Читать книгу Confident Children: Help children feel good about themselves - Gael Lindenfield, Gael Lindenfield - Страница 23

This chapter was difficult for me to write and may well prove to be the hardest one for you to read and ‘take on board’. After all, who likes to be reminded or to be made aware of their shortcomings, especially in relation to their ‘sacred’ role as parents?! So, as you read you may need to be on your guard for defensive reactions such as denial

‘Thank goodness I’m not like that’

or intellectualizations

‘That’s a very interesting point but I’m not sure that’s quite the right word to use …’

– or, of course, paralysing guilt reactions. As a result you may (like many people do when they read parenting books!) start giving yourself a hard time and boring others with self put-downs. If you do, quickly divert your energy into a more constructive direction by trying one of the practical exercises included in this chapter.

Let’s start by examining some extremes – the saints and the sinners of the parenting world. We will look first at the positive end of the continuum. I doubt if any such paragons of perfection are actually reading this book – their children already possess superlative self-assurance and outstanding social skills! Nevertheless I am sure the vast majority of you will be able to identify some of your parenting strengths as you read the following list.