How to talk so kids will listen and listen so listen so kids will talk by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish

After years of criticising our parents, with time, we come to talk in exactly the same way they used to talk, repeating to our children the same sentences that we grew up hearing.

Reading this book has been an enlightening experience, you realise for how long you have been living in “automatic” mode. As a parent you want the best for your little ones, and definitely you do your best trying to raise them, trying to build up their confidence and develop their own little personalities. Then you read How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk (How to Help Your Child) (How to Help Your Child) and, suddenly, you become conscious of what you say, for the first time you pay attention and can hear the words coming out of your mouth when dealing with your children and you surprise yourself at what a difference it makes.

The book is an easy read, really engaging and with touches of nice sense of humour with real life examples where you will see yourself reflected. It does exactly what it says on the cover, it is a practical guide to improve parent-child communication and establish mutual co-operation.

It seems written to reach any kind of parent, from the more intellectual to the more “visual” orientated. Each chapter is divided into different parts; descriptive style, with lots of different examples and real life situations, simple and practical exercises where you can apply your new acquired skills and see what you need to change, engaging cartoons illustrating with clear examples the practice in different situations and short summaries, what a better way of remembering, if, after reading the chapter you have a small page with the basic points noted down, so you can snip it and stick it on the kitchen cupboard for later reference?

Nobody says that raising children is an easy task, not even communicating with them, but books like this one, brings us one step closer to our children by helping us to improve our communication and understanding of their own feelings, finding alternative ways to punishments and bringing mutual collaboration. THAT makes such a difference!