** 84th book of 2020: Light and fluffy, not enough fruit in the center. **
One should be a PARENT:
P - Play: Kids should play, it’s a means to control their own development and see how much stress they can endure.
- Sure, but, nothing new here. *
**A - Authenticity: ** “Emotional honesty, not perfection, is what children truly need from their parents.” I like this one, and it’s a good inoculation to the faint praise that is a staple of the American attempts to promote self esteem. The author recommends reading stories that ‘encompass all emotions’, and being as honest with kids as possible about your own emotions as a helpful parenting technique. *Probably the most useful section of the book, and I appreciated the sample dialogs. Sadly there’s only one example dialog, and I’d love a discussion of when parents could be taking it too far. *
R - Reframe: “There isn’t bad weather, only bad clothing!” *As in, instead of thinking: “How could I have the price of a book and only gotten the content of a google search? Instead think: at least this book has me thinking about being a good parent beyond all those tiger parenting books. *
E - Empathy
- As in, I should have empathy for how hard it is to write a book and how easy it is to criticize. Yet still, there are much better books out there on parenting. *
N - No Ultimatums *The first ultimatum of no ultimatums club is… wait a minute… *
**T - Together Hygge (pronounced Hooga) - ** “Hygge is about creating a safe place to relax with others and leave the everyday stressors outside. Not complain unnecessarily. Look for ways to help out so that no one person gets stuck doing all the work. Light candles if we are inside. Make a conscious effort to enjoy the food and the drinks. ” *Now I finally know how to pronounce Hygge! What happens though if being authentic goes against the principles of Hygge? I guess that one is in the homework. *