Am I Doing This Right?: Making Choices Without Mom Guilt

by Rebecca Fox Starr

A choose-your-own-adventure-style gift book to combat mom guilt from social worker Rebecca Fox Starr

Motherhood is a constant barrage of choices. Bottle or breast? Alone time or playtime? And how much is too much screentime? No matter the choice we make, mothers often end up feeling guilty, as if we are never doing enough. But no more! In this choose-your-own-adventure style guide, social worker Rebecca Fox Starr guides moms through the apocalyptic newborn phase, the jungle of toddlerhood, and the dead ends and booby traps of raising teens with one simple message: You are doing a great job. You are more than enough. The perfect gift for mothers who are doing their best every day, Am I Doing This Right? is the comforting affirmation we need to show ourselves some compassion and appreciate the choices we make each day for the families we love.

Genres: Nonfiction

164 pages, Hardcover

Published March 25, 2025

Reviews

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Am I Doing This Right? is a helpful and guiding 'choose your own adventure' type book of situations for mums of all age groups of children from baby to teenage.
The book gives scenarios that you then choose your own outcome of and provides practical and research-based coping strategies throughout the book. Readers may find they only need certain areas/age groups to use within the book but it's practical guide makes it universal and worth lending to friends and family for support and guidance too. The book is non-judgemental and encouraging with plenty of mindfulness strategies that there will be something within it for all.

[Kait Bowen-Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute choose your own adventure book. A sweet read for mothers everywhere!

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book uses a fun (and nostalgic!) format to discuss some serious and important issues. This book is designed to address moms of kids from multiple age groups, which means that it has a wider audience, but less of the book may seem immediately applicable to each person. However, the practical, research-based coping strategies that can be used in a variety of scenarios make this book useful to everyone. Some of the examples and phrasing may be triggering to some readers. However, the point of this book is to address difficult aspects of parenting in a compassionate, non-judgmental, encouraging way - and it succeeds in doing so. I recommend this book as a resource for parents looking for multiple mindfulness strategies in one resource.

Thank you to NetGalley and Familius Books for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions.

[Valerie Aethra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a parent, but I picked this book out of sheer curiosity, and it didn't disappoint. The thought of parenting scares me, but I am a knowledge-hungry gremlin who loves reading about experiences not her own. It is eye opening to read about parenting -- both from a biologist's point of view and a writer's -- now I can craft even more compelling parents ('Oh, but Val, you write traumatised fantasy characters, do they even have parents?' 'SHUSH.').

Now this book, written in the form of a CHYOA doubles as a workbook of coping exercises, and is not your typical self-help sermon-filled book. And again, like the curious cat I am, I had to peek into the endless possibilities and read through all the choices. There is so much to learn that can be applied to more than parenting/being a parental figure.

Again, come on, you know better than to dangle an illustrated book in front of me and expecting me not to read it.

Would make an excellent gift for someone you know who is expecting a child, or is looking after one!

[Brijeet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author did something ingenious with "Am I Doing This Right": created a self help book for parents that teaches a variety of skills borrowing on techniques such as DBT and mindfulness, packaged in a approachable way through a nostalgic "choose your own adventure" format.

You begin by starting "your day" as a parent, then based on the age of your child, the book tells you which page to flip to. Various parenting challenges unfold, and you have choices to make; you then go to the corresponding page based on what you decide.

One path, for example, took me through deciding whether to pick my teen up from school when the nurse suggested it sounded like an excuse; the coping mechanism of F.A.S.T. (communicate fairly, apologize, stick to values, and be truthful) was organically woven in to the vignette without feeling overly like a self help book, but instead you feel like you are learning something through observing the character. In another place, the character copes with something upsetting using the DBT skill of Wise Mind (a balance of emotional mind and logical mind). It is written with warmth and empathy and is affirming of the challenges and imperfections inherent in parenting.

Thanks to Netgalley & Independent Publishers Group for the ARC.

[Tam Desai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A choose your own adventure of mom experiences where you can select how to handle each scenario and learn tools to get through it. Focusing on those difficult moments where you can feel alone and like every decision is the wrong one or is worthy of judgement. There are three stories per age group: babies, kids, and tweens/teens. There was a lot of empathy and compassion in these stories and the tools are useful to any new parent, though the pages are geared towards birthing parents.

#NetGalley

[Megan O'Polka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun format to provide research-based strategies to help moms at any stage cope. You are able to choose your own adventure! Some may only choose the path that they are currently on, while others will look forward or backward. As a newer mom this was useful and compassionate. I very much liked it.