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Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck
Sue Donnellan’s book Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck is a refreshing and candid guide for parents who are seeking to cultivate a healthier and less stressful relationship with their children. The book’s core message is simple yet profound: by changing their own behavior, parents can influence their children’s behavior positively. Donnellan emphasizes the importance of viewing children as “adults in training” and focuses on partnership-based parenting rather than traditional authoritarian methods.
Donnellan’s writing is not only engaging but also highly practical. She fills her book with real-life examples and relatable anecdotes, making her advice easy to understand and implement. One of the standout concepts, the ‘Magic Mantra: I’m Only in Charge of Me; I’m Not in Charge of You,’ encapsulates the idea of controlling one’s responses rather than trying to control children’s actions. This practical shift in perspective can significantly reduce parental frustration and promote a more peaceful household.
Donnellan’s book challenges the common belief that punishment is the most effective way to change children’s behavior. She argues that punishment often leads to resentment, not real behavioral change. Instead, she advocates for natural consequences and pre-agreed consequences, which can help children learn accountability in a more positive and effective way. I think this approach not only encourages children to understand the impact of their actions but also fosters a sense of respect and self-awareness, leading to more positive outcomes.
The book also provides valuable strategies for developing daily habits and routines that foster a sense of security and independence in children. Donnellan highlights the importance of consistency and the establishment of family routines as foundational elements for raising responsible and self-sufficient children. I particularly resonated with her emphasis on forming a partnership with children, where problems are discussed mutually rather than unilaterally, as I think it fosters respect and better communication.
Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck is an insightful and practical guide for parents who are tired of traditional, punitive approaches and are looking for more effective and respectful ways to raise their children. I think it will be particularly beneficial for parents of young children and teenagers who are struggling with power struggles or public meltdowns or simply want to foster a healthier family dynamic.
Pages: 225 | ASIN: B08VDZD9SM
Adults In Training
Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck provides practical advice for parents who feel overwhelmed by misbehaving kids. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I was a reluctant parent and reformed yeller. I felt my journey toward discovering how to become a better parent, break traditional parenting patterns we’ve used for generations and let go of worry and control that doesn’t serve you or your child would be immensely helpful for other parents to know. My methods are counterintuitive, even unorthodox, but they work and I wanted to share them with as many parents as I could to ease their stress and free up children to become who the individuals they are meant to be.
What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you before having kids?
That parenting is layered and nuanced when you are doing it right. Parenting is about us as the parent, not fixing our child’s behavior. We’re taught that we’re bad parents if we can’t change the child. The truth is, and no one tells us this, that to save the child we have to change us, not control the child. Changing us requires specific awareness that leads us to the parenting mindset that creates harmony in the home.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about parenting?
That punishment and restriction corrects behavior. Restriction creates rebellion. Parents feel they are doing the right thing when they punish or restrict, but the opposite is true.
What is the single biggest challenge you’ve personally faced as a parent and how did you overcome it?
How to let go of control and see my children as ‘adults in training’. With that perspective, I was able to create partnership parenting techniques that formed a foundation of true respect and built relationships of lifelong trust with my kids. This mindset led to developing children who are independent-minded, self-directed and happy!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
What if you could learn the transformative mindset that allows parents to get results without “fixing” their child’s bad behavior?
In Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck, Sue Donnellan, parent mentor, author, mom of four (including triplets), and entrepreneur shares 20+ years of experience cultivating the effective thought process for successful parenting. She delivers a proven playbook for turning misbehaving kids into happy, respectful, well-adjusted young adults.
End tantrums by learning how to respond to them
Eliminate back-talk by knowing how to avoid provoking it
Minimize lying with trust-creating strategies
Neutralize sibling fights using one simple method
Establish curfews and boundaries both you and your child are happy with
Increase your ability to prevent bad behavior, before it even starts
Directly influence your child’s great decision-making capabilities
Nurture a strengthened relationship so deep it provides a lifetime of your kids wanting to share everything with you
Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck is the definitive book on parenting. Written as a no-nonsense action plan, this book covers ages 2-20 and all the necessary subjects in between, using humor and wisdom.
Foreword written by Lana Gomez Maniscalco, Artist, Wife, Mom of two, Creative Director, What’s Wrong With People, Inc.
Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck
![Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck: The Non-Conformist Playbook to Raising Happy Kids Without Public Meltdowns, Power Struggles, & Punishments by [Sue Donnellan]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51xilev-YcL.jpg)
Parenting is the hardest job you will ever love–I stand by those words. It is rewarding beyond measure. But it is terribly and undeniably difficult on the best of days. Not one of us is born knowing how to properly raise another human being to become a productive and happy member of society, and it takes a new level of concentration and determination to get our children to that point. Every decision we make is tempered and, if you are like me–second and even third-guessed. Sue Donnellan has gifted parents everywhere with the most common-sense guide on parenting to date.
Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck: The Non-Conformist Playbook to Raising Happy Kids Without Public Meltdowns, Power Struggles, & Punishments, by Sue Donnellan, is the parenting guide we all never knew we needed but cannot live without. After reading Donnellan’s book cover to cover, I understand myself and my parenting choice much more clearly. Unfortunately, I see myself in the author’s examples of struggling parents and not in her advice. I truly wish I had had this guidebook when my 18 and 19 year olds were in middle school–so many sanity-saving tips offered up by Donnellan.
Donnellan is not only brutally honest, but she is consistent with her advice. So many parenting tips feel iffy; they waver between doing what works and doing what’s comfortable. I have always hated taking the time to read a parenting book or blog only to find the author essentially wants you to become your child’s equal and talk incessantly about feelings in the midst of a full-blown terrible-twos tantrum. Donnellan knows what’s real–she knows how to get to the heart of the matter without giving in and giving up one’s role as the parent.
I love that the author focuses most on changing ourselves and allowing the ensuing changes in our children to happen naturally. This is common sense–why have I not seen it in my 19 years of parenting?
From handling our own feelings of guilt to allowing our children an occasional curse word but not allowing them to call anyone stupid, Donnellan covers all of parenting’s most pressing questions. Speaking of guilt, I am guilty of wanting to become too involved in solving my children’s problems. Donnellan has set me straight–on this and many other issues I have been battling with my young adults.
I am giving Secrets to Parenting Without Giving a F^ck: The Non-Conformist Playbook to Raising Happy Kids Without Public Meltdowns, Power Struggles, & Punishments, by Sue Donnellan, a powerful shout-it-from-the-rooftops 5 out of 5 stars! Every parent needs to be introduced to Donnellan and her common sense approach to parenting. Best friends, mothers, co-workers, and neighbors, add Donnellan’s book to your baby shower to-do list–you will make a difference in their lives for which your loved ones will always be grateful.
Pages: 212 | ASIN: B08VDZD9SM
LITERARY TITAN 