When Parenting Backfires: Twelve Thinking Errors that Undermine Parents Effectiveness

by Daniel Bates, David Simonsen

Let’s be honest. Parenting is hard. From the moment children take their first breaths, parents are faced with decisions and choices that no manual could ever fully explain. And the way you parent is constantly changing: babies need protection, toddlers need direction, and teens need influence. We as parents are simply expected to do it and do it well.

From two therapists who have a combined 25 years of experience working with families comes a new kind of parenting book. This book doesn’t focus on technique, a discipline scheme or parenting style. This book focuses on the parent themselves, specifically the kind of thinking that makes parents effective or ineffective. In "When Parenting Backfires" examines 12 thinking errors commonly made by parents. In each chapter Dan and David:

• Explain the thinking error
• How it backfires
• What parents can do to correct the thinking error
• And real life examples of parents who have recognized their thinking error, made the correction, and improved their effectiveness.

Let this book do its work. Let down your guard and be open to the new ideas. Effective parent is willing to take those odds. Are you?

159 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2016

About the author

Creativity and curiosity are the motivating factors for my writing. I want to know and learn more. And when an idea grips me, I'm compelled to write. But writing isn't just about the transmission of knowledge; its that and more. Writing is an act of creativity. It is bringing together multiple streams of insight, knowledge, experience and research in a way that captures the imagination, stirs the soul, and renews your mind. That is what I feel when I write and when I read a gifted author.

Reviews

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thankful for this little book as it uncovers some important areas in which wrong thinking can have an impact on the relationship between parents and children. In my role as a pastor, I often find myself counseling members of the church through difficult parental situations and I feel like Bates has given us some helpful challenges in When Parenting Backfires.

Each chapter highlights a thinking error, the danger of it and then walks through ways to correct it. There are also real life examples from the authors' clinical experience that are relatable for any reader. The psychological-hesitant among us should have no fear, this book is accessible and winsomely written to engage the reader regardless of familiarity with the topics discussed. For me the best chapters were on conditional love (and how we should give our children grace) and seeing progress as perfection in wanting the best for our kids.

Read this before you think you need to. Your children with thank you, those waiting to counsel you will thank you and you will thank yourself!