Compassionate Child-Rearing

Robert W. Firestone, Ph.D. – This eye-opening book, Compassionate Child Rearing, introduces the theory and underlying dynamics involved in family relationships. The author helps explain how even well-intentioned parents unwittingly injure their children’s self-esteem and psychological functioning based on their own childhood defenses and self-destructive tendencies.

By recognizing their own early life experiences and the internalized defenses they developed as a result, parents can better understand the effects they have on the emotional state of their children. The lesson of the text is that children deserve the same rights, respect and consideration as any fully grown human being. To raise their children in a healthy environment, where they are seen and heard as independent individuals, parents must come to understand the ways in which they hurt their children and the events from their own past that helped motivate their behavior, even on an unconscious level. This book helps parents to thoroughly comprehend their unique experiences and identify the impact they are having on their children, while learning to be a more nurturing and loving parent.

Reprinted with permission from www.psychalive.org