I am so glad this book was recommended to me by some friends. The philosophy is a simple yet revolutionary one, which teaches parents to move out of established patterns and interact with their children in a way that benefits both the child and the parent; while helping children grow into thoughtful, independent and happy adults.
While there are some suggestions in this book I just can't see myself using, there are plenty of others that have worked so far. The main problem is making sure that you actually use them rather than falling into the usual patterns of interaction!
Highly recommended for parents. ( )

I read this book when my son was young. He's 28 now. The book helped me. Its recommendations have application outside of child rearing. Highly recommend this for anyone's reading. Very surprised at the few ratings below 3. This is an excellent and helpful book. ( )

Brilliant and simple parenting ideas, especially for non-confrontational discipline. Well, at least it seems that way, but I'll have to see how it works. So far I've used it quite a bit with my 3-year-old and had significant success, some absolutely startling. It's just amazing what you your child will do when you give them a chance to think things through themselves. There have been a few failures. And it feels a bit awkward to strategically think through whole conversations.

What was strange was that while reading this sometimes I would be on brink of tears. I would read the "bad" example and the consequences and realize that's what I've been doing. I've been pounding away at her self-esteem, and I've done it thinking I was teaching a good lesson. ( )

Excellent ( )

great, classic parenting book! ( )