Zen Parenting: Caring for Ourselves and Our Children in an Unpredictable World

by Cathy Cassani Adams

*Nautilus Book Award Winner*
*International Book Award Winner*
*Readers' Favorite Book Award Winner*

The host of the top ranked Zen Parenting podcast and mother of three reveals a calmer, more self-aware parenting approach for parents to effectively teach and support their children: say less, but listen more. We can’t always plan for what’s next—that’s been made more and more clear in the past few years. The truth is that life is never predictable, especially as parents. What is possible is your unlimited capacity for compassion, and caring—for yourself and for your children. As you navigate the uncertainty with openness and humility, you find the clarity, connection and community that is Zen Parenting.
 
Using the seven chakras, therapist Cathy Cassani Adams discusses parenting issues such as school pressure, self-care, emotional intelligence, mental health, sexuality and gender, and more, while offering concrete examples and strategies to help you wake up to your life as a parent:
​
Chakra One—The Right to Be : Establish your physical, emotional, and mental foundation
Chakra Two—The Right to Feel : Practice creativity and how to access your emotions
Chakra Three—The Right to Act : Establish a sense of self for yourself and your kids 
Chakra Four—The Right to Love and Be Loved : Experience openheartedness, empathy, and compassion
Chakra Five—The Right to Speak and Hear Truth : Discover genuine and meaningful communication
Chakra Six—The Right to See : Explore mindfulness, meditation, and your own intuition
Chakra Seven—The Right to Know : Connect to something greater than yourself
 
“This book is my new favorite guide for parenting, to be sure. But it's also a master class in a life well-lived.”
—Dr. John Duffy, author of Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety and The Available Parent

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Childrens, Self Help, Audiobook, Family

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2022

About the author

Cathy Cassani Adams, LCSW, is the co-host of the long-running Zen Parenting Radio podcast and founder of the Zen Parenting Conference in Chicago. She is the author of Zen Parenting and Living What You Want Your Kids to Learn, both of which have won the Nautilus Award and the International Book Award. Her latest book, Restoring Our Girls, will be released in 2025. Cathy is a clinical social worker, certified parent coach, former elementary school educator, and yoga teacher. She currently teaches in the Sociology/Criminology Department at Dominican University and lives outside of Chicago with her husband, Todd, and their three daughters.

Reviews

[Miya (severe pain struggles, slower at the moment) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super interesting, easy to read, laid out clearly, not overwhelming or too deep to grasp. This is a fast read that any parent or caregiver can easily read through in a day or two. I like how everything is organized according to chakras. It is helpful to see what needs or lack of, affect us. Beautiful and compassionate. Perfect for AP and gentle parents or those looking to make some changes in their family.

[Grace Carscadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been listening to Zen Parenting Radio podcast for the past 4 years, so I pre-ordered this book as soon as I heard about it. I wasn’t disappointed! I read this slowly, taking time to think and implement after each chapter. I liked that it was organized by chakras and included bullet points at the end of each chapter.

[CallahansBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m pretty sure parenting is getting harder. Kids today can look forward to covid, school shootings, criminally predatory tuition and a sickeningly competitive atmosphere that creates more nervous breakdowns than it does CEOs (and why should that be the goal anyway!?).

On her podcast and in “Zen Parenting” Cathy Cassani Adams proposes an holistic approach to the World’s Hardest Job that could save Mama and Papa Bear epochs of aggravation. Mindfulness, breathing, self-compassion. The tools described will be familiar to anyone who has sought mental health treatment.

What makes “Zen Parenting” useful is its focus on applying common therapeutic techniques to the betterment of the whole family. The same work bravely done with a counselor can be an effective approach to parenting, but one must adapt it to the loving ordeal of raising a li’l human.

Books like this don’t pretend to be a replacement for the mental health services tragically unaffordable to so many Americans, but at least they can give parents a roadmap for helping themselves.

[Nicolette Gawthrop · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could also be aptly titled Zen People-ing- a useful resource for anyone, parent or not.

[Paula Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine but it was the same information that’s written in bigger, more well known books. It was repetitive information if you’ve read any other parenting books—The Whole-Brain Child, Raising Good Humans, etc.

Also this book was less about parenting and more about self-care and self-actualization. It wasn’t a bad book and the information is good and helpful, but to call it Zen Parenting seems a little misleading. It talks about parenting only a small percentage of the book.

I really disliked how often this book talked about the pandemic. It was clearly written during 2020 with all the quarantine talk and all the racism talking points (which, what does either of those things have to do with zen parenting?) this book just doesn’t translate with the times, in ten years it will be irrelevant because of how much it talks about the pandemic and that’s not my favorite thing in a book.

Finally, I’m not a very yoga-and-chakras kind of person so this book fell flat for me with all the talk of grounding yourself and meditating and “safe space” stuff. So eh. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but it wasn’t a bad book.


Pizza review: 5.4/10

[Laura Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I really enjoyed this book and found much of the information very relatable and useful. One of my favorite aspects of this book is the approach that the author takes. She is not condescending putting herself above the rest of us as a parenting expert, but extremely relatable.

