The Smart Love Parent

Smart Love shows how putting a child's inner happiness first, not his outward behavior, actually will make hima better behaved, and in the long run, more confident and responsible.

Should you feed your baby whenever she wants or put her on a schedule? Do you impose consequences on children who don't do their homework or clean up their room, or do you help them with chores and homework? Should you respond to the difficult adolescent with tender love or tough love? Parents are faced every day with a multitude of decisions, and they worry about making the right choices. The Smart Love Parent offers a breakthrough method to parenting created and tested by the husband-and-wife team of Dr. Martha Heineman Pieper and Dr. William J. Pieper. The Piepers offer a new understanding of the entire sweep of child development, allowing you to view the process of growing up through your child's eyes. Their patient and caring approach avoids the extremes of permissiveness and of the old reward-and-punishment style of parenting that turns parents into disciplinarians. By offering a relaxed and realistic timetable for your child's development, they identify some previously unrecognized developmental milestones and show you how to help your child reach them through guiding, not punishing. If you understand your child's point of view, you can better know how to love her and how to respond to her actions. The Smart Love Parent helps parents cultivate a child's inner happiness, which is the best means of ensuring your child will grow up well behaved, responsible, self-confident, and able to reach his or her fullest potential. Book jacket.

While resources abound for stepmothers, stepfathers are often left to travel a difficult road without clear directions. Ron Deal offers advice for men navigating the stepfamily minefield, including how to connect with stepchildren, being a godly role model, how to discipline, dealing with the biological dad, and keeping the bond strong with one's new spouse. He gives perspective on what the kids are going through and why things don't work the same as in a biological family. The Smart Stepdad provides essential guidelines to help stepfathers not only survive but succeed as both dad and husband.

WINNER! Mom's Choice Gold Award for parenting books -- Mom's Choice Awards: The best in family-friendly media "My kid is smart, but..." It takes more than school smarts to create a fulfilling life. In fact, many bright children face special challenges: Some are driven by perfectionism; Some are afraid of effort, because they're used to instant success; Some routinely butt heads with authority figures; Some struggle to get along with their peers; Some are outwardly successful but just don't feel good about themselves. This practical and compassionate book explains the reasons behind these struggles and offers parents do-able strategies to help children cope with feelings, embrace learning, and build satisfying relationships. Drawing from research as well as the authors’ clinical experience, it focuses on the essential skills children need to make the most of their abilities and become capable, confident, and caring people.

Trustworthy Stepfamily Expert Offers Single Parents a Guide to Dating Single parents who are dating or want to begin a dating relationship wonder, How will dating affect my children and my parenting? They probably have figured out that "dating in a crowd" is complicated. Now they're looking for help. Ron Deal, who has counseled single parents and remarried couples for many years, helps single parents--as well as those who date them--navigate the potential pitfalls involved. He gives perspective on when a relationship may be harmful to the children as well as how it can be a blessing to all. Always at the forefront is the goal of strengthening families. Includes questions for individual or group study.

"By parents, for parents. That is what makes Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning different from most parenting books. Drawing on personal parenting stories and expert advice from more than 60 contributors, this guide will leave you with ideas you can put into action immediately."--from back cover.

A guide to parenting that asks parents to empathize with their children to nurture their strengths, rather than discipline them in the traditional reward-punishment way.

The author of Punished by Rewards and The Schools Our Children Deserve returns with a provocative challenge to the conventional ways of raising children. Kohn argues that all children have the need to be loved unconditionally, yet conventional approaches to parenting, such as punishment and reward, teach children that they are loved only when they please and impress parents. Kohn cites powerful research detailing the damage this can cause. Unconditional Parenting pushes parents to question their ideas of parenting and offers practical solutions to problems.