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Rating: 
Summary: Education dilemma between parents solved!
Review: ...so then the question becomes 'what do i need to do to not carry this to my child(ren)?'. because a lot of people just carry on the ways they were brought up to future generations-the cycle is never broken. which is a shame, because it is true that a lot of society's problems are due to how people are raised, whether people want to believe that or not. it takes work, insight, and soul-searching-along with an honest, overbearing desire-to not carry on toxic behaviors to the future. it's not good enough to say 'well nobody's perfect; we are all the product of dysfunction'-you don't know how many times i heard that statement-and it hurts to hear that as a rationale for how bad you were raised. i could go on and on. a worthy read for anyone feeling they need some advice on what to do to not be one of these people these chapters talk about.
Rating: 
Summary: So what else is new?
Review: Although I don't agree with everything they say, I think the Friels' recommendations are generally sensible and well-thought-out, and I like their "we don't know everything, so do what works for you" attitude. On the other hand, the book is being marketed as a return to Traditional Values in Parenting, a corrective to an overly permissive era of child psychology run amok, and that's just flat-out not true. I was raised in the 1950's, which conservatives hark back to as the Golden Age of American Values. My parents made four of the seven mistakes listed in this book: they put their marriage last, they pushed their children into too many activities, and they expected their children to fulfill all their unfulfilled dreams and ambitions. And, while they didn't "baby" us in the sense of indulging infantile behavior, they did resist every effort we made to grow up and become autonomous. While I think the Friels are doing a great service to parents by addressing these issues, they're mistakes that arise out of common parental mind-sets, rather than being aberrations of child psychology in the second half of the 20th century.
Rating:
Summary: Thunderous Applause To John and Linda Friel!
Review: I have to disagree with some of the previous critics. The title is meant to attract the attention of some of us like yourself looking for a smidgen of parenting advice from 2 very qualified Authors on the subject. I read the book over this past weekend and couldn't put it down. It has confirmed to me that some things I have been already thinking are okay to implement in our family and not unmarked territory. This book also validates some old fashioned family values and made me realize that we all know parents who are struggling with these very issues. After reading this book I have educated myself just that much further in how to avoid these family dividing mistakes.
Rating:
Summary: A very informative and friendly book.
Review: It sure does help to know you are not alone when you are trying to survive the times your children are acting like teenagers! I had a few good chuckles with this book, and I learned a lot too. Most of all, it made me feel maybe I'm not such a rotten mom after all.
Rating:
Summary: Great advice and easy book to read & understand
Review: Part 1: Get Ready
Chapter 1: The Seven Worst Things Parents Do
Chapter 2: The Rules of the Game Part 2: The Seven
Chapter 3: Baby Your Child
Chapter 4: Put Your Marriage Last
Chapter 5 Push Your Child into Too Many Activities
Chapter 6: Ignore Your Emotional or Spiritual Life
Chapter 7: Be Your Child's Best Friend
Chapter 8: Fail to Give Your Child Structure
Chapter 9: Expect Your Child to Fulfil Your Dreams Part III: Go For It
Chapter 10: If Rats Can Do It, So Can You
Chapter 11: The Best Things About Parents Who Choose to Grow: A Typical Success Story
Chapter 12: Some Final Parenting Thoughts In this book, I agreed much of what the authors wrote about how to avoid the 7 mistakes. There was a few tips of advice that I disagreed with such as putting your child to bed at the same time everynight with NO exceptions such as watching fireworks.
Rating:
Summary: Great Parenting Book
Review: The authors explains the 7 worst things parents do:
Baby Your Child
Put Your Marriage Last
Push Your Child INto Too Many Activities
Ignore Your Emotional or Spiritual Life
Be Your Child's Best Friend
Fail to give Your Child Structure
Expect Your Child to Fulfil Your Dreams I rated it 4 stars because I felt that the topics weren't throughly discussed on how we can avoid falling in one of the 7 traps.
Rating: 
Summary: Can I borrow a feeling?
Review: The book is a strange amalgam of sensible parenting advice, delivered from the minds of two people awash in liberal insanity. For example the authors are John C. Friel Ph.D. and Linda D. Friel M.A. It is really helpful to know their middle initials. Inspires confidence - kind of like an extra degree. Well if this Joe Q. Blow were to hunker down on the Friels' therapy sofa, lets just say he'd have a few problems. For starters, the Friels start the therapy by doing a "feelings check" You are presented with a list of "healthy human feelings" : anger, sadness, joy, shame, hurt, loneliness. Then you are supposed to "ground" yourself in the "moment" by introspecting for them and reporting which of these emotions you are currently feeling. Strangely the only positive "healthy emotion" on this list is "joy" which, as far as I can tell, is not a sustainable adult emotion, any more than glee is a sustainable adult emotion. The list may as well have been Angst, Rage, Sullenness, Resentment, Hatred, Delight. "Where are you on this list, Joe?" "...Gee... I dunno... I don't even know what you mean by 'joy'..."
"Tsk, tsk. This is getting more and more common. So many emotionally shut down people outta touch with their feelings alla time. This poor soul don't even know what joy is."
Rating:
Summary: A helpful guide
Review: This book showed me various ways that I am being successful with my child rearing as well as some areas that I could work on without making me feel like a failure. The greatest message I got from this text was that I could "fix" anything that I need to--if I just identify that problems that already exist. The "Seven" were logical and showed thought about the issues. Of course, they did not all apply to my situation; however as with any text, if you read the areas that sound familiar, you may find there is something you can learn. I did not like the title--the seven worst--but they are not accusatory or guilt-ridden in their presentation. Overall a good read that I may look at again as my children grow.
Rating:
Summary: Can I Borrow another feeling?
Review: To give you an idea of the way the Friels see the world - and themselves, take a read of this sentence about nourishing your spiritual life: "You can go to the mountaintop and pray or you can hang around with other humans and try to love eachother and while you're doing this you can all try to care for the planet and the creatures on it. That's spirituality."
Did you know that? I certainly didn't. Apparently all that is necessary to be spiritual is to hang out collecting bottles and cans with a crew of people that you "try" to love. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. You actually "try" to collect bottles and cans. And you "try" to care for some creatures. How does one do this? Hey, look honeybabe: the Friels can't be expected to come up with all the answers, can they? I mean they've already saved you a lifetime of searching by telling you that spirituality is basically the same thing as trying to join the Conservation Corps, the Peace Corps or voting for Al Gore. Oh, wait... my mistake: TRYING to vote for Al Gore.
Rating:
Summary: Can I Borrow another feeling?
Review: To give you an idea of the way the Friels see the world - and themselves, take a read of this sentence about nourishing your spiritual life: "You can go to the mountaintop and pray or you can hang around with other humans and try to love eachother and while you're doing this you can all try to care for the planet and the creatures on it. That's spirituality."
Did you know that? I certainly didn't. Apparently all that is necessary to be spiritual is to hang out collecting bottles and cans with a crew of people that you "try" to love. Oh, wait. I'm sorry. You actually "try" to collect bottles and cans. And you "try" to care for some creatures. How does one do this? Hey, look honeybabe: the Friels can't be expected to come up with all the answers, can they? I mean they've already saved you a lifetime of searching by telling you that spirituality is basically the same thing as trying to join the Conservation Corps, the Peace Corps or voting for Al Gore. Oh, wait... my mistake: TRYING to vote for Al Gore.
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