Parenting Without Power Struggles {Paperback} (For Parents)
Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids While Staying Cool, Calm, and Connected
It may not shock people who really know me that I talk a lot. So, writing my 1,000th blog post may seem like a huge feat, but it is probably just my fingers trying to keep up with my mouth. I wanted to do a special post and there isn’t anything more special to me than being a good parent and continually wanting to learn how to be better. So, I guess this post pretty much wrote itself!
I have always said that parenting doesn’t get easier as kids get older, it just gets different. For example, my husband is a very nervous parent about babies. They are fragile and unpredictable and hard to decipher. He’d much rather deal with a toddler or preschooler so he has more of an idea of what they want. Having a preschooler is when coaching and patience become key factors into having a good relationship with communication leading the way. Even then to get to the key issue with a child can be tough. I realized recently how important it was for me to recognize our older daughter’s behavior after a perplexing week of her usual sunny behavior that suddenly turned into a, well, brat. My husband and I brainstormed and realized it was because she was getting less ‘daddy’ time during the last week of his college semester (my husband is a Stay At Home Dad and she is quite a daddy’s girl) and we had to incorporate more one-on-one time with him each day even if it was just them riding together to the store to get a milkshake. She had felt rejected and didn’t know how to tell us and I am not a daddy substitute apparently. I would say like magic, but it was a process, she turned back into her usual self within a day or two. I am just imagining the teen years, but it will come with time and we will deal with that when we get there. It’s not easy and I am no expert which is why I like to read about ways to continually improve. I like to stay up-to-date on my own personal parenting skills to keep myself in check and always make sure I’m putting my best foot forward in giving it my all. As with all skills, they need to be honed and crafted and updated constantly to get where you want to go which is why I love books like Parenting Without Power Struggles.
Parenting Without Power Struggles is a fantastic book at how families can build strong relationships without domination and resentment. Written by family therapist Susan Stiffelman, she talks about how parents can get kids to cooperate without coercion. Children need good role models and calm and confident parents. They also need bonding time to develop family relationships. My favorite part of the book is the six stages of relationships: “proximity, sameness, belonging/loyalty, significance, love, and being known.” Parents can build or even re-build the parent-child relationship with these steps, the first just being near the child. Yes, we are all busy but we should never be too busy to be with our children for daily one-on-one time. At least to try and make that commitment is huge. We all have emotional challenges as people and dealing with these issues head-on as a family unit makes us stronger, more compassionate and stay together as a team. That’s exactly what I want from my family life and I imagine you do, too.
My family will always be my safe place, my sanctuary from the outside world and we (the hubs and I) work hard to keep it that way. As with my New Year’s resolution from last year, I will continue to make it a priority to always focus on my little circle. 2013 was a year that had such ups and downs and I turn to writing as things get tough and it did help me through a lot of it. It’s an exciting and wonderful time after many long months of struggle and worry if my high-risk pregnancy would turn out well. Huge deep sigh, we are okay and we will be okay. No more struggling with health now and more time to focus on parenting without power struggles. What a great commitment. Thanks for reading and I will continue to write when great products come my way. 1,000 posts really flew by and who knows what my (ahem – our) future holds. That is pretty exciting to know as I continue to watch my family grow.
Parenting Without Power Struggles {Paperback} (For Parents)
List Price: $ 19.00 (Currently on sale for 12.09 through Amazon.com)
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