"While it's easy to allow little things to take over our lives, there are things we can do to make life around the house less stressful," writes Richard Carlson in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff with Your Family: Simple Ways to Keep Daily Responsibilities and Household Chores from Taking Over Your Life. In this collection of 98 brief essays, Carlson (author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ... And It's All Small Stuff) meditates on small, but meaningful ways to avoid being overwhelmed by life, particularly family life. From Number 8: Make Peace with Bickering, to Number 14: Encourage Boredom in Your Children, to Number 72: Stop Exaggerating Your Workload, Carlson's messages serve as reminders for truisms most readers already know but have lost sight of in the bustle of daily life. Carlson's "ways" may be simple, but simplicity is not stupid--his book offers vital injections of wisdom. --Ericka Lutz


From AudioFile
Richard Carlson discusses the basic tools family members, and especially parents, need to stay balanced throughout the roller-coaster ride of family interaction. Carlson's narration conveys an important sense of harmony and peacefulness that busy parents will appreciate and learn from. For these parents, Carlson is the master of setting family priorities. However, parents already comfortable with the way they are maintaining their family ties may find Carlson's tone and inflection borderline condescending in his statement of the obvious. Carlson's illustrative anecdotes, which to some may be informative, might strike the listener as impersonal and humorless. Carlson has important ideas and advice to convey to struggling or frantic families, but his overly relaxed style isn't genuine and leaves the listener cold. H.L.S. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In his number one national bestseller, Don't Sweat The Small Stuff, Richard Carlson, Ph.D., showed listeners how not to let the small things in life drive them crazy. In Don't Worry, Make Money, also a number one bestseller, he discussed ways to have a more abundant and joyful life, all while refusing to let financial concerns overcome us.

Now, in Don't Sweat The Small Stuff with Your Family, we hear how not to let small annoyances in our home lives get us down. From defusing kids who are whining or fighting, to working out issues with a spouse, to reducing the hassles over household chores, Richard Carlson tells us ways to make our relationships at home, the place where it counts most, more peaceful and loving.

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