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Summary: New and effective approaches to parenting
Review: The many situations quoted are those that you experience every day in a home (especially mine with 3 kids). The book presents new and effective approaches to parenting. Will also help teachers. I read the entire book in one day and will be reading off and on to remind me of the tactics used. I wish I read this book earlier, when my kids were younger......I could have avoided all those stressful times.
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Summary: A Great Read!
Review: The book was easy to read and I loved the real world examples. I read the whole thing in 2 days... wasn't a chore but I still learned a whole lot!
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Summary: Nice Idea, but badly presented
Review: I bought this book because I agree with the thought that one should respect children's feelings. However, I found the book a boring read and its contents and examples very simplistic. I did not feel that this book offered any insights into a child rearing philosophy, but tried to act as some kind of manual on how to bring up children without any consideration to the fact that children are not all the same, and hence do not always react in such a predictable manner as assumed by the examples.
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Summary: Good, but outdated
Review: This little book has some great ideas for raising kids from about age 5. I found the cartoons and the text a little too simple and hokey for my tastes, but they do get the idea across. The authors concept is that you should respect your children and that if you phrase your requests in the right way you'll get less complaints and whining. Some of the examples are sorely outdated -- based on the at-home, baking-cookies kind of mom and non-involved dad. No real examples for step-families or single parent families. If you're looking for a good book on positive, encouraging parenting that's a little more in-depth and current try these: Positive Parenting OR Kid Cooperation.
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Summary: Positive Thinking
Review: This book has been around what seems like forever. It has positive thinking in that it allows children to be confirmed in what it is they actually have to say and think. It is one of the very best parenting books ever. Some of the examples seem off key for 10-year-olds in today's society, but they still work. In many books, take what you can use and for other stuff, add your own guidelines. Basics is what you will get but they are dressed up just enough to make an instant change in your family success. Two very similar books are Kids, Parents and Power Struggles, by Mary Kurcinka, and Mommy-CEO, by nationally syndicated parenting expert, Jodie Lynn (she has a new one due out soon). Each of these three books have tips that are doable today in getting kids motivated to want to obey and accomplish a better all around home life. They make the children feel important - and that's just what we need. Mutual respect is the key to safe and healthy parenting.
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Summary: An Essential Text Which Belongs on EVERY Parent's Shelf
Review: If I could entice every new parent to read just one book, this would be it. Thousands of children's lives have been improved, and in some cases transformed, as a direct result of their parents reading this book and practicing its kid-tested, nonpunitive approaches to discipline. The authors have little time for abstract theorizing, concerning themselves with down to earth practical issues of parenting, using sensitivity, empathy, communication skills, and humor. This book is crammed with invaluable suggestions, techniques and ideas for parents committed to raising great kids without resorting to discredited, harmful, pain-and-fear-based methods of the past.This book is in its twentieth edition for a reason: these methods WORK. I personally know a mother who formerly used the harsh, punitive methods of James Dobson, only to find that her problems with her daughter became worse and worse over time rather than better. After she read "How To Talk So Kids Will Listen And Listen So Kids Will Talk" and put its suggestions into practice, she literally threw Dobson's volume into the trash. And after a year and a half, she told me her relationship with her daughter had improved so much that she'd previously had no idea that it COULD be that good. The fact that the problems she'd been having had vanished now seemed almost an afterthough compared to the deepening of their parent-child bond. Their communication had improved profoundly, opening up previously unguessed levels of richness in their relationship. "She is such a terrific kid," my friend once told me, and with genuine incredulity added, "I can't believe I actually used to HIT her!!" Another acquaintance of mine, who is raising two great kids using nonpunitive methods of the sort Faber and Mazlish recommend, summarized her entire philosophy in just one sentence: "I don't want obedient children, I want COOPERATIVE children!" I think the great majority of parents, if they thought about it, would realize that this is what they too would prefer. Faber and Mazlish show the way. This book appears at first glance to be a collection of nonpunitive discipline techniques, but it is actually much more: a whole new way of thinking about the parent-child relationship which transcends the permissiveness vs strictness continuum with an approach to parenting based on neither punishments nor rewards. Authoritarian methods use coercion to make the child lose and the parent win, while total permissiveness makes the parent lose and the child win. Faber and Mazlish's methods, on the other hand, show the way towards families in which everybody wins. Christopher Dugan http://www.geocities.com/cddugan/homepage.html
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Summary: This book changed our lives!
Review: I have read a lot of different parenting books but if you only had time to read one this would be it! It is very easy to read and has lots of specific examples on how to change the way you talk and think during certain situations. The moment we started using these particular techniques we saw an enormous difference in our relationship with our child. She responds so well because we are respectful of her as a person and of the feelings that she has. It's amazing after you take a good look at how we've been taught to see children that it really is such a poor way of treating them. Our motto is if *you* don't want to be treated that way then your children certainly don't. Read it, you won't regret it.
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Summary: ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC BOOK!
Review: Having studied psychology and counselled many parents over the years, one of the concerns most often addressed is "How do I communicate with my children so that they listen?" You communicate with children in the same respectful, understanding manner you would communicate with anyone else. Many parents do not allow their children to express their true emotions, or when children do express their feelings, the parent(s)contradicts those feelings. If the child says, "I'm scared, " and the parent says," "Don't be so silly," that sends a message to the child that their feelings are foolish and trivial. Take the time to find out what it is that makes that child feel scared, re-inforce that it is alright to feel that way, and find out what you can do to make that child feel more secure so he or she will not be scared. What may sound foolish to you as a parent, may in fact be a very real concern to the child." Is it any wonder that by the time children reach their teens, we lose communication. It is not sufficient just to listen to a child, it is equally important to understand their feelings from THEIR perspective. This book is an excellent tool in improving communication skills with your children, regardless of age. I will highly recommend it to any parent who asks for advice on how to bridge the "communication gap" with their children. Like anything else in life, miracles do not happen overnight. A positive result is only achieved if you have sufficient self-discipline to implement what you read and the commitment to follow through.
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Summary: Simply the Best Book on child-rearing
Review: As a parent of two young children I can't recommend this book highly enough. If you want to make the world a better place, buy some copies of this and give them to everyone you know who has children. But make sure you read it yourself first. This is how I first came across it, and this is what I now do, having read it. You see, the problem is we're programmed to treat our children in the ways we were treated ourselves. Often, its the negative comments that have the most impact, and these are what we repeat without noticing it. In order to learn to relate to children as human beings, we need to unlearn a lot of stuff. This book helps readers to do just that. Sometimes its difficult, because it can entail a whole new way of relating and of being. The good news is that it actually works. I have been there. I would also recommend How to Talk so Kids can Learn... and Siblings without Rivalry, for the same reason: the ideas and advice in them work, and they compliment this book without duplicating it.
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Summary: The Best Parenting Book I've Read
Review: If you have time to read only one book on how to deal with children, let it be this one. Although it was over 200 pages I read it in a day, because it was so good. This book is written in a really clear fashion. The techniques are easy to use, and the language is simple without being condescending. The authors cover discipline, sharing feelings, how to give useful praise, and a variety of other subjects. It's useful not only for parents, but for anyone who has contact with kids. I've seen an improvement in my interactions with kids in only a few short weeks.
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