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Woman First, Family Always: Real-Life Wisdom from a Mother of Ten    by Kathryn Sansone Amazon.com order for
Woman First, Family Always
by Kathryn Sansone
Order:  USA  Can
Georgetown, 2006 (2006)
Hardcover
*   Reviewed by Hilary Daninhirsch

Kathryn Sansone had her fifteen minutes of fame on the Oprah show, when she revealed how she stayed in shape despite her pregnancy. At the time, she was nearing forty and pregnant with her ninth child.

At the time of publication of Woman First, Family Always, her ten children ranged in age from eight months to eighteen. In her book, Sansone attempts to show how she creates a balance between herself, her family and her marriage. Her book is a how to primer on organizing the different aspects of a woman's life.

Sansone offers very basic, commonsense guidelines, such as: give children your attention, make mealtimes joyful, play a sport, be wary of fad diets, or keep materialism in check. Some may object to the old-fashioned advice, such as putting on lipstick every day, or greeting your husband at the door with a drink. Sansone is also a very spiritual person and much of her advice revolves around making time for praying.

The main concern I had with this book is that she really does not say how to take her advice and apply it to the reader's life. I got the feeling she was not telling us everything. Also, what works for her may not necessarily work for a mother of even just one child.

Don't expect any quick-fix solutions, magic secrets, or earthshattering revelations. Woman First, Family Always is a light read - that tells how someone with ten children manages a household - and can be enjoyed as such. But if you want deep psychological insights on these subjects, then this is not the book for you.

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