Love-Centred Parenting by Crystal Paine

Book Review Nov 25, 2023

My review

2/5 stars

I've been following Crystal Paine on social media for a few years now, as I find a lot of her parenting content interesting and useful. For that reason, and the fact that I read her time management book earlier in the year, I felt that Love-Centred Parenting would be a good next place to go with her content.

What I appreciated about the book was the accessibility of the parenting tips that she shared. They were shared with love and care, from a position of personal experience and genuinely wanting to help others. The author did not have to go into the level of personal detail that she did around how she came to the conclusions that she was sharing in her book, but the fact that she did made the book feel more real and less judgemental than other parenting books than I've read in the past. This effect was compounded by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, as narrated by the author herself, so she was able to imbue her words with heartfelt sentiment and kindness.

Where the book fell down for me was the emphasis on religion. Don't get me wrong, I fully appreciate that the author is a religious woman, and that the book was published by a Christian book publisher, but I have read another of her books and found myself caught off guard by the heavy focus placed on religion in this one. I can accept that she feels strongly that her religion has driven her to find a better answer for how she parents her children, but those lessons are relevant regardless of your religious opinions and could have been shared without her emphasising hers quite so forcefully.

I also found the content to be repetitive. She addressed the same points and stories about her children several times over throughout the book. It diluted the message and served to make the book feel more like something I had to get through rather than enjoy.

I was sad not to enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed her other content over the years, but I'm sure the right audience would find it very helpful and interesting.

Book blurb

Do you worry that you're messing up your kids? Do you get stressed when you think about their futures? New York Times bestselling author Crystal Paine knows how you feel. A mom of four, Crystal has struggled with anxiety over parenting. She wanted to parent with grace, instead of a system of rules where kids are expected to do all the right things. She wanted to be a safe place for her children, and she definitely didn't want to be remembered as the sort of mom who yelled, wounded her kids with words, or worse, cared more about her reputation than her kids' hearts.