I first came across the book, “940 Saturdays” by Harley A. Rotbart, MD in a brief snippet in Parents Magazine. Turns out Dr. Rotbart is a regular consultant for the magazine. The periodical put a number to a lingering thought in most parents’ minds; we don’t have these beautiful blessings we call children at home forever. 940 Saturdays. Seems like so many and yet, so very few. Rotbart encourages us to take advantage of the time we have together as a family and make sure that we plan weekly activities to bond as a unit. I love the idea and as a blogger focused on family and children it’s hard to pass up the idea of generating fun family ideas and recording them for posterity.
Please note the bulk of the book is actually a journal. Ten lines are provided per Saturday (1-940) with space to fill in the date. Two Saturdays make up each page. Each section is labeled as a Saturday, but Rotbart does allow that special activities and events can be enjoyed on other days of the week…lol
Still the word Saturday is listed by each entry. I wonder if when using this book I would either “strike-through” the day and enter a different day of the week or just leave it and hope my children would recognize that I knew the numerical date written didn’t actually match up with a Saturday when they read the entries later in adulthood.
In the back of the book there is a much smaller booklet that offers ideas for families with children ages 0-2, 2-5, 5-11, 11-14, and 14-18. Many of the ideas are obvious, such as sharing a good book or baking cookies. Others are less so, such as building a geodesic dome (yes, I had to google) or celebrating uncommonly observed holidays such as a beloved pet’s birthday or the arrival of the first crocus in the garden.
This journal/activity book would make an excellent gift for parents who enjoy chronicling their family adventures. This may be an unfortunate gift for perfectionists or those who are already feeling pressure to record their child’s every move. As a blogger it can be overwhelming to record each and every detail and picture of every outing, this journal offers an easy and accessible alternative to quickly jot down some details of the outing for later review.
Dr. Rotbart is also the author of “No Regrets Parenting,” manual aimed at helping parents focus on enjoying the moments, not counting the minutes of parenthood.
Happy Reading!!!
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.
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