The Busy Mom’s Guide is a series of paperback books that focus on helping families in the areas of parenting young children, parenting teens, and family nutrition.  Each book follows a simplistic question and answer format, and tackles its subject area by breaking down huge amounts of information into smaller bite-sized pieces, making it perfect for moms on the go.  Each book is also written from a Christian perspective. The content of each book is drawn from The Complete Guide to Baby and Child Care and The Complete Guide to Family Health, Nutrition, and Fitness and has been updated and repackaged for easy accessibility.

Busy Mom’s Guide to Family Nutrition provides moms with nutritional basics, help selecting vitamins and supplements, weight loss strategies, facts about weight loss medications and surgeries, as well as help for overweight children and teens.  If you’ve asked the question, “How do I get my family to eat healthy foods?” then this is the book for you.  Dr. Reisser gives many practical tips on how to add healthy alternatives to your everyday diet.  Simply placing a bowl of fruit for children to snack on in the family room or kitchen counter can curb the quick habit of pulling down a bag of chips off the pantry shelf. This book contains a thorough index of subjects, so that you can easily find the answers you want.

Busy Mom’s Guide to Parenting Young Children takes you from birth through the “terrible twos” and the preschool years with tips on discipline, sleep patterns, eating, play, potty training, and more. Inside the pages of this book, you will be taken by the hand as practical tips are given to help assist you in raising your young child. Questions about everything from breastfeeding to scripture passages on spiritual development will be answered, as you read through this parenting manual. I no longer have children in this age range, so much of this book did not apply to me at this stage in my life, but it would have been a valuable resource to keep on my shelf for those times of discouragement as a mother of young children. 

Busy Mom’s Guide to Parenting Teens gives you tips and solid advice, as your child heads into the teen years and fights for his or her independence. Independence is the ultimate goal that I am trying to achieve with my children. Each chapter starts out with a scripture passage leading you back to God’s Word for direction. You will also find questions and answers on the physical and emotional changes, increased peer pressure, social networking, sexuality, and the many other obstacles that are thrown head-on at your child, as they head into their adolescent years. The teen years do not have to be dreaded, and this book shows you how to take this journey together hand-in-hand, while learning to thrive as a family. Some of these topics will not be easy to cover, but with the guidance given, you can rest assured that you are not alone. One of my favorite quotes from the book was – “As a parent, you have been entrusted by God to help mold your teenager’s character, values, and spirituality while preparing her for such practical matters as choosing a career, handling finances, and finding a spouse.  This is a tall order, but the important assignment of preparing adolescents for the future can indeed be accomplished – one small step at a time.”

I like that each book focuses on one subject, making it easier for me to choose the book I want instead of purchasing information that I do not need. I also like that the size of the book lends itself easily to be carried on the go. The only negative that I could see is that if you already own either The Complete Guide to Baby and Child Care or The Complete Guide to Family Health, Nutrition, and Fitness, then you may find a lot of the information to be repetitive. Overall, these small books are fully packed with encouragement, guidance, and knowledge to help you as you raise your family in today’s busy and harried world.

Product Review by Melissa Langley, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, August, 2012