Kirkus Book Review:
A debut offers parents a new direction for disciplining children.
Kenney draws on own experiences (she’s a parent first and a coach second). She believes no matter where you fall on the parenting spectrum, you could be feeling overworked or tired. Or, perhaps you struggle with physical punishments and find yourself spanking, yanking, or grabbing your child to get them to obey,” she writes.
Instead of calling children “good” or “bad” is the equivalent of throwing in the towel: “if we’re going to label them, I prefer to use the
Kenney writes with a winningly engaging openness and consistent sympathy both for the challenges of day to day parenting and the stresses of childhood. The author clearly offers a wide variety of better solutions to disciplining, from “active listening” to analyzing each child’s temperament and gently “reprogramming” both the kid’s behavior and the parent’s.
She presents her advice in compelling, immediately accessible prose, complete with bulleted points and lists, and the warmth of her compassion removes any hint of the kind of criticism that might make some of her readers feel defensive.
A readable and disarmingly wise guide.