AM and parenting books

AM and parenting books
Saturday May 27, 2006

Alice Miller –

I’m a big fan of your work and have read several of your books, most recently “The Body Never Forgets”. Your work in the area of child abuse and its lingering effects is compelling and profound. But after reading anything you write, and then interacting with my kids, I always find myself, particularly with regards to discipline, thinking “how would Alice Miller handle this?” In terms of parenting, your books raise alot of questions and issues, but are vague in answers and solutions. I know your books are not meant to be a parenting guide, but in a way they are. You give very general guidance – nurturing and loving your kids unconditionally – but I’d love to get your thoughts on more explicit examples of what you think good parenting consists of, or even suggestings on how to handle certain situations. I know asking you parenting tips is not a productive question, so let me ask you this – are there any people out there who have written on the subject of parenting and discipline that you respect? Are there any specific books out there that strike you as good guides for effective parenting? Feel free to post this question. Thanks.

D

From the team of this mailbox: There are hundreds of books about parenting but you must READ them. The questions you have been asking here show however that you don’t like to read attentively a book and you seem to not respect the title before you question the author. At least you quote twice AM’s book under the title “The Body Never Forgets” that she never wrote. The right title of her book is: “The Body Never LIES”. Maybe this would be the first advice you should get from good parenting books: LOOK at your children, RESPECT them, find their rich world instead of imposing your own ideas on them how they SHOULD be. Alice Miller wrote 13 books, you read apparently “some of them”, and you need her to write another one to give you advice how you could discipline your children? But it is exactly what she refuses to do!