Liberated Parents, Liberated Children: Your Guide to a Happier Family

Liberated Parents, Liberated Children by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazush is an exceptional and transformative guide for anyone looking to build a stronger, more empathetic relationship with their children. Their approach is both practical and compassionate, offering insightful strategies for dealing with everyday parenting challenges. The book is filled with realistic advice on how to handle difficult situations without resorting to control or punishment, focusing instead on mutual respect, understanding, and cooperation. I loved how it emphasizes the importance of active listening and connecting with children on an emotional level. The tips and real-life examples help parents not only understand their children better but also guide them in fostering emotional intelligence and independence. This book is a must-read for any parent seeking a more mindful, respectful approach to raising children, and it truly has the power to transform family dynamics.

This is a wonderful book, one of the best. I bought it this time for my son-in law who's a pediatrician. I figured let a book tell him what it is like to raise kids. Definitely, not me. This is the most insightful material any-one has ever come up with outside the original inventor and mentor behind this book. Haim Ginott, Two courageous mothers, who were at their ends' wits, joined one of his workshops, and emerged victoriously at the finish line. They end up describing their and other parents' nightmarish situarions and--by learning how to be on to of a mother-child conflict, they hopefully were able to give the reader ideas how to handle difficult and compact situations at home themselves. In contrast to the Haim Ginott serial books, that have a rather scientific flair, the cases the two women described are compelling, thus easy to read. One of the more touchy parts was the description of a young mother, who had come to the group with the story that she--after the death of her husband--had totally lost her gip on him: He had turned lazy, overweight, brought bad grades home, did not have friends, plus, he was so clumsy, that things broke or ended up unusable. While all other parents learned throughout the course, how to manage their home fires, this one seemed the hardest nut to crack. Which, at the very end, so happened. It was an unbelievable turn-around..

I love all the Faber/Mazlish books and think they are essential basic reading for everyone, but especially parents. If you have the time and patience, I recommend starting with their first book, Liberated Parents/Children Your Guide to a Happier Family. It delves into the thought process behind this approach to parenting in a semi-entertaining way. Having this background makes it much easier to practice the skills taught more thoroughly in the "How to Talk" books and the "Siblings without Rivalry" book. The Liberated Parents & Siblings books are told in a story form approach, making them more interesting and heart-warming. How to Talk cuts straight to the heart of the matter to teach skills both by explanation and example. All are good, start with whichever you feel you need most. I have 9, 12, and 14 year olds, and every time I find myself frustrated I realize I've deviated from these parenting skills. Returning to them fixes the situation more often than not. It's amazing how much better of a parent I am with this approach, which doesn't come naturally to me. I fall off the wagon all the time, but am so glad to have this to come back to when we're having challenges. Thank you to these wonderful authors!

OK, I may be a little bit of a Faber & Mazlish groupie, having already How to Talk So Kids Will Listen...,Siblings Without Rivalry, and Joanna’s book, How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen. I’ve found all those books to have super helpful strategies in an easy and accessible format. I enjoy the parenting group anecdotes and the cartoons, but after a while they fall into a kind of preachy, redundant, sameness. This was the only book that moved me to tears. Disclaimer: I haven’t finished reading it yet, but the chapter I read last night was enough to merit a 5 star review. If you read nothing else in this book, read the narrator's diary about her son, Andy. Vulnerable, insightful, raw, complex, and totally relatable. It’s comforting to have someone acknowledge the process, to share the darkest, toughest, and most imperfect moments of one's parenting, and to give hope to those of us who wonder if there’s something wrong with us when we feel defeated by, enraged with, or resentful of our children. Had I found this book first, I probably would not have read any others.

It seems as though I also sometimes felt lost while trying to discipline my kiddos. While they are absolute wonderful children, there were some issues that it seemed as though I was addressing constantly. I kept applying the same discipline technique without much luck. We were constantly going in circles. This sounds cheesy, but this book was my compass in leading me to better solutions. I have read so many parenting books over the years and this is a book that really stands out. Even if you think that you have read all the parenting advice that you can handle, this book will probably still have something useful for you. The author shares all of the best advice that she learned after spending years in a parenting group led by a child psychologist. The situations mentioned in this book are ones that most parents encounter during their years parenting. It explains why children tend to misbehave after they've been excessively praised. I grew up in an abusive and neglectful family, so I tend to want to hover and overprotect my children. This book taught me how to let my poor children breathe. I've learned how capable my mildly autistic son can be. My kids do their chores . . . without too much complaint. :) I have the tools to lovingly stop my toddler's tantrum without caving in. I wish I would have read this years ago!

I wasn't sure that this book would be of much value as I had already read "How to Listen...." and had also ordered Siblings Without Rivalry. I couldn't have been more wrong. This is an absolute must have for anyone, like me, who spends many nights chastising herself for not living up to her own ideals of parenting and vowing to do better the next day. It really describes the process of how the authors moved towards a style of parenting that is respectful of the dignity of both parent and child and does so in a way that lets you know that they too took numerous steps back while striving to move forward. Most admirably it also tackles the most difficult question of how, as a parent, you might deal with your varying feelings of anger towards your children, all the way through to rage, without tossing out everything you've learnt in the heat of the moment. The style is very casual and uses a workshop approach as a teaching tool. I know some have criticized the use of cartoons to showcase model approaches in a range of situations, but I found this a quick and very effective method to assist the reader to make the connection between theory and practice. For me the approach to parenting described by Faber and Mazlish is the end of the line in a long long search for a "better way". I only wish I could have been in those workshops run by Dr Haim Ginott! This book is one that I will refer to over and over again.

Clear, excellent parenting advice, written in a friendly, empathetic style. When a friend of mine, who has 11 (!) kids, told me that this book helped her get through her years of parenting young children with her sanity intact, I knew I had to buy it. I loved it - as did my husband. The advice is straightforward, and the story-like style makes you feel understood rather than lectured to.

An Excellent, super informative book. Not only for parents, but also if you want to improve your relationship with any other human being. This book is based on the principles of outstanding child psychologist Dr. Ginott and all of what he said is so relevant to these days and so up-to-date that is hard to believe the book was not just published. My favorite quote is this: "it might help if we were to think of a child's self-image as wet cement. Imagine that each of our responses to him leaves a mark and shapes his character. This puts parents and teachers under constant obligation. We had better make sure that any mark we leave is one we won't regret when the cement hardens..."

Love this book a fun read for those wanting good behaviour techniques without complications

Principios basicos y de gran ayuda para entender a nuestros hijos, lo recomendaria a toda persona con hijos de cualquier edad.

E' scritto in un modo facile, non teorico e senza arroganza. Situazioni facile da riconoscere. Sono molto soddisfatta. Naturalmente solo per chi sa bene l'inglese.

Die in diesem Buch beschriebene Weise zu kommunizieren, wirkt sich positiv auf alle möglichen Familien- und anderen Beziehungen aus. Die Autorinnen schreiben kein Lehr- und Regelwerk, sondern zeichnen ihren eigenen Pfad der Erkenntnis nach, der sich wie ein Fluss vom Beginn bis zum Ende des Buches durchzieht; anschaulich gemacht durch viele Beispiele. Inhaltlich ist das Buch unheimlich wertvoll. Besser strukturiert, prägnanter und leichter zu lesen sind die Erkenntnisse allerdings in einem anderen Buch derselben Autorinnen (How to talk so kids will listen, and listen so kids will talk). Wer das schon kennt, braucht dieses hier eigentlich nicht mehr, allenfalls zur Auffrischung.

C'est un livre qui est une source d'inspirations pour les jeunes parents et les autres ! Je le recommande sans hésitation