Rating: 
Summary: A Classic for Christian Parents
Review: As the blessed father of four wonderful children, I enjoyed reading this wonderful title from a man who is obviously passionate about the necessity for strong, godly families.Among the important points Dobson covers include: 1. Idiotic methods of raising children.
2. Principles for commonsense parenting (respect for parents, control without nagging, materialism, and balance between love and discipline.).
3. Laws of reinforcement (grant rewards quickly, rewards do not always have to be material, principles for reinforement).
4. How to help slower students and underachievers.
5. Proper sex education.
6. Biblical reminders for raising children. All in all, an excellent book for practical suggestions and encouragement from the Bible for properly raising children in the fear and admonition of the Lord! Read and be encouraged! P.S. - Disregard the bozo from Tuscaloosa who wrote a lousy poem and entitled Dobson's book as for rednecks. Contrary to what the person thinks, ample Christians have plenty of sense!
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent guide for all parents.
Review: After implementing Dr. Dobson's suggestions with all three of my children I have nothing but wonderful things to say about the book and would highly recommend it. I have only spanked my children ONE time for a grievous offense. Dr. Dobson is absolutely correct when he says children need boundaries and guidance. The decision to structure the raising of my children has been absolutely essential to their growth. All of my children know they are greatly loved. The ability to discipline them with love and caring makes the love they feel even stronger. DO NOT believe those who try to make Dr. Dobson out as a person who over-emphasizes spanking. He absolutely does NOT. He justs wants you to demostrate to your children how much you love and care for them by setting guidelines for their behavior just as we do for all other aspects of our childrens lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Rednecks
Review: Accurate scholarship can
unearth the whole offence
from luther untill noe
that has driven a culture mad.
From what occured at linz
what huge imago made
a psychopathic god.
i and the public know
what all schoolchildren learn
those to whom evil is done
do evil in return.
W.H. Auden
Rating:
Summary: Lack of discipline leads to Columbine
Review: These smarmy, self-righteous reviewers who think an occasional spanking will devastate children for life need to get a clue. Certainly corporal punishment can be abused, but that is not what Dr. Dobson is advocating. I am guessing that those giving this book 1 star are: a) not parents b) haven't read the book or c) have children that run all over them. Limited spanking is a tiny part of this book, the focus is on common sense discipline. If you want children that have tantrums in stores, roll their eyes at you at every opportunitity and end up resenting you trying to be their buddy rather than their parent, then leave this book on the shelf and read Hillary's treatise on child rearing instead(which is working so well with her oft soused daughter in England). If you are open to the common sense rules of parenting that worked well in this country for generations, give Dr. Dobson a try.
Rating:
Summary: VIOLENCE AS "CHILDREARING"
Review: Most parents themselves experienced punishment, spanking, and other forms of "correction" from their own parents. Although there are effective and nonviolent ways of treating children, this book advocates some things that are insensitive to a child's developmental needs. [...]
