Yes, readers, I'm actually going to recommend a parenting book. My relationship to parenting advice literature might best be characterized as obsessive ambivalence. I obsessively buy and read these books and then find myself feeling ambivalent, almost dirty, afterward. But a blog I love recently recommended Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and, like any good member of the Cheetos Brigade, I clicked right over to Amazon and bought a copy. Here's the surprising thing: it's pretty damn good!
The book is labeled "A Sourcebook of Strategies for the First Five Years," which makes it especially appropriate for our little community. It starts off with nine main principles (ex: Learning to Value Struggle and Disequilibrium) and follows with chapters on specific issues for young children. I thought the chapter on Sibling Relationships--my latest fascination--was really great and helped me to see that the previous stuff I'd been reading situated these relationships, at least rhetorically, in terms of rivalry rather than mutual contribution to each other and the family. It's always nice when a twenty page chapter helps to redefine your entire outlook on family dynamics. (The chapter on "Parenting with a Partner" is also well done.)
M, in response to Anastasia, recently prompted discussions about smartness, sensitivity, and praise, and there are chapters in the book that speak to those issues, as well. Overall, a good read. At least one and a half thumbs up!
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