Raising Cuddlebugs And Bravehearts - I: Volume I: Measuring And Understanding Your Child's Temperament

Since Dr. Spock published Baby and Child Care in 1941 there has been a seemingly endless stream of books with advice on parenting. In spite of that great effort-much of it wise and useful-parenting has not become easier, and outcomes for our children do not seem to be improving. According to many authorities, they are worsening. Authors Harkey and Jourgensen strongly suggest that a major flaw in most parenting advice is the assumption that one child is much like another, and one parent is much like another. Instead, the unique and highly individual temperament of the child makes a world of difference in how that child learns and socializes, how he or she responds to discipline, learns self-control, reasons, and makes decisions about life. Parent temperament, in turn, has a profound influence on actual parenting style, no matter what theoretical model the parent follows. In the first volume of a two volume set-Raising CuddleBugs, BraveHearts, WorkerBees and ButterFlies: Measuring and Understanding Temperament in Children-the authors give parents a well researched questionnaire for measuring temperament in children, and a thorough description of temperament differences in children's behaviors. In Volume II, subtitled Adult Temperament and Parenting Styles, parents are shown how to explore and understand their own temperament, and how to look at the effects of parent temperament on their expectations for their children and on their own parenting style. The most accepted research model for good parenting is described, and parents are challenged to "stretch" toward this model while staying within their own temperament comfort zone.