Reviews of Lay Literature in Child-Care: What Parents Are Reading

[摘要] D. Dinkmeyer, G. D. McKay. The Parents' Handbook: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP). Circle Pines, Minnesota: American Guidance Service, Inc., 1989; list price $9.95 (No. 4 on the 1990 bestseller list of books on child care from Ingram Book Co., distributor of trade books).This edition of STEP offers an insightful, comprehensive and realistic approach to parent-child relationships. Parents learn discipline techniques by gaining a better understanding of how children think and by learning to create an atmosphere of mutual respect, encouragement, communication, affection and enjoyment. Child behavior is viewed as goal-directed and as driven by powerful feelings such as a need for power, attention, revenge or by feelings of fear and inadequacy. Parents, too, are viewed as individuals with needs who have strong feelings about their roles and the disciplinary process. Conflicts between parents' and children's feelings are exemplified in descriptions of typical battles, including talking back, lateness for school, resisting bedtimes, fighting with siblings, poor effort in school, messiness, etc. Parents are taught to help themselves and their children learn self-control, self-respect, and respect for others by "listening between the lines," offering choices and natural consequences, and establishing family meetings for group decisions about responsibilities and problems. Worksheets and charts help families get organized. The book is brief (127 pages) and somewhat lacking in detail, but this may be offset by its widespread use in parenting classes in which there are additional opportunities to apply and individualize the methods. Instructors' manuals and other teaching materials are also available from the publisher as are other texts in which the STEP approach is applied to very young children, and teenagers. There are also separate versions for classroom teachers, Christian counselors and Spanish speakers.

[学科分类] 儿科学