Rating: 
Summary: More of the same
Review: Readers of "Dr. Bill's" books should realize that receiving a medical degree and being able to put a "Dr." in front of your name does not suddenly make you a global expert on all subjects. Dr. Sears is a medical doctor, not a psychologist, so how exactly does his advanced knowledge of human anatomy make him aware of what it takes "to raise a responsible, compassionate child in a society whose overbearing media celebrates and encourages violence, promiscuity, and gluttonous materialism?" Absolutely nothing. This book is the equivalent of me turning to my proctologist for marital advice.It's amazing that you would need a 27th book to tell you to "follow your instincts". Am I the only one who sees this as a contradiction? It's yet another preachy tome from Dr. and Martha Sears' that simply regurgitates many of the same opinions from previous books. Again, these are opinions, and not fact. But advocates defending Dr. Sears will say, "But he has such experience! He's raised 8 children!" Andrea Yates had 5 children -- does that make her a perfect mother?
Rating: 
Summary: They hit the nail right on the head!!
Review: The comment "it doesn't matter how much money you earn or the number of degrees after your name that counts, it is what you contribute to others and society that counts" My wife and I raised our two children with this philosophy and it worked!!!
They both are financially successful and have earned multiple degrees but are raising their children with the same philosophy. Furthermore, they married individuals that were raised with this philosophy. Read the book, it's worth every penny.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't be a Dr. Sears Clone!!
Review: The first Dr. Sears book I read was "The Baby Book", which I found helpful and somewhat insightful as many other parents that are gentle in raising their children. But I became very turned off by this book and the entire Dr. Sears following that has thousands of parents looking to him as the guru of child care. This book, like all the others in the "Sears library" of books is a carbon copy of his other books and reiterates the same beliefs. He uses this book as a medium to promote his attachment parenting beliefs and uses the title "the successful child" to make parents believe that his parenting beliefs are the rule rather than the exception. Yes, I know that Dr. Sears has eight kids and is a well renowned pediatrician, but that doesn't make him the authority on parenting and child development and other issues that he has written books on including family nutrition, pregnancy, and childbirth, and to suggest so would make his books utterly self-congratulatory other than proven techniques that work across the board. I hope the parents of his patients don't feel that they have to conform to his beliefs in terms of how they choose to raise their children. It is good to take what is useful to you as a parent from various sources such as this book; but I refuse to see Dr. Sears as an authority on my child's development and on my role as a parent just because he has written dozens of books that are regurgitations of each other. As a parent, you must learn to think for yourself as well as seek out information from other sources.
Rating: 
Summary: Doing one's best to encourage good sibling relationships
Review: The Successful Child: What Parents Can Do To Help Kids Turn Out Well by pediatric experts William and Martha Sears is a compendium of practical advice, sound methodology, useful practices, informative anecdotes, and much more, all designed to help ordinary parents raise extraordinary healthy and well-adjusted children. From doing one's best to encourage good sibling relationships to teaching responsibility and morality, to effectively demonstrating self-esteem, kindness, and manners, The Successful Child is excellent and thought-provoking reading for parents everywhere and a highly recommended addition to personal and community library "parenting skills development" and "child rearing" reference collections.
Rating:
Summary: If You've Read One, You've Read Them All
Review: This book contains a lot of practical advice on how to foster desirable, pleasant behaviors and attitudes in children, which naturally contribute to their success in life. However, it has several fundamental flaws in its execution. The first and biggest is that, as many other reviewers have noted, the entire book is little more than a propaganda piece for attachment parenting. Because of this, there is never a moment in the book where he addresses ANY of the challenges his theories have faced. It is also filled with endless gross generalizations such as "The connected child will do what's right because doing what's wrong makes him FEEL wrong." ["Connected child" is his term for children who are raised according to his dictates. If you disagree with any of his tactics, you're in danger of raising a "disconnected" i.e. sociopathic failure of a child.) And "Children who are on the receiving end of sensitive parenting become sensitive themselves." Ad nauseum. Literally. The book is filled with obsequious overgeneralizations. There are dozens of little "interviews" from, I guess we're supposed to believe, patients (although the speakers are NEVER identified, making it very confusing when the sidebar refer to "our son Matthew" while knowing Dr. Sears has a son Matthew too). These "interviews" produce hysterically unbelievable and melodramatic accounts of miraculously empathic (and boy howdy, ARTICULATE!) 2 year olds, shrewd psychological insight imparted by kindergarteners, etc. Oh, and of course, the book is riddled with obliquely validating comments such as "Research has shown," yet the book fails to have a bibliography or reference section. One eventually has to question why the book ends up seeming more like a sales pitch for attachment parenting than any real compilation of advice. As the parent of a 6yo child with high-functioning autism who DID/does practice many of the things the Sears deem as "attachment parenting" to the letter, I can tell you that while I don't disagree that his child-sensitive approach to parenting does engender trust and emotional intimacy between parent and child, it is in NO way a blueprint for raising "successful" children, nor is it a recipe for producing any kinds of desirable traits in your children. There is little room for variables in Dr. Sears' tract, if any. I don't think following these practices would hurt any child, but I think that the claims Dr. Sears makes are, at best, spurious, and should be questioned and challenged a lot more than they currently are.
