The UNMOTIVATED CHILD : Helping Your Underachiever Become a Successful Student

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: As a mental health therapist, I found this book to be a wonderful tool to use with frustrated parents. Does a great job of addressing those children who fall between the cracks--no obvious problem behind their repeated failures and nothing seems to motivate them.

Rating:
Summary: The Unmotivated Child
Review: As a mental health therapist, I found this book to be a wonderful tool to use with frustrated parents. Does a great job of addressing those children who fall between the cracks--no obvious problem behind their repeated failures and nothing seems to motivate them.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource guide!
Review: I found myself reading about my own very bright underachieving son. It was like she was living in our home. We are working on the homework trap and how to get out of it. I hope it works!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource!
Review: I found Rathvon's work to be *the* key factor in helping me, not only to identify why my bright adolescent son was underachieving in school, but also in helping me to remedy this situation. Fortunately, the outcome in our case was successful. I remain most grateful to the author.

Rating:
Summary: Unmotivated Reader
Review: I found this book to perfectly capture our 16 year old son. Irresponsible, lazy, ungrateful, self defeating, and hopeless--and I'm the cause of it all! Bunk. We have a loving happy home with two strong achieving parents. What is the natural course of the teenage years? Figure out Mom and Dad's buttons, and spend full time pushing them. We are acheivers, so he gives up. Does that mean we did a lousy job? No, it means he is 'distancing' himself from us and growing up. Unfortunately at this stage he doesn't know what he wants, so he forges his path by going against everything he knows we value. Our turn around came when his cousin moved in for the summer and showed him that it is better to work for what you want rather than work against what your parents want. The turn around was swift, but not without occassional setbacks. Parents, if you've given them a good foundation (as the author outlines) 99 out of 100 kids will survive the teenage years. There is hope, despite the depressing picture the author paints!

Rating:
Summary: The Truth Hurts--But How to Start the Mending
Review: I have discovered I am not alone! We see many children already giving up in elementary school. This book made me realize we need to address this situation, because it's not going to go away. THe basic need to be affirmed as a valued part of life is an understatement. We as parents and teachers, need to take into account how important it is to give the necessary time it takes to just listen to our kids. As a classroom teacher, it is helpful to be reminded that the children are often misbehaving out of frustration. "Don't take it personally" takes on a clearer meaning. We as parents will probably see traits we don't like in ourselves. When the authors says, "We're going to have to change" that smacked me in between the eyes! Keep reading! Of course the children are to take responsibility for their actions. THis book gives good advice. Please remember though: Parents have a MAJOR impact on their children. We may be with them more waking hours, but what the parents' relationship is far more important than ANY outsider's relationship.

Rating:
Summary: The Truth Hurts--But How to Start the Mending
Review: I have discovered I am not alone! We see many children already giving up in elementary school. This book made me realize we need to address this situation, because it's not going to go away. THe basic need to be affirmed as a valued part of life is an understatement. We as parents and teachers, need to take into account how important it is to give the necessary time it takes to just listen to our kids. As a classroom teacher, it is helpful to be reminded that the children are often misbehaving out of frustration. "Don't take it personally" takes on a clearer meaning. We as parents will probably see traits we don't like in ourselves. When the authors says, "We're going to have to change" that smacked me in between the eyes! Keep reading! Of course the children are to take responsibility for their actions. THis book gives good advice. Please remember though: Parents have a MAJOR impact on their children. We may be with them more waking hours, but what the parents' relationship is far more important than ANY outsider's relationship.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: This book is a very good resource for parents of underachievers, former underachievers, and anyone who wants to understand the success of their child. Having read other reviews by readers discounting this book and discounting human psychology itself, I was compelled to write my own review. No one blames parents, especially Dr. Rathvon they do the best they can with what they've got; mental resources specifically. This book is for anyone who knows that their child is capable of so much more. It is never too late to fix, polish, and fine tune a learning mind. Every student has the ability to achieve.

Rating:
Summary: Parents should avoid this book.
Review: This book, based on Freudian theories, is not for the average parent. The author blames parents for all of the problelms their children may be having in school. She completely ignores the realities of external social forces, including poverty, community culture and the existance of BAD teachers. Unless a parent has the advantage of having read other theoretical works, they might accept this bunch of parent blaming junk.