Parenting Love: Clever Ideas Learned from Raising 200 Children

Caitrin Bennett reviews a book with advice originally intended for foster parents, but which is helpful and uplifting for biological parents as well. 

Parenting Love: Clever Ideas Learned from Raising 200 Children 

By Kathleen Paydo 

Kathleen Paydo has fostered more than 200 children and raised four biological children to boot. Parenting Love: Clever Ideas Learned from Raising 200 Children is a loosely organized brain dump of some of the many joys, trials, and lessons from her long journey. While this book would be especially useful to foster parents, any parent will learn something here! 

As a parent to only three children, I was continuously amazed by the careful routines, habits, and expectations Paydo set up in her home. She and her husband guided each child that came into their lives towards kindness, diligence, and faith in God, whether the child was placed with them for only two days or for several years. She shared ways she was able to keep calm in the chaos and de-escalate difficult behaviors, from toddler tantrums up to teenagers skipping school. I picked up several tricks myself, such as creating a visual schedule for my younger kids to anticipate what is coming next and not engaging with a child’s cries of “not fair” but instead just calmly repeating your expectation of the child. 

Parenting Love is mostly for foster parents, and reading it gave me so much respect for all of the men and women who take up this calling. You will find some accounts of neglect and abuse that are very painful to read here, but also get to see some of those same children coming back to visit years later with lives that are full of joy and love. Foster parents, or those considering this path, will find helpful advice here about parent visits, complicated medical needs, helping children heal from trauma, and how to decide whether to take on another child of a certain age or gender right now. This book will help you organize your home and schedule to be successful as a foster parent! 

It is abundantly clear that Paydo and her husband have a love for children, and that they answered God’s call to love time and time again. If you are a parent looking for advice on running a Christ-centered, calm, and happy home, this may be a helpful book for you. If you are considering becoming a foster parent, this will unquestionably be a helpful book for you — buy it immediately! 

Is this a book you'd like to read? Share your thoughts with the Catholic Mom community! You'll find the comment box below the author's bio and list of recommended articles.

Copyright 2024 Kathleen Paydo
Images: Canva