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A review by hannahebartholomew
Hold On, But Don't Hold Still: Hope and Humor from My Seriously Flawed Life by Kristina Kuzmic
5.0
This book is overflowing with parenting wisdom, lessons in compassion, and hilarious anecdotes. Kristina takes a nonjudgmental, fun, but also strict approach to parenting and life in general. Here are a few of my takeaways.
- Hope is more valuable than negativity, especially during our darkest times. Kristina speaks candidly about maintaining perspective during a very painful and traumatic miscarriage.
- Love prevails, as shown by the story of a wedding during war time.
- Self judgement distracts us from happy and special moments.
- Your children will remember and carry the things you say and they will believe them. “My job is not to decide who my kids are, my job is to get to know them, really get to know them.”
- Relate to your kids as people, not as prototypes. “Childhood is not a dress rehearsal for life, childhood is life.”
- “If we attach our self worth to a job title, we set ourselves up for an identity crisis.”
- Authenticity is powerful. Turn up the volume on your strengths and tune out the negative things people say about you.
- “Parents who contemplate suicide genuinely believe that their children will be better without them.”
- “Relationships require work... Our marriage isn’t perfect, it isn’t supposed to be. Happily ever after is only as happy as the amount of real work we’re willing to put in to it, even when we don’t feel like it... Getting married doesn’t mean that the search for love is over. The search for the person to love is over, but the search for how to love that person is just beginning.”
- Winging it is a completely valuable parenting skill. “Make plans in pencil, not sharpie.”
- Don’t take parenting personally. Let your children watch you own your mistakes and offer humble apologies. Modeling is the most important thing you can do for your kids.
- Hope is more valuable than negativity, especially during our darkest times. Kristina speaks candidly about maintaining perspective during a very painful and traumatic miscarriage.
- Love prevails, as shown by the story of a wedding during war time.
- Self judgement distracts us from happy and special moments.
- Your children will remember and carry the things you say and they will believe them. “My job is not to decide who my kids are, my job is to get to know them, really get to know them.”
- Relate to your kids as people, not as prototypes. “Childhood is not a dress rehearsal for life, childhood is life.”
- “If we attach our self worth to a job title, we set ourselves up for an identity crisis.”
- Authenticity is powerful. Turn up the volume on your strengths and tune out the negative things people say about you.
- “Parents who contemplate suicide genuinely believe that their children will be better without them.”
- “Relationships require work... Our marriage isn’t perfect, it isn’t supposed to be. Happily ever after is only as happy as the amount of real work we’re willing to put in to it, even when we don’t feel like it... Getting married doesn’t mean that the search for love is over. The search for the person to love is over, but the search for how to love that person is just beginning.”
- Winging it is a completely valuable parenting skill. “Make plans in pencil, not sharpie.”
- Don’t take parenting personally. Let your children watch you own your mistakes and offer humble apologies. Modeling is the most important thing you can do for your kids.