Customer Reviews

Drive: 9 Ways to Motivate Your Kids to Achieve

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Finally, a resource that gets to the point! Parents will love it- kids will wonder what hit them. In a world of excess and overindulgence, Caffrey shows us how to become parents again. In a world lacking common sense, she demonstrates an abundance of it. It is refreshing to be reminded that we have a responsibility to raise independent young men and women who will feel the need to make contributions to the world because they have a sense of pride, not entitlement!

I almost didn't read "Drive" because of the front cover where it indicates the book is geared towards parents of children in middle school & up. My oldest is only 6 3/4 at the moment so I've got a ways to go before she gets to middle school. But I'm very glad that I decided to take a chance on "Drive" because it's one of the best parenting books I've read in a while.

The book is a quick read but chock full of sound advice. Dr. Caffrey offers specific suggestions for each developmental stage. Her goal is to help us be what she calls a "pathfinder parent" who plays an active role in our child's life but without crossing the line into overly involved "helicopter" parenting.

Highly recommended for all parents!

Is your child still a couch potato in your living room at the age of thirty? Janine Walker Caffrey shows how to reverse mistakes so that he develops the drive to get up, get going, and get a real life. Starting with three Driving Tests designed for parents of middle school children, college students, or adults, a set of questions to determine your child's drive level and guide your child back on track.

We keep our children in a plastic bubble trying to protect them from harm, bullies, predators and other dangers. Although we think they are safe, our actions prevent them from learning self-reliance and motivation. We program them to stay busy during their waking hours when they really need free time to find out what interests them and naturally inspires them to drive for more.

Chapters arranged by suggestions for keeping kids moving help parents control without becoming helicopter parents. Taking away the plastic bubble of protection, allowing natural consequences, encouraging creativity, reducing comfort, delaying gratification and other topics lead parents toward putting their child in the driver's seat. This book provides practical ways to prevent every parent's nightmare of grown children camping out on the couch during the day, partying all night, and eating all the food without helping to keep the household running smoothly.

by Susan M. Andrus
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

Dr. Caffrey's book is a real gem! I heard her give a powerful, insightful speech on parenting and education. This book is a MUST READ for any parent. I now understand things about motivating and encouraging my daughter that I'd never even considered before. We all want our children to succeed, to be self-motivated, to care about their futures and their education. "Drive" helps you parent in a way that turns on your child's inner motivation - no more pushing them. Imagine that! Best of all, although my daughter is in high school already, it's apparently never too late to start. I recommend this book highly to anyone who works with children, has children or even wants to have children. And Barack Obama, if you're reading this, you need to make this woman Secretary of Education.

This has been great in helping me find ways to motivate my 10yr old son. Better yet in helping me help him to motivate himself.

Although most of the 5-star reviews for this book have come from readers who have reviewed nothing else, don't let that cast any suspicion on this book. This is a terrific book for a parent looking for concrete ideas for helping a child develop his or her own inner motivation to succeed.

Many books by educators are long on theory but short on practical advice. This book is a good balance of both. The description of each generation by characteristics was helpful to me as a parent of a child from the so-called "millennial generation." This underlying information sets the stage for making sense of the author's strategies. Without knowing the reasoning behind some of her suggestions, they could seem extreme.

I also really appreciated the discussion of the whole self-esteem movement of the last few decades and how that has damaged our children. I always suspected it to be so, but as a parent who has encouraged my child's natural competitive drive, I've always been drowned out by the parents whose mantra is, "We're just playing for fun." It was a relief to hear someone say that striving to win at something is a worthy goal.

You might want to supplement this book with Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. This book by a pair of teen brothers writing to a teen audience isn't heavy on practical advice, but it does attempt to motivate teens themselves to spend their time in worthwhile pursuits, particularly charitable and faith-based goals.

After reading this book, I'd have to say we're doing some things right as parents, but also some things very wrong. The author suggests many specific actions you can take as parents to engender a sense of independence and motivation in your child. The first thing I'm doing? Giving my son an alarm clock and making it his responsibility to get up in the morning!

DRIVE is more than just a parenting book; it is an outstanding resource for teachers, coaches, guidance counselors, or any adult who works with adolescents. Anyone who has ever longed for a How-To manual for motivating young people will shout "Hallelujah!" after reading DRIVE. Good advice, insightful examples, amusing anecdotes, handy quizzes, sound philosophies, and easy to follow applications all in one well organized resource that will clearly show you how to get kids off the sofa and moving toward success in all they do. A gem of a book!

I have experienced Dr. Caffrey's expertise first hand, as my son is a student at her school, Renaissance Academy, Port Richey, Florida. This will be his fourth year at her school, and he and I could not be happier. He is now a teenager, and I was thrilled to read her book. It gives tons of "common sense" advice that lots of parents seem to have forgotten about. The book is full of things that our parents did that have been forgotten by this generation, and techniques and strategies that I had not thought of. It seems children today have everything done for them, and it works for them, because they still get the reward. I have seen first hand Dr. Caffrey's way of thinking, parenting, and teaching, at her school, and IT WORKS! The students at her school are highly driven, motivated, and HAPPY! If you are a parent of any child, you owe it to your child to read this book.

I'm always looking for more parenting advice, so, I can stay one step ahead! Very good advice in here. It is also nice to keep on hand and refer back to, you can quickly thumb thru the pages and get to the subject you want.

I bought this book to help reinforce my views and to get some moral support for a very tough decision. It is an excellent book for parents who have been hovering over their child(ren), and need to find the right frame of mind and perspective on how to best ready them for the world beyond high school.
The seller was wonderful to work with, would definitely recommend working with this seller to others. 100% satisfaction with the product and the seller.