Parenting Is a Contact Sport: 8 Ways to Stay Connected to Your Kids for Life [Paperback]

Joanne Stern (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Build a relationship with your children that's so strong, nothing will sever it. From toddlerhood to teen years and beyond, you can make 'real' contact with your kids, forming an unbreakable bond that makes you the person they want to share with and gives you the opportunity to guide and counsel them in every phase of their lives.

In Parenting Is a Contact Sport, you will discover how to:

• Communicate openly with your kids and create a connection that will weather anything life throws your way
• Help your children learn from their experiences, even through the storms of adolescence, by using effective discipline
• Stay in touch with the realities of your kids' lives so you can continue to talk with them, even when they're dealing with such important issues as sex and drugs
• Increase the influence you have over their choices and behaviors so that, even when you can't be there, they use good judgment
• Develop mutual trust and respect that improves your kids' self-esteem and brings joy and laughter into your home

Praise for Parenting Is a Contact Sport:

'This is exactly the kind of book I wish I'd had when I was raising my two kids. Simple concepts made easy by a double pro. Brava!' --Linda Ellerbee, author of Take Big Bites and executive producer of Nick News

'Without jargon or scolding, this book shows you how to build and live a resilient and vibrant connection with your kids and step kids.' --Joe Kelly, author of Dads and Daughters: How to Inspire, Support and Understand Your Daughter and The Pocket Idiot s Guide to Being a New Dad

'Parenting Is a Contact Sport is that valuable, wisdom-packed book that is always there for you as you navigate the challenges of parenthood.' SuEllen Fried, founder of BullySafeUSA and coauthor of Bullies, Targets & Witnesses: Helping Children Break the Pain Chain

Editorial Reviews

Review

Sound advice on building a relationship with your children which is so strong it can withstand everything life throws at it. This wise book is a reminder that all of our interactions with our children are opportunities to build and maintain a close, honest relationship with them. -- Juno Spring 2010

About the Author

As a psychotherapist, Joanne Stern, PhD, has spent more than twenty years counseling families, parents, and teens. She specializes in relationships, drugs and alcohol, eating disorders, and grief and loss. She has taught courses in parenting and is a popular speaker on relationship issues. A mom for more than three decades (including five years as a single mom), she lives in Aspen, Colorado, with her husband, Terry Hale.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929774222
• ISBN-13: 978-1929774227
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.5 x 6.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Expert, ready-to-use strategies in this great read March 20, 2009

By Leslie K. Segal

Format:Paperback

As a middle school teacher, I have observed just what Dr. Stern suggests: successful parent-child relationships result from a thoughtful openness on the parents' part. I recommend this book not only to parents, but also to educators or anyone who plays a principal role in the life of a child.

After reading Parenting is a Contact Sport, I have the "how tos" that will help me secure and protect a healthy lifelong relationship with my own kids. Dr. Stern offers her sensible and honest parenting philosophy just in time to this brand new mom. Even though conversations with my newborn are fairly one-sided so far, I have shifted my thinking about communicating with our daughter as she grows. Reading this book helped me gain confidence that--with careful, measured attention--good parenting is a process that conscientious moms and dads can make a habit.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential (and very enjoyable!) parenting guide March 24, 2009

By K. Galston

Format:Paperback

Dr. Stern's "Parenting Is A Contact Sport" is a wonderful resource and guide for parents facing any age or stage. When I first picked it up, I thought that maybe it might be more appropriate for parents of older children (I have an almost 2-year-old and another on the way) or teenagers. But, I am so glad that I read this book when I did and would recommend it to other parents of young children - as well as parents of older children and teenagers! Dr. Stern provides a unique perspective on parenting that I found enlightening, and I expect that I will often turn to this book for guidance.

Almost all of the literature that new parents read is so focused on the practical necessities of raising young children - what they should be eating, how to get them to eat vegetables, how much they should be sleeping, when to start potty-training, etc., etc. - because this helps us handle the short-term challenges. But, thinking only in terms of conquering each stage, reaching each milestone, makes this wonderful journey so fleeting. I found Dr. Stern's parenting theory so refreshing in that it both focuses parents on what the end-game really is - close, loving bonds with your children for life - and demonstrates how having that long-term perspective can help guide you through the many challenges you will face as a parent.

Dr. Stern accomplishes this by speaking through her personal experiences as a mother of two daughters - revealing both her successes and the times she felt she came up short - and as a psychotherapist counseling both children, parents, and adults struggling to come to terms with experiences from their own childhoods. The book is rich with wonderful stories that Dr. Stern weaves together to illustrate her theory and show how implementing it in practice can lead to warm, loving lifelong relationships with your children. It is incredibly enjoyable to read.

I am so very glad that I read this book when I did and recommend it very highly to other parents.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Have Children and Can Read, Read This Book! March 18, 2009

By Caroly Fields

Format:Paperback

I wish I'd had this book to read when my two children were growing up. Reading it now, though, I know there is still time to use it in their adult years. When I'm a grandmother, Joanne's guidance will help me be the one I've dreamed of being. After four reads, I still find so much to consider. Make this book a gift to anyone in your life who has children or is going to be a parent.