Review # 58: Eat, Nap, Play by Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks

Title: Eat Nap Play

Author: Robyn Spizman and Evelyn Sacks

Genre: Parenting/Education

Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.

Format: Review Copy from Publisher

ISBN: 978-0-7573-1361-5

Price/Pages: $14.95/212

Release Date: In Stores now

My Review and Description:

I find it incredibly appropriate that my first review after my new blog design is a parenting book. Now that I have a sweet little picture of my little red head watching over the blog, it makes this review all the more fun! Thank you to TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

The title along caught my eye considering I have read Eat, Pray, Love; I thought this was a magnificent take off from that. Eat Nap Play is a very helpful resource book for parents of children toddler to teens. Written by two women who are former art teachers, writers, media personalities and parenting experts, they worked together to create this guide for inexpensive ways to entertain your kids and family.

The subtitle of this book is How To Get Even More Out Of Your Child's Day For Less. Talk about right timing for this subject to get addressed. With the economy the way it is and many parents losing jobs, it is really important to be money smart. It is not only helpful to your piggy bank but it teaches your children how to manage money and be creative.

I am the mother of a two year old which most readers out there now know. I am also a full-time Stay at Home Mom. So, when a book like this falls in my lap, you better believe it becomes dog eared very quickly.

The layout is super easy to read and pick up at different points depending on your type of family, ages of kids, or your particular issues at hand. It starts out with the basics and how important it is to realize that you do not have to spend lots of money when you are with your kids. That may appear easier for some but in the long run, using some of these simple steps, you could save a lot of time and money.

The rest of the chapters flow like this:

• Family Activites
• Mommy, I'm still bored!
• Food and Kitchen Fun
• Swap, Shop, Barter, Share
• Parties
• Low cost to No cost Gifts
• School savings
• Techno Kids
• Lists of Resources and Freesources

Each chapter is very descriptive in creative ideas. I was left pretty amazed at the authors' ability to create something out of nothing at times.

A few of the dog eared portions I liked fell under the Food and Kitchen Fun. My husband loves t cook and we are very particular about having healthy meals and variety for our son. We are also a huge fan of Jamie Oliver and his Food Revolution (Getting American to Eat Healthy). So one of the neat tricks in this book was to do "Fake Fast Food" (page 67). Though we rarely eat fast food, I know that a lot of people do in our society and this was a really neat idea to make it fun for the kids. Fast food is so familiar and all around and showing them that the real fast food is NOT healthy is important. The recipes for making it healthy are really easy and will get them thinking!

The next section I saved was the creation of a Proud of you Plate. My son may be a little young for this but I am going to use it for the future. You create and design a plate with your child or children to be brought out by the parents on special occasions or when they do a good deed, get a good grade, etc. I really liked this idea of rewarding your children with something so simple.

One more part I enjoyed was the Swap Chapter. I never knew all that you could do with sharing within your community or online. I was actually just thinking of the Child Swap the other day. How great would it be to do a babysitter swap with a few other moms and get one afternoon off a week?!

I could go on listing the many neat ideas in this book but the nice thing it that at the end there is a very concise chapter that lists all of the websites and info mentioned in the previous chapters. This makes for quick reference!

Many of the ideas were for older children; I would say 4 and up but even if you have a little one like I do, it is still really helpful for you to start thinking in creative ways. By the time your kids get a little older you will be prepared! Or you can just brag to your friends about all the awesome, smart projects you know about and spread the word!

Thank you so much to TLC Book Tours for allowing me a chance to read and review this. My very worn copy is sitting very close my on my desk for easy reference.

Rating: 5 stars / 6 stars

Any parent would benefit from this book. It is organized easily so you don't feel like you have to sit down and read the whole thing at once to get the point. You can hop to any chapter that you want to try. Cheap, fun, easy, creative. You can't go wrong!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child