I'm in the middle of reading this book (thanks to it being mentioned in a thread a while back) and it is having a PROFOUND impact on me! It's sending me in a tailspin about my own crazy childhood and really touches on the significant anxiety I had ever since about passing on these faulty negative ways of parenting. So on one hand I'm totally insecure in light of having all my feelings confirmed about what is wrong with the parenting that comes "naturally" to me (as a result of my childhood) and on the other hand I'm enormously thankful for having the opportunity to choose something different for me and my family.
My favorite quote so far (I'm underlining the whole book it seems):
"When I think of children's gifts, I think of the actual existential challenges with which all children present their parents - because they are who they are. Children force us to consider our own destructive patterns; they take us beyond the limit of pain and make us think about wether we are suitable to be parents in the first place, they expose our shallow, pedagogical attempts at manipulation and insist on our personal presence; they offend us by rejecting our good advice and guidance; they proudly and matter-of-factly assert their right to be different; they act in destructive ways that force us to confront the fact that we have slipped up.
To put it briefly: their unique competence makes such a great impression on us that we either have to acknowledge it or lie to ourselves."
If you read this book, what are your thoughts? I'm very interested.
Chrisi
My favorite quote so far (I'm underlining the whole book it seems):
"When I think of children's gifts, I think of the actual existential challenges with which all children present their parents - because they are who they are. Children force us to consider our own destructive patterns; they take us beyond the limit of pain and make us think about wether we are suitable to be parents in the first place, they expose our shallow, pedagogical attempts at manipulation and insist on our personal presence; they offend us by rejecting our good advice and guidance; they proudly and matter-of-factly assert their right to be different; they act in destructive ways that force us to confront the fact that we have slipped up.
To put it briefly: their unique competence makes such a great impression on us that we either have to acknowledge it or lie to ourselves."
If you read this book, what are your thoughts? I'm very interested.
Chrisi
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