Positive Discipline: The First Three Years: From Infant to Toddler

Positive Discipline: The First Three Years: From Infant to Toddler by Jane Nelsen

This book was such a pleasure to read! I was engrossed and amazed at the many, many opportunities pointed out where you can take a tanrum or fit and turn it into a lesson learned for the child. This book reminds us that raising kids takes work, patience, and conistency -- I say reminds because we all know those things are true. But to take a typical situation that is unpleasant or even embarrassing to the parent and turn it into an opportunity for the child to learn something -- now that's what raising a confident and independent child is all about! Letting them make decisions early on (criteria being that there are only 2 choices and both are to the parent's approvel) sets them up for a successful outcome while allowing them to learn important decision-making skills. I learned so much from this book, but mostly that you have to look at the situation and see what the opportunity is for the child to LEARN something here. Instead of saying "no whining," allow the child to discover for himself how to fix the situation (example given was child whining about not liking the cup his mom gave him and she helped him learn that he can get his favorite cup from the cupboard and pour the juice into his new glass -- while making a mess, but still learning to make a positive change happen). Many more examples given such as what to do during a tantrum, when child is getting into something he shouldn't, and how to even handle other parents when your child "misbehaves."

Every parent should buy & read this book. If all our kids were allowed to succeed in life (& shown that they can make it happen), where could we be in a few years?