Rating: 
Summary: Reflects the manner in which I wish I had been raised
Review: Ms. Pullen's insights, attention, and imagination speak of a mindfulness and a compassion in growing children to become whole, healthy, fully alive adults. Her book offers a vital, thoughtful approach to childrearing. In order to change and create a better world, we must look to the minds, hearts, and lives of those who will reshape it - our children - and raise them to possess the spirit and perspective to see and act according to a higher standard. With care and concern, Ms. Pullen exemplifies a manner in which the transforming responsibilty of parenting can delight, awaken, and empower.
Rating:
Summary: A beneficial book for everyone.
Review: Not only can the stories presented in this book aid in child rearing, but in everyday adult interaction. This book serves as a reminder of the importance of patience, creativity, and positive thinking. Any messages, like those presented, that lead the reader to step back and examine one's own personal history,as well as future, show wisdom. Jeanie Davis Pullen's book is a fast read, and enjoyable from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: From ProudBody.com
Review: ProudBody.com loves Jeanie's down-to-earth child-rearing advice! I have a 17-month old son and have been searching for a book that provides practical and heart-warming tips on raising a child to become an independent and loving adult who is a productive member of society. Jeanie's book is delightful!! Written in a story-telling fashion, I read it from cover to cover and reflected upon the traits I want to instill in my son and the practical ways to develop these traits in him through my parenting choices. Jeanie takes the mystery out of raising a child and has given me simple ways to give my son the skills he needs to become a responsible and caring adult. Thank you Jeanie for writing "Life Teachings: Raising a Child."
Rating:
Summary: From ProudBody.com
Review: ProudBody.com loves Jeanie's down-to-earth child-rearing advice! I have a 17-month old son and have been searching for a book that provides practical and heart-warming tips on raising a child to become an independent and loving adult who is a productive member of society. Jeanie's book is delightful!! Written in a story-telling fashion, I read it from cover to cover and reflected upon the traits I want to instill in my son and the practical ways to develop these traits in him through my parenting choices. Jeanie takes the mystery out of raising a child and has given me simple ways to give my son the skills he needs to become a responsible and caring adult. Thank you Jeanie for writing "Life Teachings: Raising a Child."
Rating:
Summary: 10 Star book...... Please read it
Review: The author and I are in the same age range group which made the book even more interesting, since many of her thoughts have been my thoughts. I like her. And would probably want her as a friend if she lived nearer me. Her writing style is like a conversation, or what I often refer to as constructive thought. She isn't the type to talk for talk sake, but seems to grasp the concept of not opening ones mouth unless they have something of value to offer.I especially like her Chapter 17 piece titled Not Being able to afford something can be a luxury, because some women I know have been debating the whole idea of whether children should know what the family finances are. My belief is that children need to know about rent/house payments, utilities, medical and food expenses so they know how much things cost. She writes about financial honesty a great deal and each story has such value that the book is hard to put down. Maybe this has more to do with my stay at home Mom mode for so many years, since one parent at home means sacrifice and careful planning. But her wisdom is sorely needed today. And with the holidays fast approaching I wince when I think of the life of lies or denial of reality that many parents will embrace, buying to much with plastic money and depression and other negatives as the unspoken by product. She writes eloquently about how her children learned because of their fathers hearing problems to look people in the eye and speak distinctly and well. And how she writes about not letting ones own fears be the child's fear. In this case it was snakes. The book is around 111 pages and is a series of mini stories or life lessons. I would often find myself picking the book up with all intentions of reading a couple of stories and then finding the book hard to put down because I wanted to learn more wisdom and what the next lesson was. This is also a book the men in my family like. And she deals with this in section 33 where she writes about Parents have aspects to their lives other than parenthood. And how having a non parent life is what keeps us alive and fresh. This is something I have also been reminded of a lot via the local Hospice caregivers support group I attend. It is really important to make time for oneself. And is often easier said than done. I just cannot recommend this book highly enough and would give ten stars if allowed.
Rating:
Summary: 10 Star book...... Please read it
Review: The author and I are in the same age range group which made the book even more interesting, since many of her thoughts have been my thoughts. I like her. And would probably want her as a friend if she lived nearer me. Her writing style is like a conversation, or what I often refer to as constructive thought. She isn't the type to talk for talk sake, but seems to grasp the concept of not opening ones mouth unless they have something of value to offer. I especially like her Chapter 17 piece titled Not Being able to afford something can be a luxury, because some women I know have been debating the whole idea of whether children should know what the family finances are. My belief is that children need to know about rent/house payments, utilities, medical and food expenses so they know how much things cost. She writes about financial honesty a great deal and each story has such value that the book is hard to put down. Maybe this has more to do with my stay at home Mom mode for so many years, since one parent at home means sacrifice and careful planning. But her wisdom is sorely needed today. And with the holidays fast approaching I wince when I think of the life of lies or denial of reality that many parents will embrace, buying to much with plastic money and depression and other negatives as the unspoken by product. She writes eloquently about how her children learned because of their fathers hearing problems to look people in the eye and speak distinctly and well. And how she writes about not letting ones own fears be the child's fear. In this case it was snakes. The book is around 111 pages and is a series of mini stories or life lessons. I would often find myself picking the book up with all intentions of reading a couple of stories and then finding the book hard to put down because I wanted to learn more wisdom and what the next lesson was. This is also a book the men in my family like. And she deals with this in section 33 where she writes about Parents have aspects to their lives other than parenthood. And how having a non parent life is what keeps us alive and fresh. This is something I have also been reminded of a lot via the local Hospice caregivers support group I attend. It is really important to make time for oneself. And is often easier said than done. I just cannot recommend this book highly enough and would give ten stars if allowed.
