Product Description

Strong self-esteem is a critical ingredient for human happiness--and its development begins at home in the nurturing interactions between children and adults. Clarke's unique approach to building self-esteem begins with her belief that this is indeed a "family affair." Rather than offering collection of dictatorial "shoulds," Self-Esteem: A Family Affair instead serves as a source of parental support, providing a broad range of imaginative and effective suggestions for dealing with individual family members in ways that nourish self-esteem for all involved.

Throughout her book, Clarke encourages parents to claim their strengths and to trust their judgment as they make decisions about appropriate child care. Recognizing, too, that kids' needs are best met by adults whose own needs have not been neglected, Clarke offers a range of creative and workable options for parents to build the self-esteem of children while also caring for their emotional needs.

Jean Illsley Clarke, author of Hazelden's Growing Up Again: Parenting Ourselves, Parenting Our Children, is a writer and an internationally recognized parent educator who specializes in the areas of parenting, self-esteem, family dynamics, and adult children of alcoholics. She currently directs the Self-Esteem Center, which she founded in 1975, and lives in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #354605 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781568382876
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Jean Illsley Clarke recently authored two books, Connections: The Threads That Strengthen Families and Time-In: When Time-Out Doesn't Work, which received a Parent's Choice Award. She is a parent educator and a trainer of parent educators. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Human Development and was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Human Services by Sierra University. She is a teaching and supervising member of the International Transactional Analysis Association and a Nationally Certified Family Life Educator. Last year she was named Distinguished Alumna of the Year by the College of Human Ecology at the University of Minnesota.

Customer Reviews

Good advice, but focuses only on what we say
There is good advice here, and know I will refer to the book often. But, there were two things that bothered me while I read it. First, some parts are hard to follow. An example is when the author gives real life examples of families. Family members and friends are often mentioned when they haven't been introduced yet, so as I read along, another name suddenly pops up,and I must stop and figure out "who is this?" Only after going back and then reading all the way through the paragraph again do I figure out the relationships. Second, the advice is really only based in the things we say to our loved ones. Communication is great, but simply saying these "magical phrases" alone is not enough. Before saying any of these affirmations to someone, it might be useful to ask questions to understand where they're coming from and if they even want affirming. It seems like the author presumes you already know when these affirmations are useful.

Parent Must Read
Emotional development is the key to childhood success and happiness. This book provides basic stages of developmental stages that children grow through that helps validates the child, and allows the parents a whole new level of understanding of what it is they did to do to support that growth. My "lists of affirmation"s and reminders of what my children's needs were at each level, helped me appreciate and lowered my anxiety with the changes that naturally occur at each stage they went through. I wish all parents were given this book when they left the hospital with their little bundle of joy!

Nice title, but content left me empty
I was very hopeful for this book, based on the other positive reviews. But I was extremely disappointed. The book spends almost all of its time on case studies, giving examples of people's situations and what they should and shouldn't do. If an example happens to fit your situation, perhaps you will find it helpful. I did not. Almost every paragraph in the book starts with the name of one of the fictional characters, and even the summaries at the end of each chapter were written in context of the characters. I found this annoying and unhelpful. I was looking for more insights that will stimulate my thinking for my own life.