Duct Tape Parenting

A veteran parent educator narrates her finely tuned lesson on helping children grow into responsible adults. Though she sounds like she wants to be engaged and helpful, Hoefle's otherwise pleasant speaking voice sounds somewhat pedantic and lacking in energy. It's not a good vehicle for this program. Using examples of many kinds of parent-child struggles, she shows how careless parenting reinforces kids to rely too much on others, not enough on themselves. By saying and doing less (thus, the duct tape to keep us quiet), parents create a space in which kids figure out their own solutions. The advice, based on familiar psychological principles, is a good reminder that beleaguered parents have thoughtful options for influencing children, rather than defaulting into reactive authoritarian approaches, doing what's expedient, or going passive. T.W. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine