Customer Reviews

The Encouraging Parent: How to Stop Yelling at Your Kids and Start Teaching Them Confidence, Self-Discipline, and Joy

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

 

 

I was fortunate enough to hear Dr. Kennedy speak at my church and I was pleasantly surprised. Not only were his ideas practical and down-to-earth, but the goal is to raise joyful and self-disciplined children. The techniques worked very well with my two children and allowed for their very different temperments. I have read many parenting books and I would list this one among the best.

After attending the seminar, I read the book. It provided an easy-to-read format with lots of bullet items listing the key points. This is valuable when you need to go back and quickly find some advice for a particular situation. I also found it very helpful that Dr. Kennedy readily (and hysterically) admits some of the mistakes that he has made when raising his 5 children. He is very accessible in person as well as through his writing.

If you are looking for a book that will result in a more peaceful home and more joyful time with your family, read this book! You and your children will benefit from this Biblically-grounded method of raising our children in a loving environment that still manages to provide boundaries and self-disciplined children. It worked in our home! Thanks Dr. Kennedy.

I found the book refreshing and inspiring. I think that parents often fall into the trap of being controllers and forget how to encourage the children to think for themselves, confident in the never-ending love of God. While there are some concepts I may see slightly differently than Mr.Kennedy, I found the book helpful in my role as a parent of four and as an educator of parents.

Other than having kids of his own, the author never mentions a professional background in anything related to kids. That approach works in some books, but he focused so much on his political and religious views rather than just writing a parenting book that he lost credibility with me. He was very negative at times which seemed to really contradict this books purpose. So many of his comments about religion were completely unnecessary, especially coming from a man who claims to be writing a book based on acceptance, love and the importance of positive language. I got the feeling that because I'm a conservative christian, he just didn't like me and I wasn't his intended audience. I don't spank and rarely yell at my children (5 & 2). This was on my list of recommended reading for an adoption - and the only book on the list not already checked out at our library. Regardless of your political or religious beliefs, this was a tough book to get through. There's really no new information or concepts in it or big surprises. I would imagine most people who don't have to answer specific questions about the book like we do skim through it as it's quite wordy. Save your money and get it from the library if you feel the need to read it... Most of the good reviews on this author rave about his seminars so he may be a great speaker, but I feel he really lacks as an author.

Rod Kennedy had over 100 of us rolling in the aisles with his very helpful hints in raising children. Anyone who has a chance to see how this father of 5 copes should give his books and seminar a "go!"...I loved what he taught me and my kids are doing better already. God bless him!

This book comes with the seminar and it is great.

We were having a lot of turmoil in our home because of our strong willed three year old. I had read many books that gave some advice on handling this age group and their behavior, but there was not success in the advice - even with constant practice on our part. I happened to see this book at the library and thought I would read through it. I cannot believe how well it pinpointed our family (which might be a bit embarrassing!!) and how our home was falling victim to our three year old. I was so happy with the advice that I started practicing it immediately. My son responded so well - I just wished that we had this book years ago! I feel so confidant as a parent! Most of all I am happy that yelling, spanking and threats don't have to drive my child to behave!! Thank goodness for this book in our household!

Mr. Kennedy was in town for a seminar on being an encouraging parent. I was unable to attend, and bought the book instead. I'm glad now that I didn't waste my time attending. I didn't even make it through half of the book, before I refused to read anymore. Mr. Kennedy is very liberal and would have us believe that we should never lay a finger on our children because it would break their spirit. It surprised me that as a preacher he quoted Bible verses, but put most of us down for our "incorrect" interpretations. After I got over being mad all through chapter 1 of Mr. Kennedy's accusation that parents who spank are "barbarians", I continued reading thinking he still probably had some good ideas on parenting. Then I hit chapter 5. I had to stop reading after that. I'm sorry, maybe it's just being from the Bible belt, but Mr. Kennedy not only told us to be tolerant of all people's differences (which I do agree with), but quoted the bible in support of homosexuality. That is where I draw the line.

I read a review of the book (which said how great this book was) on another website.
Talk about awful! This is book is definitely NOT a hands on book. It's wordy and the bottom line is, this author thinks we need to be "more emotionally mature" as parents, and to let our children rule the roost. Here are a few cheesy parts...p.197, "I will keep the toy until the two of you arrive at a plan for sharing." OH PLEASE! Can you just picture the look on your 3 and 7 year old faces? Then, on page 218, a rule for your kids "Ask permission to change the television channel." SURE...like that is going to happen. If you can stay awake thru the fluffy talk then buy this book. I found it a bore!