The New Strong-Willed Child: Birth Through Adolescence [NEW STRONG-WILLED CHILD REV/E]

by James C.(Author) Dobson

Paperback

Reviews

[Anna Wallace]

This was referred to me by a coworker, as I was in search of a book with conservative approach to parenting. There are not many books that are of this nature, nor of a moderate standpoint. (For reference, I enjoy reading both ends of the spectrum to settle somewhere in the middle.) This book gives very factual reasons how the ‘gentle parent method’ can be a disservice to your child’s discipline and also that situationally appropriate, non violent, and non anger provoked spanking is not at all harmful to a child. I didn’t agree with the starting age of 18 months for this measure of discipline or that it should be a first line method, but I did find the rationalizations insightful. I also took the advice about time outs not being helpful with a grain of salt. On the other hand, this book also made me realize that my child is not as “very strong willed” as I thought, but showing normal signs of development, which is a huge relief. One trigger warning to readers/listeners of this book is that it is a very religious book, with several references to bible verses etc, which was not advertised at all. I found this to be a pleasant surprise at times, but if you’re not raising your child in a Christian home, this is not the resource for you. Also, there is a fair amount of outdated material, especially during the adolescent discipline chapter. (i.e. referencing to MTV and Britney Spears’ influence on the adolescent mind— lol) I skipped over most of that chapter anyways, as I’m parenting a toddler currently, but if you do read this, maybe replace these with social media, tablets/cell phone, and YouTube for your purposes. :) Chapter 2 (in the audible version), was also unusual as it was a podcast style but it was fine. Overall, I found value in this book as a parenting resource, and recommend it to other parents, if they can get past the outdated content and the religious undertones.