Product Description

Your search for parenting tips that actually improve your family dynamics is over. While other parenting resources offer communication models or discipline techniques, this powerful, practical booklet offers the unique skills and perspective of the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) process. NVC stresses the importance of putting compassionate connection first to create a mutually respectful, enriching family dynamic filled with clear, heartfelt communication. An exceptional resource for parents, parent educators, families and anyone else who works with children.

For over 40 years Dr. Marshall Rosenberg has taught NVC to parents, families, children and teachers. Parents around the world have used his advice to deepen family connections, move past conflicts and improve communication. His revolutionary approach helps parents motivate children to cooperate without either the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. Learn how to model compassionate communication in the home to help your children successfully resolve conflicts and express themselves clearly.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44422 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 48 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781892005090
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D. is the internationally acclaimed author of Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, and Speak Peace in a World of Conflict. He is the founder and educational director of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC). He travels throughout the world promoting peace by teaching these remarkably effective communication and conflict resolution skills. He is based in Wasserfallenhof, Switzerland.

Customer Reviews

Trenchant tome
This is a very concise little book that is written in friendly, conversational prose, as if the author were a good friend talking to you on your couch. As a busy, attachment-minded mother, I liked that it took me only half an hour or so to read, but I found myself spending more time reflecting on the lessons in the book because they were not what I was accustomed to thinking, even with my education and training as a psychotherapist. For example, our purpose-driven, aggressive society is not used to taking the time to speak very consciously and be aware of all the judgments we automatically make in our minds that manifest in our speech. This book is about becoming more aware of how we treat our children (we would seldom treat even a stranger with the everyday brusqueness and condescension we show our children, for example, the author states). I liked the small examples of everyday life that the author takes from his own experiences with his children. He talks about how our requests for things are actually thinly guised demands, and writes, "One of the most unfortuante results of making our objective to get our children to do what we want, rather than having our objective be for all of us to get what we want, is that eventually our children will be hearing a demand in whatever we are asking." The problem here is not honoring people's autonomy, which is an innate human quality that becomes threatened whenever we sense we are being forced or pushed into something. To become more effective, compassionate parents who enjoy our kids rather than resent their "disobedience", the author show us ways to guide them in life while respecting their autonomy and basic human needs to make independent choices. The author wisely distinguishes between age-appropriate choices within their reach -- the toddler, for example, who, when given the opportunity, after being role modeled generosity by his parents, chooses independently to share candy with his siblings -- and those choices that are non-negotiable, such as playing in the middle of a busy street.

Though I haven't yet mentioned it, my favorite part of the book was learning about how just about every painful or uncomfortable emotion we experience is an unmet need. This shifts the thinking away from evaluating children and ourselves in a moralistic sense and moves towards "a language based on needs". Inside the back cover of the book is a helpful table listing emotions we feel when our needs are not being met, and very simple and respectful ways we can ask others to meet our needs without trampling upon theirs.

No Bribe Needed Says Marshall D. Rosenberg
The topic is of great importance and the message is clear.
This book(let) is not widely useful with very young kids, but I like to have the non-violent communication luggage on board early on; I am sure it will come in handy once my kids grow to be the age that I be tempted to threaten or bribe them! However, I think I need to read some more of Rosenberg's to fully understand his paradigm and communication guidelines.

Like Jesus, but with shoes
This little gem could serve as a useful entry point to Rosenberg's sometimes arcane philosophy, since parenting is the one relationship we can't simply walk away from. You're motivated.

In this day and age, overt prejudice is shrinking, but there are a few that persist: The belief that children don't deserve the same respect as adults is almost universal, as Rosenberg shows early in this book. What if your child was your equal in some important way, that allowed you to still be their guide, but not their owner?

With any luck, you who are reading this will someday be dead and your child will not. Children are our replacements, and as such, they want the exact same thing that we want: to grant us a kind of immortality. There is not, therefore, any basis for competition between parent and child. There is no conflict of interest.

Master that in regards to parenting, and you may find that you can use it everywhere. Where is Jesus today, or Thoreau, or Ghandi? This is what "Advanced Getting Along" looks like in the 21st century.