Children: The Challenge

by Rudolf Dreikurs

Other authorsVicki Stolz

Paperback, 1987

Status

Available

Collection

EC/Parent Library [yellow dot]

Genres

Mind and Body

General Nonfiction

Nonfiction

Publication

Dutton Adult (1987), Paperback, 335 pages

Description

Children: The Challenge gives the key to parents who seek to build trust and love in their families, and raise happier, healthier, and better behaved children. Based on a lifetime of experience with children--their problems, their delights, their challenges--Dr. Rudolf Dreikurs, one of America's foremost child psychiatrists presents an easy-to-follow program that teaches parents how to cope with the common childhood problems that occur from toddler years through early adolescence. This warm and reassuring reference helps parents to understand their children's actions better, giving them the guidance necessary to discipline lovingly and effectively, all while fostering a healthy environment in which children will grow and develop into successful teenagers and adults.… (more)

Subjects

Child Psychology

Child rearing

Language

English

Physical description

335 p.; 7.9 inches

User reviews

LibraryThing member jtlauderdale

Many are the times I turned to this book while our children were young. It's been around for a while but still has value for those who want to raise children without shaming, blaming, etc. It fits the punishment to the crime, so to speak. It helped me put the various behaviors of our children in

perspective so that the real problems being demonstrated could be addressed.

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LibraryThing member HippieLunatic

I believe this books needs to be read with a good dose of time-capsule-awaredness. While there is certainly timeless knowledge within the book, there is also a sense of the good old days for what you can allow children to do safely.

Yes, you should learn to treat children as individuals, apart from

siblings and any pre-conceived notions of age that you might have. But the world is a much scarier place than it was in 1964. The use of natural consequences when it comes to strangers is too great of a risk for me to allow with my children.

That said, I do believe that other natural consequences can do wonders for a child. Teaching a child that the world has order, and that learning the order can lead to happiness and that ignorance of the order can lead to dispair is something I think every person needs to learn. Unfortunately, I think that too many people today haven't yet learned this lesson, be their age 30 or 5.

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LibraryThing member PotomacLibrary

Although this is an older parenting manual, the advice feels unique and fresh (though the language is somewhat dated in the 1964 edition I read. Lots of "Mothers" and "homemakers"). The crux of the book is understanding the evolving constellation of family relationships and encouraging each child

with acknowledgment of their capabilities and unique qualities. Feels sound and sensible and should help parents avoid playing one child off the other or being played by the child. (AG, 12/23/09)

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LibraryThing member AskAmma

I read this book when I was 8 years old and my sister was born. I remember enjoying all the examples at the end. I haven't read it since then but I plan to read it again.

LibraryThing member AnnieHidalgo

The first half of this book made tons of sense. I really feel it has valuable things to say about how we should react impartially to a child's behavior, and try to understand why a child might react the way that he or she does, rather than getting involved in a power struggle. On the other hand, I

felt that he was sometimes a little off-base in the end chapters. The book was written, if you are familiar with Meyers-Briggs typology at all, from a very 'thinking' rather than 'feeling' perspective. Perhaps I just don't understand my own unconscious well enough, but I feel that ignoring or grossly downplaying a child's hurt or fear, far from making him self-reliant, will only cause him to see YOU as uncaring. I know I would feel that someone was uncaring who allowed my sibling to give me a bloody nose, or my father to hit me, telling me that it was not their place to step in. Sure, you might become more 'self-reliant' in the face of that treatment, being left to fend for yourself, but at what emotional cost? Isn't there a middle road, showing concern for a child's well being while fostering independence? An interesting perspective, but I could never bring myself to follow the whole program, nor would I really want to.

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