In honor of this Mother's Day, I'm reprinting my review of a book I think every mother should read. And a book that reminds me of what is truly important...giving my son the best future I can.

The Mom I Want to Be
By T. Suzanne Eller

When I first started reading this book, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, the covers says “Rising above your past to give your kids a great future.” But there isn’t anything in my past to rise above. I grew up in a great house with great parents. I wasn’t abused, neglected or abandoned by my parents in any way. But I decided to read on and I’m glad I did.

As the author talks about her and her mother’s background and lives, I can’t relate. As I said above, I didn’t grow up in a house with screaming parents and beatings. But it did make me stop and think about the house my child is growing up in. As the book progresses, Mrs. Eller touches on forgiveness. She outlines why forgiveness is important...not just to the person receiving it, but likewise to the person giving it. In fact forgiveness is a very big part of this book.


Mrs. Eller then delves into perspective. Perspective is not something I’d ever given much thought to. But this chapter made me thing of my own son’s perspective of what goes on in our house. I have a feeling this revelation will change some things for us going forward!

The next section, Setting Boundaries, deals with how we can help how others interact in our lives and the lives of our children. I think most of us do this to some degree, but we all should realize how this will shape the future adults our children are destined to be.

The last chapter I want to touch on is “Becoming a Risk Taker”. One quote from Erwin McManus says, “When we keep our challenges manageable, we not only manage our fear, but squelch our faith.” I had never thought of it this way.

So even though I am not a mother with a past that needs ‘rising above’, I gained many insights, or “Aha!” moments reading this wonderful book. I certainly recommend it for all women.