Rating:
Summary: Life Teachings: Raising a Child
Review: This book brings together all of the values that you hope your child to possess throughout his life. The teachings of this book will help a parent give his child the confidence and strength to face the challenges encountered in his life. The most important thing a parent can give a child is respect; Life Teachings provides traditional and innovative ways to give this to your child. Following the practices of this author will give a parent a sense of comfort and security that he can raise a child to have a postitive and healthy outlook on life. Guidance through love and most importantly respect will give your child the ability to succeed. Life Teachings is one of the best books for this guidance.
Rating:
Summary: Life Teachings: Raising a Child
Review: This book brings together all of the values that you hope your child to possess throughout his life. The teachings of this book will help a parent give his child the confidence and strength to face the challenges encountered in his life. The most important thing a parent can give a child is respect; Life Teachings provides traditional and innovative ways to give this to your child. Following the practices of this author will give a parent a sense of comfort and security that he can raise a child to have a postitive and healthy outlook on life. Guidance through love and most importantly respect will give your child the ability to succeed. Life Teachings is one of the best books for this guidance.
Rating: 
Summary: Wise and attractive
Review: This is a beautifully designed and presented little book. There are 35 "teachings," each two, three or four pages long. Pullen's tone is conversational and measured. Her thesis is an important one: be involved with raising your children and be aware of what you are doing and why. My feeling has always been that kids grow up in spite of their parents and they can overcome some fairly poor parenting, although things like physical and mental abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction can be devastating. Sometimes it is the adverse circumstances of the larger society that make things difficult for the kids, poverty in particular. But that should be no justification for neglect. Many of us were too busy with our careers and finding ourselves to be the perfect parents we would like to have been. Pullen was not. Apparently she had the sense to realize from the very beginning that parenting was a full time job, one that required self-examination and logic as well as love. So she has written this book telling us how she did it and as a guide. For the young person who reads this book and is inspired to be an involved and conscientious parent, Pullen's efforts will be justified because virtually everything in the book amounts to good advice, some of it very telling and valuable. I particularly liked the idea of talking things out and being open and logical about everything as much as possible. This helps both child and parent. (Sometimes it is the parent who is operating under a false premiss or two that will be exposed on verbalization!) I also liked Pullen's insistence that logic and emotion are both important considerations in what we do, and that we should be aware of that. Even little things can be important if only because they add up. For example, Pullen and her husband would say, when money was scarce, not that we "can't afford it," but rather there is "No money right now" a subtle but psychologically important difference. (p. 53) My favorite teaching was teaching number 25, in which Pullen tells her girls to listen for the urgency in a person's tone of voice. My first thought was that children don't need to be taught that. They can hear it! But upon reflection I realized that what Pullen is doing is making something that is largely unconscious and automatic full of awareness and deliberate. In this way the child might develop a superior ability to listen. This "teaching" is typical of Pullen's well-thought out methods. Being the incorrigible cynic that I sometimes am, however, after a few chapters I found myself looking for instances of inadvertent self-revelation on the part of the very careful Mrs. Pullen. Somehow she was beginning to remind me of the lovable but all too precise Clifton Webb of Cheaper by the Dozen (1950). I took some small delight in copyreading as I went along, but I found only two typos ("quite" for "quiet" on page 23 and a "neither-or" that should be a "neither-nor" on page 65), and only one sentence that might be recast, the inverted for no apparent reason first sentence on page 98. I did find a slew of hyphens posing as em dashes on pages 4, 14, 15, 22, 30, 31, 49, 62, 73(2), 92, 106, and 109 which I am hereby pleased to point out so that she may have the opportunity of correcting them in a future edition. (Grin.) While this is an excellent book as it is, I would (naturally!) like to offer the following small suggestions: Interesting would be a candid critique of their parents' upbringing techniques by the two girls, Lara and Julie. I have no doubt that it would be highly positive; however one suspects they may have a joke or two to share. To Pullen's credit she does (slyly or inadvertently, I'm not sure which) share something like that with us in the chapter on her fears. She is afraid of snakes, but she did not want to transfer that fear to her girls, so she did everything she could to avoid appearing afraid when once in a while a snake would appear. Naturally we know that she could not completely hide her fear from her children who would also recognize that she was pretending not to be afraid. We can see this in the way she has Lara announce "with wonderment and curiosity in her voice, Mommy, there is a snake by your legs!" (p. 58) Or, on the next page where at the supermarket, Lara leans close to mom and whispers in her ear, "Mommy, there is a great big rabbit behind you!" (A man in a rabbit's outfit.) Pullen ends the chapter with, "She never comments on the animals until they are very close to me." (Just as children sometimes tell little lies that parents overlook, leaving the child to believe the lie worked, sometimes children pass over their parents' eccentricities or even outright faults with only the most gentle satire.) I also think it would be good to spell out the "particular way" Lara's math teacher insisted that the long division work be shown. (p. 63) I also would like to know what happened to the Himalayan Jack Rabbit! Bottom line: this is a wise and inspirational little book that you might want to buy for someone expecting their first child.
