How to Stop Yelling Up the Stairs: Keeping Your Cool While Raising Your Kids

The Awkward Mom blogger Breitenstein (Permanent Markers) provides pragmatic, faith-infused guidance on how moms can better regulate their anger. Dismissing notions of a “godly femininity” that means sublimating one’s feelings in order to serve others, she reassures readers that their emotions are legitimate, acknowledged by God, and should be tackled from the root up, as anger can be a secondary emotion sparked by fear or rejection. She offers strategies for handling anger in the moment and in the long term, including by working through past family traumas that have shaped one’s parenting approach. She also wisely clarifies that anger isn’t in itself a negative emotion and touts the benefits of bringing one’s difficult emotions to God. While the author’s stress-reduction tips aren’t new, she does valuable work in highlighting the insidious ways in which women often suppress their emotions, in dismantling reductive stereotypes about Christian femininity, and in reassuring readers that experiencing a full spectrum of emotions is part of being alive. The result is a compassionate resource for mothers seeking peace of mind. (Apr.)