What do you think?
Rate this book
10 Things Every Parent Needs to Know
From popular author and resident parenting expert on Channel 9's Parental GuidanceDr Justin Coulson, this book is a moving, inspiring and loving call to action for all parents.
Parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson shares the ten things every parent needs to know to raise their children in positive ways. They are also ways to make parenting easier for you - so you don't have to keep 'making it up as you go along'.
Drawing on positive psychology, the book gives simple and effective strategies for the main issues parents of 2-12 year olds confront in everyday family life. Justin shares his secrets of effective attention, communication and understanding; how to discipline effectively and set limits; and how to manage hot-button issues such as sibling conflict, chores, school and screens - yet still have fun as a family.
Praise for Dr Justin Coulson
'Justin is a genius! His honest, compassionate and sensible advice is music to this mum's ears. I want him to adopt our family!' - Jessica Rowe, co-host, Studio 10
'Dr Justin Coulson is who I turn to when I'm feeling overwhelmed with parenting my three young (and frequently boisterous) kids. His calm, logical advice never fails to help me be a better parent.' - Bec Sparrow, author of Find Your Tribe
'If your aim is to be the best parent you possibly can, this is your go-to book.' - Madonna King, author of Being 14
'A wonderfully practical book that's bulging with heart, soul and wisdom. It's a book I'll definitely be recommending to my children, who are now parents themselves.' - Michael Grose, parenting expert and founder of Parenting Ideas
Parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson shares the ten things every parent needs to know to raise their children in positive ways. They are also ways to make parenting easier for you - so you don't have to keep 'making it up as you go along'.
Drawing on positive psychology, the book gives simple and effective strategies for the main issues parents of 2-12 year olds confront in everyday family life. Justin shares his secrets of effective attention, communication and understanding; how to discipline effectively and set limits; and how to manage hot-button issues such as sibling conflict, chores, school and screens - yet still have fun as a family.
Praise for Dr Justin Coulson
'Justin is a genius! His honest, compassionate and sensible advice is music to this mum's ears. I want him to adopt our family!' - Jessica Rowe, co-host, Studio 10
'Dr Justin Coulson is who I turn to when I'm feeling overwhelmed with parenting my three young (and frequently boisterous) kids. His calm, logical advice never fails to help me be a better parent.' - Bec Sparrow, author of Find Your Tribe
'If your aim is to be the best parent you possibly can, this is your go-to book.' - Madonna King, author of Being 14
'A wonderfully practical book that's bulging with heart, soul and wisdom. It's a book I'll definitely be recommending to my children, who are now parents themselves.' - Michael Grose, parenting expert and founder of Parenting Ideas
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 1, 2018
53 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 9, 2021
Relatable, down to earth parenting advice. Loved the sections on technology devices and protecting childhood. Great read!
February 25, 2018
A great guide for parents who have braved the birth and baby phases and then realise they have no idea what to do with an actual real life child! So much practical advice on how to raise kids with intention (rather than always reacting - often in ways that don’t feel so great, and that don’t actually work!) This book is really easy to read and the strategies and techniques are easy to practice in a day to day setting. Highly recommend.
January 14, 2020
I love Justin's passion for wanting to create more harmonious children, parents and so, families.
I also love his use of catchy phrases and anecdotes to illustrate key messages and to help us remember learnings.
His background and skill in radio deejaying comes through in the audio book I listened to, making the reading, I imagine, funnier (where intended) and more amusing than on paper.
I also love his use of catchy phrases and anecdotes to illustrate key messages and to help us remember learnings.
His background and skill in radio deejaying comes through in the audio book I listened to, making the reading, I imagine, funnier (where intended) and more amusing than on paper.
March 19, 2023
"Feeling desperate and admitting it - well that helps us realise we can’t do it ourselves, and so we look to other sources to guide us. This is where growth and learning occur. Desperation acknowledged is a sure sign of soon-to-arrive success! It shows that despite nothing working, we are willing to keep trying. We have hope and desire. We just need a pathway to follow. Or an instruction manual."
June 1, 2018
As with all of these child rearing advice books you have to to take them with a grain of salt. There are some good insights and positive reinforcement though so well worth a read if you are in need of these with your child rearing endeavors.
September 16, 2019
Very good advice. Simple but powerful. I listened to this on audio. Wasn't crazy about his voice but will buy the paper copy because the points are worth returning to.
June 1, 2020
A must read for all parents.
Read
September 13, 2020Very good read and lots of practical advice. A must read.
October 14, 2021
"10 Things Every Parent Needs to Know" by Justin Coulston, PhD
Reviewed on 12 October 2021
I love the gentle, understanding and empathetic approach mentioned in this book. Encouraging open communication and active listening is key. Be simple, clear, and direct and explain why you make the rules you make. Give them options and ask them did you not hear me or are you still thinking about it? Explain why we do the things we do. Ask them what they would do if they were in our position. Empower them. These are such great concepts. Children need to feel as though they matter. This active and encouraging approach of raising a child is best. The softer and kinder we are, the better!
We need to let our children be themselves and help them understand who they are. We need to support them to help them find that thing that excites them and makes them come alive. We need to trust them and get out of their way to grow and make their own decisions and learn from their own mistakes.
