Useful “Minimalist Parenting” Would Have Benefited From Some Subtle Tweaks

Having recently reached a milestone birthday, nothing cemented my crash landing into middle-aged-dom more than my voluntary decision to purchase and read “Minimalist Parenting,” by Christine Koh and Asha Dornfest.

After checking my family jewels gender identity at the door, I embarked on this book, which was billed as a way to “enjoy modern family life more by doing less.” Which, I must admit, is a rather compelling idea.

This work suffered from a lack of art and pictures, and with so much copy staring at you, it came across as dense in areas. However, it did contain some good advice and tips—in particular, some cool apps I hadn’t heard of—and did offer tons o’ resources.

The humorous tone of my intro notwithstanding, though, I did find the book to be a bit exclusionary, in the sense that it spoke directly to women. Which is not completely surprising, of course, but I found it a bit short-sighted when placed in the context of the goal of the book.

That being said, the messages of being inundated with too many choices and obligations, optimizing your life, eliminating the unnecessary, and clarifying what value and priority means to you certainly hit the mark. Faced with a dearth of quality time already, it’s hard not to remember one of the lessons of Ferris Bueller: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

From decluttering to retirement plans to time-saving tricks, “Minimalist Parenting” achieved a pretty good balance between useful direction and New Age-y validation. While it could have been improved with more inclusive language and more welcoming design elements, this book was worth the read for a parent seeking honest self-improvement and a more rewarding home life.