Life on Planet Mom

So I was sent the book "Life on Planet Mom: a down-to-earth guide to your changing relationships" by the MOPS people to review and tell everyone about. It's written by Lisa T. Bergren and is the theme book for the 2009-2010 MOPS year. The main point of the theme ("Together on planet Mom") for the year is that when you have your first baby (either through birth or through adoption), all of your relationships change as a result. Some of them change for the better, some for the worse, and some just disappear.

The book focuses on six different relationships that are vital to a mom: your relationship with yourself, your spouse, your family, your friends, the world, and God. In each chapter, Ms. Bergren gives understanding and encouragement for a mom as she navigates each of these relationships and how they change when kids enter into the picture. She also gives practical advice on how to maintain or even improve each relationship.

Scattered throughout the book are responses to an online survey that MOPS moms were invited to take. I can't tell you how surprised I was when I read one quote that sounded vaguely familiar only to have it attributed to "Leia!" Yep, I'm quoted in the book! Pg. 138, if you're curious! I only barely remember the survey, but how cool is that? :)

My favorite chapter was the one on how your relationship with the world changes when you become a mom. It's very important to me that my children get exposed to many different opportunities to help various people both locally and around the world. Finding toddler-friendly service opportunities may be difficult, but it's slowly becoming a passion of mine. At the very least, it was good to be encouraged that sometimes even if the kids can't come, it's good for them to see their parents serving in various ways.

Coming from mostly a fiction background, Ms. Bergren begins each chapter with a short snippet of the lives of four friends who are in various life stages and situations. Without being too hokey, the various situations give excellent examples of ways that relationships change with kids, but how important it is to work to maintain important relationships in our lives.

All in all, I liked this book (really there _are_ books out there that I don't like, MOPS just seems to be sending me books that are well-written, interesting, and pertinent to me - I promise I'd let you know if they were bad or poorly-written). I'm really looking forward to this new MOPS year and am excited to get to share what I already know about the theme with the rest of our steering team!

Thanks to MOPS for including me in their "Blog Book Tour!" I can't wait to see what they send next! :)