Midway through the book, the author mentioned about an Indian taxi drive who wanted his son to grow up to become a pilot as he thought that was a symbol of success. The author challenged the man to see things another way to encourage his son to find his own light and passions, not push what he wants onto his son. At that point, his son was only two months old. This story helps remind us that children are not our property and we should not live the life we wanted for ourselves through them. Instead, children are a part of a community of people who raise them and should be encouraged to find their own ways through life, navigating the journey with their own interests in mind. Many parents want children to become something other than who or what they are. This will only make them feel manipulated and controlled. We need to guide to flourish and thrive!
The author reminds us that we need to share quality time with our kids and be mindful of our own use of screens. Make sure we encourage kids to have face to face encounters with real people, play outside and get daily exercise.
I would highly recommend this book all parents and legal guardians of young and older kids.
Reviewed on 12 October 2021
I love the gentle, understanding and empathetic approach mentioned in this book. Encouraging open communication and active listening is key. Be simple, clear, and direct and explain why you make the rules you make. Give them options and ask them did you not hear me or are you still thinking about it? Explain why we do the things we do. Ask them what they would do if they were in our position. Empower them. These are such great concepts. Children need to feel as though they matter. This active and encouraging approach of raising a child is best. The softer and kinder we are, the better!
We need to let our children be themselves and help them understand who they are. We need to support them to help them find that thing that excites them and makes them come alive. We need to trust them and get out of their way to grow and make their own decisions and learn from their own mistakes.
Midway through the book, the author mentioned about an Indian taxi drive who wanted his son to grow up to become a pilot as he thought that was a symbol of success. The author challenged the man to see things another way to encourage his son to find his own light and passions, not push what he wants onto his son. At that point, his son was only two months old. This story helps remind us that children are not our property and we should not live the life we wanted for ourselves through them. Instead, children are a part of a community of people who raise them and should be encouraged to find their own ways through life, navigating the journey with their own interests in mind. Many parents want children to become something other than who or what they are. This will only make them feel manipulated and controlled. We need to guide to flourish and thrive!
The author reminds us that we need to share quality time with our kids and be mindful of our own use of screens. Make sure we encourage kids to have face to face encounters with real people, play outside and get daily exercise.
I would highly recommend this book all parents and legal guardians of young and older kids.
April 18, 2021
This took me an extremely long time to read (due to life circumstances), but I’m glad I picked it up again at the start of this year to power through.
I’m a big fan of Dr Coulson’s parenting philosophy and his tips & encouragement, so this was and will be a staple in our parenting journey. Though I will say, it was VERY wordy. The points he makes in each chapter are awesome, but he seems to go about explaining them and giving examples in a really long-winded fashion, and I wonder if I might have finished the book sooner had I not felt like I was dragging my feet in each chapter.
Regardless, the underlying themes of ‘you are enough’ as a parent and ‘love your kids the best way you can’ and ‘don’t miss the small moments even if they feel mundane’ are on point & weave through all the other tips and encouraging pieces of research really well.
Definitely a book to keep on hand if your a parent/guardian/grandparent and definitely an author to follow too.
I’m a big fan of Dr Coulson’s parenting philosophy and his tips & encouragement, so this was and will be a staple in our parenting journey. Though I will say, it was VERY wordy. The points he makes in each chapter are awesome, but he seems to go about explaining them and giving examples in a really long-winded fashion, and I wonder if I might have finished the book sooner had I not felt like I was dragging my feet in each chapter.
Regardless, the underlying themes of ‘you are enough’ as a parent and ‘love your kids the best way you can’ and ‘don’t miss the small moments even if they feel mundane’ are on point & weave through all the other tips and encouraging pieces of research really well.
Definitely a book to keep on hand if your a parent/guardian/grandparent and definitely an author to follow too.
January 12, 2024
I would highly recommend this book to any parent needing a bit of a pep talk or who are looking at ways to refine and improve their parenting. While I suspect I will never agree 100% with everything written in a parenting book, a lot of what Justin Coulson suggested in this book resonated strongly with me. A lot of his advice was realistic and aligned with what research is suggesting. I especially liked how practical it was, with checklists at the end of each chapter and a suggested ‘date night’ agenda to help you and your parenting partner/support to apply some of what you’ve read. While I admittedly have not done that, I would consider buying the physical copy of the book (as opposed to the library version) to better enable this to happen as he had some great discussion topics.
March 5, 2022
Great parenting book.
I agree with most of what Justin says especially the stuff about children in their first few years @ primary school.
My wife is a primary school teacher in New Zealand so I have her knowledge (& complaints) to fall back on. Pushing kids that are not ready to learn into the rigid school system. Too much testing, too much homework and not enough time for kids to be kids.
Enjoyed bit sometimes Justin gets a pit preachy. On the whole, I agree with most of his points.
I agree with most of what Justin says especially the stuff about children in their first few years @ primary school.
My wife is a primary school teacher in New Zealand so I have her knowledge (& complaints) to fall back on. Pushing kids that are not ready to learn into the rigid school system. Too much testing, too much homework and not enough time for kids to be kids.
Enjoyed bit sometimes Justin gets a pit preachy. On the whole, I agree with most of his points.
August 8, 2023
Really valuable book to give some guidance and evidence-based advice on how to parent well and to raise kids in an environment of love and authenticity.
November 22, 2023
Every parent needs this Manuel. Absolutely fantastic and well narrated :) so easy to follow and FACTZZZ
July 12, 2024
Good refresher
August 9, 2018
Great - need to reread at later stage
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews