Positive Discipline for Today's Busy (and Overwhelmed) Parent

September 15, 2018

Coauthor of the popular "Positive Discipline" series, licensed marriage, family, and child therapist Nelsen, with parent educator Joy Marchese and life coach Kristina Bill, presents a manual for balancing work, parenting, and myriad other demands that can lead to anxiety, exhaustion, and depression. Lack of time, increasing competition, and confusing advice ramp up the pressure further as women officially outnumber men in the workforce, according to a 2011 poll. The focus of the positive discipline philosophy is on adults changing themselves from within instead of changing their child. In a world of perfection parenting--those determined to provide the ideal childhood--adults may find their own health suffering or that they no longer strive toward their own goals. The positive discipline strategy is based on avoiding both punitive and permissive parenting to teach social and life skills to children in a respectful and encouraging way. While a popular program, a more concise narrative and user-friendly format (with sidebars and bullet points) would have better served "busy and overwhelmed" parents hoping for a quick read. VERDICT Although this title will no doubt appeal to some readers, numerous other volumes in the series offer the majority of the same information.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2018
Today's parents are overwhelmed by work obligations, conflicting advice, and pressure to excel both in the office and at home. It might seem easier to punish and reward misbehaving kids than be empathetic and consistent. But these three experienced authors (life coaches and family counselors) stress that children need to feel that they belong and are contributing to the family. Interestingly, the authors begin by asking parents to define what they need in their lives before moving on to their interactions with children. They explain traditional parenting approaches and then offer positive discipline tools and detailed exercises to help parents put these suggestions into practice. Examples from workshops and practices add real-life experiences. Parents are urged to model sane behavior in interactions and to try to really understand what a child needs when he or she misbehaves. Although this approach may take more time, children will learn important life skills, and parents will be rewarded with more effective family relationships. An appendix lists common problems and suggested tools to correct them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)