Monday, June 30, 2008

Unconditional Parenting

I can't believe I missed reviewing this book. This is one of those in my parenting top 10. It explains a way to parent that is not really practiced much here in the U.S. and it contains LOTS of research on the effects of different types of parenting skills on the children, which I think is great for those who feel the need to be, or can be, convinced by research, although of course there are plenty of problems with any kind of research and it also just appeals to my own common sense.

This is a must-read for anyone who wants to raise his or her child with a sense of respect for that child as a person, who wants to enable the child to reach his or her full potential and be unafraid of his or her abilities. It is also a must-read, in my opinion, for anyone who believes that "permissive parenting" is really the problem.

That being said, please note that there is a type of "permissive parenting" that is not helpful to children either, but mostly the problem is that parents do not respect children enough. We don't recognize their autonomy in ways that helps them grow, and we hold them to a much, much higher standard than is realistic in many cases, and definitely than we hold ourselves to.

READ IT! =)

No comments: