Children are from Heaven

Positive Parenting Skills for Raising Cooperative, Confident, and Compassionate Children

De: John Gray

Narrado por: John Gray

A new book about parenting from the prolific author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus

John Gray's Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus is a history-making bestseller with more than 7 million copies in print in hardcover. This new book on parenting will round out the relationship mega-brand that John has created.

Focusing on children ages 1-9, John explains that this is the period of dependence in a child's life when character and sense of self are shaped.

Parents everywhere are sure to breathe a sigh of relief that they now have a John Gray book they can turn to help children reach their fullest potential.

©1999 by John Gray; (P) and ©1999 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Harper Audio, a division of HarperCollins Publishers

Good core, very repetitive

The core of this book is useful. It discusses ways to bring your children back under your control without resorting to threats or violence. It has already helped me to keep my focus when dealing with my son's temper trantrums.

At the core of the book is the idea that it is okay to resist, but mommy and daddy are right. During the resistance, whether your child wants to do something that you disallow, or you want him/her to do something, you must never lose your temper yourself. Rather you use the following 5 step process:

1. Ask politely, using "would you" and "please".
2. Listen, empathize (i.e. I understand that you are mad at me for making you do this, but...) then ask politely again.
3. Offer a reward.
4. Order (i.e. I want you do this this.) Don't get upset, repeat order four or five times.
5. Give him/her a timeout, equal to one minute for each year of age.

Do not make the timeout a punishment with threats, remain on the other side of the door, and do not make the child reflect upon it. Simply let the child cry or fuss. Afterwards do not show any hostility towards the child. After the timeout, the child will be back under your control. I have used this process a couple times and it seems to work.

Like his previous effort, Venus & Mars, this book is highly repetitive. In paper format this is unacceptable, because you can always go back and read the information again. In audible format this isn't such a problem, especially if you listen to this in the car where you are prone to missing a sentence here and there due to distractions.

good book

What did you like best about Children Are From Heaven? What did you like least?

helps with ideas about parenting, though I don't really share the author's perspective all the time.