Rating:
Summary: Wise and attractive
Review: This is a beautifully designed and presented little book. There are 35 "teachings," each two, three or four pages long. Pullen's tone is conversational and measured. Her thesis is an important one: be involved with raising your children and be aware of what you are doing and why. My feeling has always been that kids grow up in spite of their parents and they can overcome some fairly poor parenting, although things like physical and mental abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction can be devastating. Sometimes it is the adverse circumstances of the larger society that make things difficult for the kids, poverty in particular. But that should be no justification for neglect. Many of us were too busy with our careers and finding ourselves to be the perfect parents we would like to have been. Pullen was not. Apparently she had the sense to realize from the very beginning that parenting was a full time job, one that required self-examination and logic as well as love. So she has written this book telling us how she did it and as a guide. For the young person who reads this book and is inspired to be an involved and conscientious parent, Pullen's efforts will be justified because virtually everything in the book amounts to good advice, some of it very telling and valuable. I particularly liked the idea of talking things out and being open and logical about everything as much as possible. This helps both child and parent. (Sometimes it is the parent who is operating under a false premiss or two that will be exposed on verbalization!) I also liked Pullen's insistence that logic and emotion are both important considerations in what we do, and that we should be aware of that. Even little things can be important if only because they add up. For example, Pullen and her husband would say, when money was scarce, not that we "can't afford it," but rather there is "No money right now" a subtle but psychologically important difference. (p. 53) My favorite teaching was teaching number 25, in which Pullen tells her girls to listen for the urgency in a person's tone of voice. My first thought was that children don't need to be taught that. They can hear it! But upon reflection I realized that what Pullen is doing is making something that is largely unconscious and automatic full of awareness and deliberate. In this way the child might develop a superior ability to listen. This "teaching" is typical of Pullen's well-thought out methods. Being the incorrigible cynic that I sometimes am, however, after a few chapters I found myself looking for instances of inadvertent self-revelation on the part of the very careful Mrs. Pullen. Somehow she was beginning to remind me of the lovable but all too precise Clifton Webb of Cheaper by the Dozen (1950). I took some small delight in copyreading as I went along, but I found only two typos ("quite" for "quiet" on page 23 and a "neither-or" that should be a "neither-nor" on page 65), and only one sentence that might be recast, the inverted for no apparent reason first sentence on page 98. I did find a slew of hyphens posing as em dashes on pages 4, 14, 15, 22, 30, 31, 49, 62, 73(2), 92, 106, and 109 which I am hereby pleased to point out so that she may have the opportunity of correcting them in a future edition. (Grin.) While this is an excellent book as it is, I would (naturally!) like to offer the following small suggestions: Interesting would be a candid critique of their parents' upbringing techniques by the two girls, Lara and Julie. I have no doubt that it would be highly positive; however one suspects they may have a joke or two to share. To Pullen's credit she does (slyly or inadvertently, I'm not sure which) share something like that with us in the chapter on her fears. She is afraid of snakes, but she did not want to transfer that fear to her girls, so she did everything she could to avoid appearing afraid when once in a while a snake would appear. Naturally we know that she could not completely hide her fear from her children who would also recognize that she was pretending not to be afraid. We can see this in the way she has Lara announce "with wonderment and curiosity in her voice, Mommy, there is a snake by your legs!" (p. 58) Or, on the next page where at the supermarket, Lara leans close to mom and whispers in her ear, "Mommy, there is a great big rabbit behind you!" (A man in a rabbit's outfit.) Pullen ends the chapter with, "She never comments on the animals until they are very close to me." (Just as children sometimes tell little lies that parents overlook, leaving the child to believe the lie worked, sometimes children pass over their parents' eccentricities or even outright faults with only the most gentle satire.) I also think it would be good to spell out the "particular way" Lara's math teacher insisted that the long division work be shown. (p. 63) I also would like to know what happened to the Himalayan Jack Rabbit! Bottom line: this is a wise and inspirational little book that you might want to buy for someone expecting their first child.
| 
