Rita Bergen - Tommys Wired and Mommys Tired: Help for Moms of High-Energy Kids (And Tips for Family and Friends)

Through touching stories of life with her son, Rita offers hugs laced with hope for mommas of super-active children. Practical, comforting words display understanding of all the weary, stressful moments that come with mothering. Beyond encouraging mommas, Rita shows friends how to walk supportively alongside. Her candid stories and specific, creative solutions focus on embracing grace and joy in the midst of hyperactive chaos.

Kelli Jordan ,

Leadership Development Manager, MOPS International

This is a delightful book full of insight and important information to help busy moms and dads parent their extra energy childinfant to teen. Parenting is the best and hardest job we will ever have, and Ritas book provides encouragement on the journey.

Cameron Meers ,

Licensed Clinical Marriage and Family Therapist

Dan Meers ,

Professional NFL Mascot (Kansas City Chiefs), motivational speaker, and author ofWolves Cant Fly

Tommys Wired and Mommys Tiredis an encouraging read for moms struggling to keep up with a high-energy child. Rita is empathic and practical and points the reader back to God whenever possible. I highly recommend!

Janel Wager ,

Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor

Every child is a special gift from God and especially those who come out of the womb with the energy of an F-5 tornado. So you have a hyperactive kid and you are looking for hope? Meet Rita Bergen! Her terrific anecdotes, insights, and biblical truth will aid moms (and perhaps even some dads) from the nursery room to graduation day and beyond.

Rod Handley ,

Character that Counts, Founder and President

Rita writes as a mom who knows what its like to be in the trenches of motherhood. She fights hard to remind us all of the greatness of the calling, but with the compassion of one who has stood in our place. I read Ritas book while in a hectic season of caring for my four young children, including a super-active toddler, and I found her book very readable for busy moms. Her words of wisdom came as a call to hope and perseverance, even when my house resembled more of a war zone than a snapshot from a lifestyle magazine.

Kim Vanderhorst ,

mother of four

Every page of Bergens book is filled with warmth, love, inspiration, experience, and hope. She offers readers an opportunity to see the big picture as moms to extra-active children and to understand they are not alone.Tommys Wired and Mommys Tiredis a wonderful self-help treasure.

B.J. Taylor ,

Writer for Guideposts, Chicken Soup for the Soul , and author of the memoirCharlie Bear: What a Headstrong Rescue Dog Taught Me about Life, Love, and Second Chances

Rita Bergen is the real deal as a follower of Jesus Christ. I think you will enjoy what she has to say.

John Hopler ,

Administrative Director, Great Commission Churches

This book isamazing! Rita Bergen encourages mothers who are walking the same path that she has already walked. I served as a Chaplain in the United States Army for twenty-four years, and one of my missions was to minister to families whose spouses were deployed to the Middle East. Ritas book would have been so valuable to those mothers who were dealing with the issues that Rita writes about. Mothers will relate to this book because it is written to them by someone who knows what they are going through.

Chaplain (LTC) Steve Quigg ,

United States Army

2020 Rita Bergen

Tommys Wired and Mommys Tired

Help for Moms of High-Energy Kids
(And Tips for Family and Friends)

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Elm Hill, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Elm Hill and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

Elm Hill titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail .

The stories in this book are for inspiration and encouragement and are not intended as a substitute for professional counseling. All are based on true events. Some names and details have been changed.

Phone numbers and websites listed in this book are provided as resources and do not constitute an endorsement of the beliefs or policies of the represented organizations.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since the publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. ( www.Lockman.org )

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019920378

ISBN 978-1-400328420 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-400328437 (eBook)

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

FOR MARLA, MY SISTER AND FRIEND:

Though we lived miles apart, we traveled motherhood together.

Thank you for supporting me continually across the miles.

Contents

E lectric currents surged and bolted inside my home for years. Such incredible power! By merit of motherhood, Id acquired the task of managing an over-the-top vivacious child.

Wired!

If you live in the voltage of a super-busy child right now, you know what Im talking about. Those same electric currents which jolted me are hitting you now. Firsthand. Unquestionably. Youve watched friends respond in dismay, shocked. Youve probably wondered, Does anyone really know what its like to live with this charge 24/7?

Yes! Others have lived in that surge and understand your life. I mothered a bolt of energy. Now I invite you to jump into my eyewitness account of life with a hyperactive child. Actually, you and I both know that merely reading an account about a storm cant give the same experience as feeling a thunderous shock as lightning splits a tree. Nor can written words emulate the terror you feel when a bolt strikes your roof, igniting a fire and setting your house aflame. Likewise, these pages can barely simulate the actual stress youre going through. Yet a written news report can serve to document the reality of the destructive storm, and a news account will help others understand the suffering endured. In the same way,