Hiding From the Kids in My Prayer Closet
BY: Jessica Kastner
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First Person • Nonfiction • 208 Pages
About the Book:
Soon after Jessica Kastner became a mother, she wondered if she was the only mom who found pretend play more boring than watching playdough harden and who dreaded yet another friend s Instagram post of homemade deliciousness.
In Hiding from My Kids in the Prayer Closet, Kastner shares her experience as an unmom a mom who loves her kids more than she loves the daily experience of mothering. She helps readers laugh at the ridiculous, delight in the unpredictable, and enjoy being the mothers God made them to be.
Why I Choose this Book:
The premises sounded intriguing, and I read some samples and Miss Jessica’s writing is fantastic. Plus, even though I’m not a mom, I find it really interesting to read books on parenting to see the whats and whys and hows behind how kids are raised. The reasonings and logic behind such things fascinate me. (“Oh! Is that why parents let kids get away with this and stood firm on that?”)
What I Thought about this Book:
First off: Miss Jessica’s writing style is amazing. The book drew me in right away and I was kept on a fast-paced, flipping-pages journey all of the way through. I imagine her as a very high-energy type of person, running through her house at the last minute throwing everything together, always one step away from disaster. (Which is kinda the way she described herself, but not quite.)
She was so real and open and very amusing. I can imagine overwhelmed moms laughing and crying with how much they can relate to the book. It’s also very candid, so if you’re not prepared to hear frank discussions of childbirth and various situations that come about when you’re raising children, then this book isn’t for you. (And, if you’re not a mom, it’s probably not for you anyway, even though *I* personally found it enjoyable, and even somewhat relatable at times seeing how I am around lots of little kids.)
Some of the chapters ended with tips of how to avoid/overcome the issues that were talked about in those chapters, and it was some solid advice. Overall the book was heavy on the amusement and relatable-factor, and light on the faith side, and somehow it was the perfect combo.
So, with all these amazing things to say about the book, why did it only get three stars? This is probably a controversial thing to say, but I think our words are extremely important, and even though it’s quite clear that the author really, really loves her children, she does talk about how they were “accidents.” And I totally get what she’s saying, but I didn’t like how she joked about it throughout the book. There were also a few other things like that which brought the rating down from four stars. I could go into it more, but I’ll refrain. Other than that though, the book was pretty amazing.
Conclusion:
Overwhelmed moms would probably either find this hilarious or chaotic. I have a feeling I’ll be re-reading this book one day in the future after I have a houseful of kids.
Rating:
I’m giving Hiding from the Kids in My Prayer Closet 3 out of 5 stars, 6 out of 10.
*I received this book free from Litfuse in exchange for an honest review
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