One basic want all children have got, educator Alfie Kohn argues, is to be loved unconditionally, to learn that they will be accepted even if indeed they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as for example punishments (including ‘time-outs’), rewards (including positive support), and other styles of control show kids that they are liked only once they make sure you us or make an impression us. Kohn cites a body of powerful, and largely unidentified, research detailing the damage due to leading children to believe they need to earn our acceptance. That’s exactly the message children derive from common discipline methods, even though it isn’t the message most parents intend to send.

More than just another publication about self-discipline, Unconditional Parenting addresses the ways parents consider, experience, and act using their kids. It invites these to query their most basic assumptions about raising kids and will be offering a wealth of practical approaches for shifting from ‘carrying out to’ to ‘operating with’ parenting-including how to replace praise with the unconditional support that children have to grow into healthful, caring, responsible people.