Customer Reviews

In The Midst of Parenting: A Look At the Real Dramas and Dilemmas

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

While Carol Smaldino preaches that a mother should mother according to what feels right, she did not practice that in her therapy sessions. She did not take this mother seriously and sided with a father who ended up as "an unfit father" and could not get qualify for joint custody due to his drug habits and inablity to work. Yet this author took the father's side for as long as his insurance was paying her bills. The book is very superficial - designed to sell, for money is more important than substance and professionalism to this author. Don't waste your money.

Wow, finally an approach to parenting that you don't have to feel intimidated by and you don't have to wade though "psycho-babble". I loved reading this thoughtful, uncomplicated, "feet on the ground" theory. Carol affirms parents for loving their children and guides our sometimes flawed ways of dealing with a dilemma. The author is an obvious child advocate with great respect for the difficulties of parenting. I really appreciated her honesty and personal stories in the writing of this VERY helpful book.

I just happened to see a copy of In the Midst of Parenting, by Carol Smaldino, in my local coffee shop; I took a glance, long enough to know I wanted to buy my own copy. I just wanted to share some thoughts about this book, because I found it so exciting. It's about parenting, but also more than that, it's about continuing to grow- with children or without them. It has advice but it is thoughtful and it helps the reader try on different approaches. It is not a preachy book but ever so comforting for those of us in touch with many mixed feelings or mixed up feelings. And it is extremely comforting to new parents who really need permission to enjoy the ride and get good help, without listening to so much advice that's often pushy.
I found this book challenging because the author believes we need to grow- perhaps throughout life. That is good for readers like me who embrace this kind of challenge. For me it meant the challenge to be authentic but with some knowledge. I hope there will be more books like this one!
Sincerely, Karen Leonard, Ph.D.

This is a poorly written book which gives bad advice. Her tenent is that to be a good parent you should only follow your own true inner voice. She critiicizes other authors on parenting (both named and unnamed) as being wrong and even abusive, and advises avoiding parenting classes because of their one size fits all philosophy. She cautions against taking advice from other people and even from community standards. Her own inner voice has given her some really bad advice. She says she "was often given looks of horror when I refrained from putting an end to my children's rowdiness or back talk." She confused a restaurant with a playground. They "patronized family friendly restaurants ...because Paul, a curiuos and friendly child could not resist wandering around and chatting with everyone in the room." Heaven help the waitress tripping over the kid. She explains she self through brief, oversimplified examples from her mostly adult clients, and her own family.

There are chapters and subheadings, but it's mostly one long ramble.

Having read many parenting books during my 19 plus years of parenting, I was pleasantly surprised by the refreshing eclectic approach taken by the author, Carol Smaldino. This is not a step-by-step handbook that will tell you how to raise your children, but rather a guidebook that will take your hand and walk you through the many challenges you face as a parent. Ms. Smaldino's approach is not a one-size-fits all approach, because she acknowledges that we are all individuals and that our lives and those of our children are fluid--we are on parallel journeys. Ms. Smaldino's anecdotal approach to sharing her clinical and personal knowledge and experiences with us is both informative and personal. This book contains a perfect balance of clinical information, historical perspective and real life examples. I found "In the Midst of Parenting: A Look at the Real Dramas and Dilemmas" both reassuring and reaffirming of my own childrearing philosophies. I highly recommend it.

This is a great book that gives you a great look at parenting from a personal view. Carol Smaldino is brilliant.

While perusing the titles of various parenting guides, I stumbled upon this seemingly personal and realistic approach to dealing with the challenges that we face while raising our children. Although there were not many reviews for this book, I did find a couple that looked promising. As they were all internet reviews, claiming the genius of the author, I assumed I was seeing a wide selection of opinions. However, I am now inclined to think that either the same person is writing all the reviews, or I am seriously losing it. I regret to inform future readers, that I found the author's view on parenting to be extremely myopic. The book was more a journal of events that probably occurred in the author's own parenting experience than a true guide for dealing with child behavior. I found this book to be incredibly self involved and uninformative. Personally, I could not even bring myself to donate my copy to the local book fair. "In the Midst of Parenting" is an extreme waste of paper. Please, spare yourself and do not make this purchase.