Title: Parenting
Subtitle: A Practical Guide to Raising Preschool and Primary-School Children
Author: Kathy Walker
Publisher: Penguin Viking, 2010 (262 pages)
ISBN: 978-0-670-07422-8
Topic: Parenting, raising children

Summary (from publisher website)

Does your child have trouble settling at bedtime? Refuse to sit at the table for meals? Ignore you or argue when you say it’s time to turn off the TV?

Expert parenting and educational consultant Kathy Walker recognises that being a parent is one of the most rewarding jobs you will ever do but that it isn’t always easy. In this book she shows you how to create a calmer, more nurturing home environment for you and your children, and gives you her top strategies for managing challenging behaviour.
She helps you to understand your parenting style, and the reasons behind your child’s behaviour, and gives insightful tips on:
• setting up and maintaining routines
• promoting self-esteem and resilience
• communicating with your child

Using case studies and concrete examples, Kathy offers advice on handling everyday family situations such as constant fighting between siblings and hassling for the latest gadgets / a new pet / more pocket money, as well as challenges related to school, friendships and separated or blended families.

Down-to-earth and reassuring, this is the must-have guidebook for all Australian parents of preschool and school-age children.

Comments

I was recently chatting with Meredith from Oh, The Thinks You Can Think and Jayne from The Best of All Possible Worlds about the lack of resources for parents of primary school aged children. There are seemingly countless books on taking care of babies and toddlers as well as forums and resources online. Once kids hit puberty, the information is there once again with numerous guides to managing both the physical and emotional changes that occur during teenaged years.

Between toddlers and teens however, the information superhighway seems to morph into an isolated country lane which we travel along hoping that nothing breaks down leaving us stranded.

Not long after my conversation with Meredith and Jayne, Kathy Walker’s book Parenting appeared on my doorstep for review and it is just the type of book we were all saying that we needed.

With a very practical, down-to-earth approach, Kathy helps parents to tackle some of the parenting challenges specific to raising kids aged between 4 – 12 years. Issues include discussing what age is suitable to allow children to have their first sleepover or first mobile phone and how to manage sibling rivalry, requests for pocket money and homework dramas (and lots more). It also offers sensible advice children’s birthday parties, how much time is appropriate to spend watching TV & playing computer games and an appropriate bedtime routine.

The information takes into account different family structures and priorities, helping parents to assess what parenting style will work best for them and their family.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. With three primary-school aged children, it was wonderful to be reading a book that was relevant to what I was going through and the decisions I making with my children.

I appreciated the opportunity to chat with Kathy for my review of Parenting at Suite101. I particularly liked Kathy’s comments about stepping back from the whirlwind of social and extracurricular activities and then speaking positively about this when chatting to other parents at school and other activities to help create a “carpark chat” culture that reduces some of the sense of competition amongst parents and hopefully allows a more supportive and encouraging environment to develop.

I highly recommend this book for any Australian parents with children of this age.

Kathy Walker is an educational and parenting consultant and has further information available at her website at Early Life Foundations.