Childhood Unbound: Saving Our Kids' Best Selves--Confident Parenting in a World of Change (Hardcover)

by Ron Taffel Ph.D. (Author)
Key Phrases: talking rituals, learning temperament, family envelope, Engagement Through Community, Engagement Through Listening, Engagement Through Limiting (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Dr. Ron Taffel, one of the country's most sought-after child-rearing experts, draws on decades of counseling experience and extensive conversations with parents nationwide to offer an original and inspiring analysis of the distinctive challenges parents face in raising children today. He also introduces a breakthrough approach for guiding kids -- from children to teens -- in ways that bring out the best in both kids and parents in these twenty-first-century times.

With warmth and clarity, Taffel, who is himself a parent struggling with these issues, helps us to understand our sons and daughters in an entirely new way: as a distinctive "free-est" generation, born to the first generation of "post-baby boomer" parents and the products of a decades-long cultural sea change that intensified in the nineties.

As a result, kids of all ages are now a bundle of contradictions: they exude entitlement, back talk shockingly, negotiate endlessly, worship celebrity, do ten things at once, conduct independent lives online, and engage in high-risk behavior at younger ages. Yet, they are also far more open with their parents and each other than kids in prior generations, are strikingly generous and empathetic, and care deeply about ethical issues. In addition, their high-speed multitasking is preparing them for the demands of the future.

The key question, then, is how to encourage the good while steering them away from the bad. Taffel believes today's parents, having lived through the beginning phases of the same social changes, are uniquely qualifiedto bring out kids' best -- and he shows you how.

Using a wealth of examples, he walks parents through innovative methods to get children's and teens' attention, to set limits they will respect, and to engage them in meaningful conversation to provide the guidance they need. He also instructs on how to rebuild supportive community around us. His inspiring analysis and expert guidance will be embraced as the authoritative new approach to raising their kids that parents have been searching for.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416559272
• ISBN-13: 978-1416559276
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #197,712 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, A New Paradigm , March 2, 2009

By	Susan Bodnar (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a clinical psychologist, full praise and a hearty endorsement of another clinician's book does not come easy. Ron Taffel's energetic and groundbreaking ideas have earned him both, and I speak not only as a clinician but also as a mother. Taffel finally offers families a new way of understanding difficulties with our children. Rather than thinking in a tired individualistic model, Taffel helps us contextualize family struggles in the larger sociocultural environment. While many professionals talk about the need for this perspective in psychological thinking, few deliver with the precise examples that make this approach understandable and meaningful. As we all confront the preadolescence and adolescence of today's youth (and of our own children) with deep concern about their over-the-top sexuality, drinking and material affinities, Taffel presents a very Obamaesque picture. The problems that young people face are real and dangerous, he says. Yet, hidden within their behaviors are a connectedness and generosity that is hopeful and profound. He then authentically tells parents, educators and therapists how to find that life force in every child and how to redirect it into healthful development and community life. If you are tired of hearing the same old reiterations about everyone's psychopathology, this book describes a new paradigm for how to understand one another, young and old alike. It is a paradigm built on love, acceptance, commitment, and community. These are truths that I have long known to be true in my own practice, as well as in my mothering life, and Taffel's articulation of them allows all of us to work and love more freely.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars first book to teach how to be a better parent for today's kids, March 12, 2009

By	* "js" (connecticut) - See all my reviews

Iloooooove this book!! I want to absorb every word thoroughly before turning the page. This book has improved if not saved my relationship with my daughter, 13 years and son, 10 years. There is no other parenting book with this perspective on today's culture and family dynamic.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for today's parents!, June 2, 2009

By	Anonymous (USA) - See all my reviews

I'm a mother of teens, working in social services. I've recommended this book to many friends. Everyone raves about how much it has helped.
Clear and practical, it's written to be used-- kept by the bed, not on the shelf. Taffel has seen thousands of families, so he really understands the challenges parents-- and kids-- face in today's ever-changing, complicated environment. Probably the best parenting investment I've made.