When a child is born parents feel on top of the world, but stress and exhaustion can soon take over, leaving nerves frayed. In this concise, practical book Christiane Kutik highlights twelve simple steps for bringing some peace, composure and enjoyment back into everyday family life. She bases her approach on providing a solid underlying structure to family life, with clear roles, rules, routine and respect. She goes on to show how your family can grow together through incorporating enjoyable rituals, being responsive to your children, giving them the support they need and the space to develop their own abilities. She discusses ways to introduce moments of calm and spiritual connection into everyday life. She also stresses the importance of parents trying to make a little time for themselves to reflect on life and relax. This is a book written specifically for parents with no time and little energy -- short, easy-to-absorb and easy-to-implement steps to quickly improve family life.

Christiane Kutik is a mother of two, an interior designer, teacher and parenting consultant. She is a director at the IPSUM Institute in Munich, which trains parental advisors in early-years childcare. She gives lectures and seminars on practical issues relating to daily childcare and family life.