Confident Parenting: Set Limits

"We may be the most child-sensitive generation of parents the world has ever known - and the most confused and insecure.'' William Doherty. According to Dr William Doherty, one of the leading US family therapists, there are a number of forces outside the family that make it harder to be an effective parent today. In Confident Parenting, he considers the effects of the advertising industry, television programming, other parents who are permissive, other parents who compete over their children's achievements, and other providers of children's activities such as sports coaches. However, according to Dr Doherty, it doesn't have to be so hard. In his experience, many parents today lack confidence in their roles and are unsure where to draw the line with children's behaviour. A combination of unclear, ill-defined values in many families and parents' fears of being unpopular with their own children can add up to weak and ineffective parenting. This can force children to seek their values and identities elsewhere - usually in their peer culture and the consumer culture. According to Dr Doherty, there is a definite tendency amongst contemporary parents to be afraid to set limits, to tolerate disrespect, and to see themselves as entertainment directors for their children. Dr William Doherty discusses many topics of central relevance to parenting, including: Being a confident parent in an insecure world, Expecting respect, Expecting participation in family life, Why anger-free parenting does not work, Building the village: family responsibilities to school and community, Unplugging your kids: media and child rearing, Resisting the peer cultures of children and parents. In Confident Parenting, he offers clear advice on particular issues that arise for two-parent families, fathers, single-parent families and stepfamilies, and shows how we can all be more secure and better parents to our children. Dr Doherty proposes the following as essential parenting approaches today: expect respect and participation in family life; realise that anger-free parenting is often not appropriate; consider your family's responsibilities to school and community; and resist the pressures from your child's peer culture.

About the Author :
Dr William Doherty has practised as a marriage and family therapist in the US since the 1970s, and is former president of the National Council of Family Relations. Currently Professor and Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at the University of Minnesota, Dr Doherty was named by Utne Reader magazine as one of the ten most innovative therapists in the US in 1997 for his work on moral and community issues in psychotherapy.

Review :
'Yes, yes, yes! William Doherty eloquently presents the pressures and challenges facing parents, children and families in the modern world. At the same time as modelling 'confident parenting' wonderfully well in how he writes, he offers a wide range of ways parents can learn to do the same with their children.' Ken & Elizabeth Mellor, authors of ParentCraft.