Just one parenting book...

[HeyThereDelilah]

Aside from the wisdom in the Bible, if you could recommend ONLY ONE "parenting" book for the toddler years (or any years but that include the toddler years), which would it be?

[Susan]

One that comes to my mind - "Shepherding A Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp .

[Liz in Chicago]

"Teach them Diligently" by Priolo: http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Them-Dilige ... 1889032204

Wish I'd know this stuff a long time ago.

[Ruth]

Anything by John Rosemond and what I like about his books is that he has books from terrible twos to teens. I love his books for parenting teenagers.

I also like Kevin Lehman's books.

Shepherding a Child's heart was a life changing book for me, but...there are a few things now that I have problems with looking back at parenting my children - if that makes sense. What I DO like about Shepherding a Child's Heart is the principle of finding the root of the behavior and aiming at that rather than just trying to change the behavior.

Rosemond's books are very very practical and an idiot can follow the advice (aka me).

Honestly - here is what I was thinking about last night while watching Supernanny. If I had combined her method with Shepherding a Child's Heart and John Rosemond (who is a lot like Supernanny), I think there is at least one child of my four that would have "turned out" differently.

[vicki]

Nope. Not just one. In fact, not most of them. Either they make me feel really dumb or they deal with situations which, on paper, look good--but in real life don't work. And many have some good advice, but the whole book isn't worth buying.

All it takes is one child who is remarkably different from the others to make a parent scratch his or her head and say, "Whaaaaa?" I chuckle at people who think they have the answers, but have never had a truly challenging child. If I hadn't had Renna to cry and laugh with about one of my children, I don't know what i would have done!

[vicki]

Nope. Not just one. In fact, not most of them. Either they make me feel really dumb or they deal with situations which, on paper, look good--but in real life don't work. And many have some good advice, but the whole book isn't worth buying.

All it takes is one child who is remarkably different from the others to make a parent scratch his or her head and say, "Whaaaaa?" I chuckle at people who think they have the answers, but have never had a truly challenging child. If I hadn't had Renna (and some others) to cry and laugh with about one of my children in particular, I don't know what i would have done!

[HeyThereDelilah]

Vicki, I am curious why you quoted your entire last post without adding to it. Did you mean to add to it? I'm asking because I wanted to know what you wanted to add, LOL!

I am currently reading Shepherding a Child's Heart. I'm only a few chapters into it but this is how we are. We like to stress the heart of the child and the reason for the behavior instead of just outward appearance.

N is a very challenging child. I have found myself questioning how I should parent this little firecracker. The past few days have been better because I realized I was starting to act very angry/frustrated a lot and I've been praying for patience and God has been faithful to grant me that patience and He is really showing me HOW to respond to her. I am so thankful for His guidance!

She really is so so SWEET and loving but she's just so bright and sometimes it's mentally exhausting just being her mother.

It's hard to explain but many people I know say it's harder to parent their older children but I've found it's the opposite! My older kids are easy. They know the rules and they know the consequences and they know Mama WILL lay down the law, unless it's a situation where grace or mercy is warranted (this is hard to explain on a forum.) They are truly well-behaved, loving kids. I think this 2yo stage is way harder!

[vicki]

Vicki, I am curious why you quoted your entire last post without adding to it. Did you mean to add to it? I'm asking because I wanted to know what you wanted to add, LOL

!I meant to hit "edit" and instead I hit "quote." When I went back, it was too late for me to delete anything. The second one is a little different than the first one.

[HeyThereDelilah]

I see it now that you pointed it out.

[Amy]

Shepherding a Child's Heart has changed the way Jen parents Brooklyn (she asked me for help and I gave her my book). Brooklyn is a much sweeter girl now and Jen thanks me over and over for giving her the book. I'm so glad because Brooklyn was not fun to be with for long time. She was whiney, demanding and, well, a brat.