometimes take for granted.  Family traditions, family values, habits, days of boredom and days of imagination.  But the book itself also touches on aspects such as instilling work ethic, manners and kindness, which I think transcends any and every age.

Back in my day, when I got bored, I played with dolls, I draw, I colored, I made up silly games, but mainly, I went outside to play in the back yard.

Now we live in a time where we pop our kids in front of a tv screen or hand them an I pad or a cellphone with a cute game on, to keep them entertained when faced with the dreaded "Mom I'm bored".

Jessica Smartt, engages the viewers with ideas and advice on how to beat the boredom without turning to technology.

She touches on subjects and topics that every parent goes through and at times needs a little help.  As I said above, my children are older and I only wish that I had this book to look back on when they were little.  I remember those frantic days where I counted the minutes until my husband was home, so I could pass the kids on and get at least 30 minutes of peace.

Thing is, even though it's hard at times, we need to let our children be kids, be themselves, be creative.  It is a book that includes more Christian and conservative view points, as well as ways to incorporate God into your children's upbringing.

Thank you to TLC Tours and the Thomas Nelson publishers,  for providing me with a review copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.