Don't Forget to Say Thank You: And Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God

Do you hear yourself saying the same things over and over to your kids?
“Do you need help?”
“Say thank you.”
“Wait a minute.”

In Don’t Forget to Say Thank You: And Other Parenting Lessons That Brought Me Closer to God, Lindsay Schlegel reimagines the common phrases we repeat as parents and applies them to our relationship with God. In doing so, she demonstrates how reflecting on our vocation as mothers can inform and illuminate our role as a daughter of God, drawing us closer to him.

What if we took the statements we repeat to our children and apply them to ourselves?

In Don’t Forget to Say Thank You, writer Lindsay Schlegel shares fifteen relatable phrases she frequently uses as a parent and how her faith and life changed when she envisioned God telling her these same things.

When we start to hear the things we’re telling our kids as wisdom from God, it’s clear that the lessons we are trying to teach our kids are ones we also need to learn as children of the Most High.

Asking her daughter, “Do you need help?” caused Schlegel to reflect on the importance of the Communion of Saints and reaching out for the assistance she needs. Telling her children, “Say you’re sorry” reminded her of the necessity of Confession and seeking forgiveness. And pleading that a toddler “wait a minute” while she looked for her crackers forced Schlegel to consider how she needed to have both more patience and more trust that God would take care of her.

Schlegel invites us to apply the same lessons she learned to our own lives as parents and as children of God through reflection questions and a prayer at the end of each chapter. She also suggests saints to whom we can look for inspiration and guidance, reminding us that we are not alone as we strive to more accurately reflect the image of our heavenly Father.

Lindsay Schlegel is a freelance writer and editor and a regular contributor to Verily magazine and CatholicMom.com. She served in various roles in the book publishing industry for more than a decade.

Schlegel earned a bachelor’s degree in English and German from Boston College in 2008. She lives with her family in northern New Jersey.

Danielle Bean is editorial director for the Knights of Columbus. She is the host of the Girlfriends podcast and cohost of The Gist on CatholicTV.

Bean is the author of several books, including Giving Thanks and Letting Go, Small Steps for Catholic Moms, Momnipotent, and You Are Enough. She is a retreat leader and a popular speaker on a variety of subjects related to Catholic family life, education, marriage, and motherhood.

She lives in New Hampshire with her family.