Rating:
Summary: If You've Read One, You've Read Them All
Review: This book contains a lot of practical advice on how to foster desirable, pleasant behaviors and attitudes in children, which naturally contribute to their success in life. However, it has several fundamental flaws in its execution. The first and biggest is that, as many other reviewers have noted, the entire book is little more than a propaganda piece for attachment parenting. Because of this, there is never a moment in the book where he addresses ANY of the challenges his theories have faced. It is also filled with endless gross generalizations such as "The connected child will do what's right because doing what's wrong makes him FEEL wrong." ["Connected child" is his term for children who are raised according to his dictates. If you disagree with any of his tactics, you're in danger of raising a "disconnected" i.e. sociopathic failure of a child.) And "Children who are on the receiving end of sensitive parenting become sensitive themselves." Ad nauseum. Literally. The book is filled with such obsequious overgeneralizations. There are dozens of little "interviews" from, I guess we're supposed to believe, patients (although the speakers are NEVER identified, making it very confusing when the sidebar refer to "our son Matthew" while knowing Dr. Sears has a son Matthew too). These "interviews" produce hysterically unbelievable and melodramatic accounts of miraculously empathic (and boy howdy, ARTICULATE!) 2 year olds, shrewd psychological insight imparted by kindergarteners, etc. Oh, and of course, the book is riddled with obliquely validating comments such as "Research has shown," yet the book fails to have a bibliography or reference section. Hmmmmm. One eventually has to question why the book ends up seeming more like a sales pitch for attachment parenting than any real compilation of advice. As the parent of a 6yo child with high-functioning autism who DID/does practice attachment parenting to the letter and STILL cannot empathize with anyone or anything ever, I can tell you that while I don't disagree that his child-sensitive approach to parenting does engender trust and emotional intimacy between parent and child, it is in NO way a blueprint for raising "successful" children, nor is it a recipe for producing any kinds of desirable traits in your children. There is little room for variables in Dr. Sears' tract, if any. I don't think following these practices would hurt any child, but I think that the claims Dr. Sears makes are, at best, spurious, and should be questioned and challenged a lot more than they currently are.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent guide for raising children
Review: This book does an excellent job of discussing what parents can do to help their children become successful people. It delves into diverse topics such as responsibility, academics, compassion and communication. I highly recommend this to parents of children from toddlers to teenagers. I would also recommend a book the by co-author of this one, Elizabeth Pantley, called Kid Cooperation: How to Stop Yelling, Nagging and Pleading - as a guide to the practical aspects of using the tools described in The Successful Child.
Rating:
Summary: Dr. Sears does it again! (m)
Review: This is another really well done book by Dr. and Mrs. Sears. Maybe much of this information is available in his other books, but if you haven't read "The Discipline Book", "The Baby Book" or "The Attachment Parenting Book", I could see this as being a really exciting and thought provoking work. I just had to comment on the negative reviewer's obnoxious remark to the effect that simply having children does not make you an expert. Dr. Sears raised his children to adulthood, and they are now successful and happy people. Two or three of his children actually are physicians who practice pediatrics with him. One of them is even starting to take over some of the media responsibilities by appearing on shows such as Good Morning America. In a world where so many kids are estranged from their parents, this is really really nice to see. Anyone that can raise kids to be adults like that has some good advice to offer the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: Dr. Sears does it again! (m)
Review: This is another really well done book by Dr. and Mrs. Sears. Maybe much of this information is available in his other books, but if you haven't read "The Discipline Book", "The Baby Book" or "The Attachment Parenting Book", I could see this as being a really exciting and thought provoking work. I just had to comment on the negative reviewer's obnoxious remark to the effect that simply having children does not make you an expert. Dr. Sears raised his children to adulthood, and they are now successful and happy people. Two or three of his children actually are physicians who practice pediatrics with him. One of them is even starting to take over some of the media responsibilities by appearing on shows such as Good Morning America. In a world where so many kids are estranged from their parents, this is really really nice to see. Anyone that can raise kids to be adults like that has some good advice to offer the rest of us.
Rating:
Summary: The big picture on parenting
Review: Unlike most Sears books which focus on one particular aspect of parenting (i.e. breastfeeding, discipline), The Successful Child is a big picture look at parenting. Sears examines the many factors which influence a child, from the important first year of birth, to diet, to discipline. There are many small highlights scattered throughout the book on issues such as homeschooling or playing video games. As with all Sears books, parental anecdotes are used liberally, keeping the book personal and interesting. Frequent references to medical and psychological studies (though, sadly, lacking references) give the feeling that you have the cutting edge of parenting, right in your hand. I found this book very helpful for looking at the big goal of parenting--What kind of person do I want my child to grow up to be? With that goal in mind, Sears gives the tools for how to tackle individual parenting issues. A book like this is great for days when the little annoying parts of parenting are getting you down (like cleaning dried cherrios off of your shoes). Frequent Sears readers may find parts of the book familiar. There is the obligatory "introduction to attachment parenting" that is found in all Sears books. The chapter on nutrition is an overview of The Family Nutrition Book, and much of The Discipline Book is scattered throughout. Parents in any stage of the game will find this book helpful.
|