This book is based on the 7 chakras and much of what it is devoted to is how to become a better parent by working on bettering ourselves. This is a quick and easy read with such good reminders and lessons to remember not to let our past experiences and traumas weigh on our children, our relationships with them, and dictate their future.

My only real hang up is that I feel this book with it's title will have a limited reach. The people who will reach for this book will not be the parents who so desperately need to hear these lessons to help them break unhealthy, generational cycles.

[Bruin Mccon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was recommended by the founder of a parent support group I follow. There are definitely useful nuggets in here but I found the book overwhelming because there were so many different things to think about and try. I’m guessing anyone interested in reading this book may already be struggling with worry and stress constantly turned up to 11, but maybe I’m an outlier.

Reading ZP did get me to reflect on my time with my kids and what I may be modeling (extreme stress! Emotional eating. Looking at mansions on Redfin and trying to convince yourself that the homes all have closets that are too small. Cruising animal shelter listings for dogs your husband will never agree to adopt. Etc.) that I really shouldn’t. And if this book is read as a bunch of ideas, find a few that work for you, then I think it works.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. This year I have pondered how to parent better. I keep wondering how I can manage my emotions and not feel like I am being selfish to use time that I could be with my kids to focus on my own well being. While there were TONS of messages in this book I found the ideas of role modeling coping mechanisms and self care as a way to teach your kids that you might not always be alright, but you can always get better, as being a message I would like to embody right away. I want to be the type of parent that listens to my kids when they come to me (and not to be jealous if they turn to another trusted adult) could start by having open and frequent conversations about emotions, puberty, sexuality, sex, relationships and anything else they are struggling to deal with could lead to less shame and more comfort and joy throughout their lives.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.
#NetGalley #HachetteBooks #CathyCassiniAdams

Zen Parenting is a parenting book based on the seven chakras. It’s very easy to read and very well organized. The author is clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about this subject. Normally I try to avoid parenting books because they usually make me feel bad about my parenting. This book was no exception. I don’t believe this was the author’s intent. Her methods are well thought out and sound great on paper. Unfortunately, I have a lot of trouble putting them into practice, as do many parents. I appreciate the attempt but I’ll continue to seek parenting information elsewhere.

[Lance McNeill · Rating 1 out of 5]

disappointing

I was hoping for a book more focused on zen and it’s potential intersection with parenting. Instead, I found about 80% of the content in here simply a regurgitation of what you find in most parenting books. The author missed an opportunity to deep dive into zen and what could have been a fascinating look at parenting through that paradigm. The author makes a fatal mistake in not writing that book and instead seems to try and write the book that Brene Brown would have written on parenting.

[Kelli Reagle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I liked the book. I like how it was broken up into the seven chakras. It was well written and organized.
I don't think I could put it into practice since my children are older. However, I do think this would be a good
book for someone with young children. It was a interesting read. Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

[Joan Nehls · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met Cathy when she taught Yoga in Elmhurst and I just loved her sense of self and the energy she brought to the class. So I was excited to see she wrote a book!

I was able to download and listen to her audiobook which unloaded such fantastic insights; especially in dealing with our kids. I really enjoyed her suggestions and wished I had the physical book to highlight and take notes.

[Bernickf · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read a book like this the author talks about other places they learned from ,- this read was a book I picked up cause it taught another author something, I think I'm learning from the connections being made from all the disparate forms or avenues of help all have similar info worded different or from a different perspective

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

…
Mostly harmless?
Kinda felt like a book written by someone who does not enjoy reading. I’ve never seen such violence done to the noble footnote. Citing Goodreads quote page? Ted talks? All the books listed are a who’s who off Oprah’s list for the past few years.

There is some good advice in here, but it all felt surface level - like wisdom cribbed mostly from inspirational instagram posts.

[Marinela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book. Would recommend to everyone not just parents. I cried a couple of times while listening to this book. It helped me realise some stuff about myself and will be coming back to the book for sure. Love the zen parenting radio podcast as well.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This book was great book and very insightful. I would not call it a “parenting book”, it is more of a guide to help uncover your authentic self to better care for your family.

[Mary Nee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, and easy to read! Very well organized! A good
book for someone with young children.

[Erin Nudi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting things to ruminate on.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read. I came away with a few parenting insights, but made even more notes for my own self. I suspect I'll add some of her recommended reading items to my list as well.

[Jenny Zabrocki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been listening to Cathy and Todd’s podcast for some time, so I picked up the book! It didn’t disappoint!

[Christian Muller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up thinking it would have advice on how to parent, but rather it was advice on how to be a parent. small difference, big consequences; loved it.

[Brit (britlovestoread)]

A pretty good read.
I felt like this summarized a lot about my approach to parenting and life in general.

Several good reminders and a handful of new ideas and perspectives.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

--
I received an Advance Review Copy from Hachette Books.

[Ashley]

DNF at 28%. Not what I was expecting from the title and what it did have was not what I was looking for. Very little parenting advice this far in (the introduction was 20% of the book), and way too many references to past trauma and to the pandemic.

[enchantingprose · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I studied chakras before so that part was a needed refresher. I did love how it explained each slowly and easily then set up ways to first help you the parent. Then ways to help and guide the kids. I definitely will be returning to read this book through out the years and growth of my child.