11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, January 11, 2010
This review is from: Parenting the Children of Now: Practicing Health, Spirit, and Awareness to Transcend Generations (Paperback)
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First of all, I expected this book to be about how to parent "indigo" or "crystal" children. Instead it is about helping parents to be aware and whole. Of course, emotionally healthy and aware people will likely do a better job rearing children. Perhaps, though, a better title would have been "Parents of the Children of Now."
There were exercises at the end of each chapter for parents to do on their own and others to do with their children, but I didn't find them particularly interesting or helpful. They seemed very basic--play games with your child, have discussions with them, etc.
While there was useful information in each chapter, the writing style was off-putting and made me feel that the author was lecturing me. She cited no authorities or studies. Instead she made blanket statements about what "we" are doing wrong. "We" don't understand our purpose in life. "We" must learn to recognize our patterns. "We" must clean up our acts. "We" are creating neurotic kids. All of this with few or no examples to illustrate her points and no studies to back up sweeping generalizations.
One thing that particularly bothered me was the author's statement that one should never, ever use affirmations. According to the author, they create dependence and become crutches. Then "particulates wobble" and we get no results or even chaos. But where was the authority for that theory? If it was solely the author's opinion, I would like for her to have stated that. Perhaps there is a scientific study involving brain waves or a comparison between people who use affirmations and those who don't. But I wouldn't know from this book because the author just threw the information out there as fact and then moved on to the next topic. Ironically, a preceding chapter suggests the reader "Question Everything."
I did. And I decided that while this book contained useful information, there are better self-help books out there covering the same ground--topics such as living in the now, becoming self-aware, not letting fear rule your life, etc.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Self-Improvement & Teaching Your Children, December 30, 2009
This review is from: Parenting the Children of Now: Practicing Health, Spirit, and Awareness to Transcend Generations (Paperback)
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This 2009, 176-page book is more than the "how to raise your child" book that I expected. It is actually written for the parent/care-giver, suggesting how they might fix themselves, so they may better teach/guide the child forward. The structure first explains the concept to be understood to the parent. Then it provides an exercise or meditation (to bring the concept home to the parent). An exercise to be performed between the parent and child follows. The book addresses some good soul-searching concepts that apply to everyone. The "children of now" are mentioned because many believe these children to be even more aware and more sensitive. The fear is that today's parents do not understand and are punishing or medicating these children to make them "fit-in" with societal expectations.
An example: In Chapter 3 "Stop Being Afraid," we learn that ". . .fear causes the paralysis of our natural progression. . ." The chapter further explains that "becoming afraid is a gradual process that stacks one fear upon another. . ." In other words, fear feeds fear and becomes an expectation, and can become quite addictive. It can freeze us into a path of unconscious self-destructive behavioral patterns of IMAGINED possibilities. Many of us would rather stay in the discomfort of our fears, than face the unknown possibility of change. In this intricate process we weave, we are also teaching our children to be little models of our behavioral patterns.
Dr. Meg goes into a lot more detail, and follows with an exercise the adult can do to identify and face fears. Once the parent understands the concepts, an exercise follows that the parent can perform with the child.
Other concepts being addressed in this book include:
* Recognizing our (repeating) patterns--why they happen--what we need to do to address them;
* Being passionate about living--why and how we became desensitized--how to return to passionate living and why we should;
* Why children question everything and why we don't;
* Being our authentic self--not trying to be who we think everyone else wants us to be;
* Why we need to let our inner child come out and play--why humor is important;
* Don't fear change;
* Why we have relationships;
* And more. . .
One of my favorite BRILLIANT quotes from the book is on page 110, about LOVE: ". . .when we are able to love ourselves unconditionally, accepting ourselves as we are and who we are no matter what, we find inner peace like nothing we have ever experienced. As we find that peace, we begin to emanate it to everyone around us. We have a glow about us that is irresistible to others. People gravitate to us like moths to a flame. We are a flame, bright with the secrets of life. . ."
I believe this easy-to-understand book provides invaluable wisdom, with exercises/tools to accomplish positive internal changes for the reader and the child. In all honesty, you don't even need a child to benefit from the pearls of wisdom in this book.
As someone who is very much interested in spirituality, metaphysical energy and New-Age concepts, and as a conscious observer, I wanted to see what this book was telling people about teaching today's children. Although I have already raised my 36 year old son, I am a grandmother and a soon-to-be great-grandmother! (Yes, you heard that correct!) I plan to give this book to my expecting granddaughter and I recommend that you consider it for yourself and as a gift to new parents.
Update Jan 2, 2010: No sooner did I write this review than I was at a local New Age shoppe. They had a musical get-together and a lady was there with her granddaughter (probably born about 2000 to 2002). The lady was remarking how intensely the child focuses in on any form of music. I immediately thought of this book and how it mentioned the sensitivities of the Children of Now.
Update March 11, 2010: The lovely Alexis (my granddaughter) gave birth to a beautiful baby boy today. So little Joshua Allen Duke will be getting the benefit of the book. Of course, that makes me the world's youngest great grandmother :-)
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing Book Full of Useful Wisdom, April 16, 2010
This review is from: Parenting the Children of Now: Practicing Health, Spirit, and Awareness to Transcend Generations (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. It takes the approach that in order to be good parents (or grandparents etc)need to understand ourselves and be authentic people who are a good example to our children. We all know that kids learn much more from what we do, then what we say. I found the advice in this book to be valuable, because we can ALL benefit from the topics the author discusses, such as figuring out unhealthy patterns that do not work for us, and breaking them, so they do not repeat in our children. Also, how to face our fears, how to be authentic, the value of good self care and boundaries, and the importance of living with passion and humor. The exercises at the end of each chapter help cement the learning and could be done by yourself if you don't have children currently, or are a grandparent/uncle/aunt etc, and if you are a parent you can do the exercises with your child. I am going to read this book again, with a highlighter pen and write down the simple yet profound statements that I most enjoyed, and write them on 3x5 cards, and put by my computer at work or on my mirror at home. That way I can read the card I chose each day that week and focus on that point for the day. Our thoughts have great power, and a change in behavior begins with our thoughts. My children are all grown up now, but I found myself using alot of these techniques intuitively when they were young, techniques such as honestly talking to my kids(on their level) and helping them learn to reason and figure out things for themselves. At the time I thought everyone talked with kids, not at them, but have since found out this is not the rule. Do yourself a favor and buy and read this book. Its full of wisdom you can use every day.
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