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing and Encouraging and Enlightening
Review: This is an excellent book for any parent that is concerned about raising respectful children. I am due with my first child in July and became discouraged after seeing children run there parents into the ground and it began to seem like controlling a young child was impossible. I read this practical and logical book and now feel like I have some type of strategy to manage and teach respectful and safe behavior. This book shows that dicipline is ultimately an act of love that children will greatly respect and appreciate.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Parenting Book (with a Few Problems)
Review: If you make it through the first four chapters of this book thinking that it's all about spanking, please go back and read them again. Sound out the words as you go. Look up long or difficult words in the dictionary. Spanking is advocated in limited situations and at limited times and never as an angry response from a parent. Other methods of discipline are advocated in most cases, but to purposefully leave this tool out of your parenting toolbox - or to keep it there, but not know how to use it effectively - can spell disaster if you are ever in need of using it. This book has been influential in helping me think about how to raise my son. The best wisdom Dobson imparts is that a child must feel loved and secure in his or her home before any kind of discipline will be effective. I have seen marked improvement in my son's response to discipline since I have begun spending more one-on-one time with him doing the things he enjoys, rather than just the things I want him to do. As much as I liked the first half dozen chapters, I found the "Discipline in Learning" section less useful. Perhaps once my son begins grade school they'll be helpful, but for now it seems like it's just information to tuck away until later. Dobson really lost me, however, in Chapter Ten: Discipline in Morality. The chapter should really be entitled "Discipline in Abstinence," because premarital sex is the only aspect of immorality discussed therein. It could also be entitled "I Hate Planned Parenthood, Teddy Kennedy and the Makers of Trojan-Brand Prophylactics, and by the way, STDs and AIDS Can Kill You or at Least Mess up Your Life," because that's really all the information you'll come away with after reading this chapter. Dobson comes down against classroom sex education, and while he suggests you provide age-appropriate information to your children, he never suggests what specifically - or even generally - that should be. As with the section on classroom learning, maybe this information will come in handy later, but the vitriolic writing style and advice-free content come as such a complete departure from the first ten chapters that I wonder. All in all, a good book, that unfortunately gets a bit shaky toward the end. Parents of young children will get the most out of the first six and eleventh chapters. Parents with school-age children will likely get a lot out of chapters seven through nine, as well. Chapter Ten is problematic, make of it what you will. There is also an appendix that focuses on drug use that is big-on-data/low-on-advice similar to Chapter Ten, minus the biliousness.
Rating:
Summary: Great book !!!
Review: If you are not of Christian faith, I would not recommend this book for you. So many reviewers complained of it being "too preachy" and of "Christian faith" but what did they think they were reading? Dr. Dobson is known world-wide as a Christian and he only writes from a Christian perspective. As in all child rearing books, you are the only one that truly knows your child, aside from the Lord, and you know what works and what does not. I don't believe that it was Dr. Dobson's intention to condone child abuse, but to give tips and guidance for how to raise a well disciplined, Christ loving child. I whole-heartedly agree with his advice in this book, and thanks to his advice on how to make the child feel loved and secure and by establishing expectations, I have not yet ever had to actually spank my child. Unique children warrant unique techniques, but if your child is out of control and you, the parent, have lost control, Dr. Dobson's wisdom and guidance is just what you need! Along with lots of prayer and a Christ-centered home.
Rating:
Summary: Total System of Dicipline
Review: This is a must read for all parents. James Dobson absolutely covers the subject of child dicipline with this wonderful book. I thought I was parenting in a Christian manner, but this book gave me some pointers I hadn't thought of on my own. If you want more times of your child honoring you with good behavior, than embarassing you with whining and fits well beneath their age, then buy this book. I truly feel sorry for children deprived of loving dicipline. These children are being given a disadvantage in life that will not be easily overcome, if ever. Dobson outlines and explains in detail a system that works. We have all seen poorly behaved children, and smile and nod when their parents make excuses for them. These parents aren't fooling anybody, except maybe themselves. I can learn more about a childs parent by watching the child for five or ten minutes, than I can if I spent a whole evening with the parent. Children reflect the values their parents instill in them, or a lack thereof. Doesn't your child deserve the same instruction and dicipline that laid the foundations for generations of parents and grand parents to achieve in the face of despair and uncertainty, and ultimately build the greatest country in the world, The United States of America? Let someone else's kid be a guinny pig for "modern enlightened parenting". Relearn what has been forgotten. Raise achievers, and buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Christ's True Teachings
Review: Many well-meaning parents are going to read this book, as I did, with the expectation that they are going to be taught effective methods for disciplining their child. And, they will be disappointed as I was. This book runs totally counter to my concept of Christianity. To me, Christianity is embodied in the life of Christ. His life was characterized by consistent compassion for others...even for sinners. His life's message is perverted in this book. Christ's teaching, in my opinion, can best be summarized by: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Would any of us accept being hit..particularly being hit by someone who is several times our size and who has complete power and control of us? I would dare to ask parents who are tempted by this to remember this true meaning of Christ's teaching. Christ is empathy..not bullying.
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