Book Review: No Bad Kids

 No Bad Kids by Janet Lansbury Review

Takeaways:

1. Don't be afraid of or take misbehavior personally.

2. Don't discipline a kid for crying. (ie focus on the misbehavior act rather than disciplining the response)

 3. Don't be phony (ie be real with them)

Things I have used:

 1.Tone and Delivery:

-Something that I am always working on. Being clear for my littles to understand what emotion or need I am conveying.

2. "... the question is never "Are they learning?" It's "What are they learning?" 

-I have tried to focus on this one a lot. Shaping their learning and time. Also how they rest and relax.

3. Internal shifts in my dialogue in my head.

-A huge part of my day. Always thinking about how to approach each situation because there is always a situation.  Giving myself grace and realizing there is always going to be another opportunity.

 

Quotes that I liked:

 1. "To love toddlers is to know them." (p. 19)

2. "Don't anticipate willingness, and you won't be disappointed." (p. 67-68)

3. "There is no greater gift to our children and ourselves than complete acceptance of their negative feelings. (Notice I did not say "behaviors".) By deleting from our parenting job description the responsibilities to 'soothe', 'correct', and 'control' our kids' feelings and replacing them with 'accept', 'acknowledge', and 'support,' both parent and child are rewarded and liberated." (p. 98)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Janet Lansbury's book. It confirmed a lot of things for me that I am doing while giving things to think about and how I can continue to improve my parenting skills.

Did anyone else read it? What did you find beneficial?