Customer Reviews

The One Minute Mother (One Minute Series)

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

 

 

This book is fantastic! I read a copy from the library last night, and today I feel I must have a copy of my own. I'm so excited about what these ideas will do for my family! I had heard of the "One Minute Reprimand" long ago, and loved the idea of reprimanding the child's behavior and not the child. By also including "One Minute Goal Setting" and "One Minute Praisings" this book presents a beautiful way for a family to live. Sometimes we think that our children automatically know how wonderful we think they are. They don't, and this book encourages you to tell them, while also not glossing over their misbehavior. I'm excited about this book! All my friends are going to hear about it!

This book is written in the form of a story. My hunch is that it's to supply a *lot* of filler to an idea that could be easily explained in a few pages. As it is, I still finished it in an hour. Even though it didn't take long, I was still highly annoyed at the waste of my time reading so much fluff for so little substance. A young pregnant woman interviews a woman and her grown daughters about what makes a good mom. There are no real-life examples, studies, anecdotes, etc. Basically it boils down to three tips: set individual and family goals and review them daily; catch your kids doing things right and praise them; and address infractions ASAP and condemn the behavior, not the child. Pretty basic stuff. The only reason I gave this book two stars instead of one is because the advice is sound, if simple. If you're still curious, go to the bookstore and take two minutes to look at the diagram toward the end of the book. It explains everything succinctly, and you'll have saved yourself an hour and $10.

After reading and appreciating THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER years ago, I assumed I'd enjoy THE ONE MINUTE MOTHER now that I have two kids of my own. WRONG! The author's needless use of a silly story, very slow and unappealing, does little to nothing to enhance the principles of One Minute Parenting.

The main three ideas are simple, they seem effective enough, and I'll definitely give them a try when my children are older (not really best suited for real youngsters). THEY ARE: 1. Set and review goals regularly as a family; 2. Catch your kids doing something right and offer prompt praise; 3. Conversely, when kids are at fault, offer a short and succinct reprimand taking care not to scold the person, just their behavior.

Dr. Johnson's characters, a mom to be, a One Minute Mother whom she is interviewing, and the One Minute Mother's children, sound like condescending stick figures in their dialogue and after a few pages you find yourself just wanting to turn to the final chapter to finish get it over with.

The chart at the end of the story easily sums up what could have been said in a one page essay for a magazine -- this was a needless waste of publishing. I'm selling my copy ASAP.

This book is very suitable to parents of children above ten years, but as a parent to a three and four years old, I did not find it much helpful. How can I teach toddlers to sit down and write together our mutual goals and seek ways to achieve them!!

I kept this book up in one of my shelves for future reference, I think I will benefit from it later.

I like this book. Sure it may be cheesy and sometimes condescending and pedantic, but it is easy to read. What I like about this book is that it truly teaches parents how to parent in a way that helps children access an internalized sense of right and wrong. It seems like children today, because of our society's lack of social limits, have a shallow sense of right and wrong. There is a difference between not doing something because you will get caught and not doing something because you know that it is wrong.

This technique helps parents communicate in a clear and effective manner what they feel about a situation and attempt to get the child to internalize it. In other words, it teaches parents to help the child become their own parent.

I have used this series of books in my private practice to help clients learn to parent, as well as how to communicate with others. This book is well worth reading.

Greg Custer, MS, LPC, MFTI

Great book leave everything else and just read this book it is small and right to the point. It all makes sense.
Short and right to the point.

This book caught my eye at the local used book store because I'd heard praise for The One Minute Manager, and figured any "one minute" techniques for parenting couldn't hurt.

Personally, I was put off by the basics of the book being presented in fictional form. I'd rather hear about real mothers and fathers, rather than ideas being presented in the form of a story.

I was approaching the book to look for some good to glean -- and I appreciated the emphasis on connecting with our children and our need to communicate our love and acceptance to our children. So often parents just assume their children know that they are loved (and our children do know it) but forget to do the little, daily things to communicate that love (and so our children don't always -feel- that love.)

However, as an overall parenting strategy, I found the book lacking--and the book does present its ideas as an overall strategy. Primarily, the book lacks nuance. And while it gives examples of the techniques being used with both pre-readers and teens, there is nothing in the book communicates an understanding of child development.

In summary, I wouldn't recommend buying this book -- but if you come across it and have 15 minutes to skim through it, you'll likely be encouraged in communicating with your children and expressing your love to them.



(Also while I picked up the book to just glean some ideas and do not expect a religious text, coming from a Christian point of view I do want to caution parents that this book would is lacking in an understanding of the need for integarting the Gospel in parenting.)

Johnson uses a basic formula to his books then fine tunes the same message to different audiences. That said I love the book Despite the predictablility the message is worth the journey. Especially The dual message of we and I goals. The objective being to create a win win position for family members.

The BEST parenting book! Why struggle disciplining your children when you can teach them to do it themselves? It is so simple it's hard to believe it really works.

Although this book is written in an obviously simple narrative way, it has some golden truths about parenting. I highly recommend it. Spencer Johnson must be a very, smart, kind man.