Put Yourself in Their Shoes Book

Wouldn't parenting be easier if you could see into the mind of your child?

Learn to hear what your child can't or won't tell you—and

Understand Behavior
Build Values
Nurture Closeness
Solve Problems

In her popular Boston Globe column "Child Caring," Barbara Meltz has been writing about real-life parenting issues for more than a decade.  She has found that instead of divorce or moving—the situations parents think of as stressful—children's concerns are often linked to commonplace events such as sleepovers or the first day of school.

In this wise, compassionate book, Meltz offers parents a unique window into their child's inner life.  She includes candid, illuminating observations from kids themselves and offers advice on what to ask, listen for, or observe to decode puzzling behavior. . . how to get a child to talk about his or her problems. . . and how to find the best way to solve conflicts.  By focusing on developmental trouble spots, not age, her approach is as helpful to the parents of a two-year-old as to those of a twelve-year-old.  From keeping secrets to going to camp to larger issues, such as stealing or death in the family, Put Yourself in Their Shoes offers a way to see inside a child's world—and help to make it safe and strong.

Library Journal

A columnist by trade (Boston Globe, Child Rearing), Meltz has opportunity to interview a range of child development experts. Her book addresses almost every issue affecting children into their teen years. Siblings, drugs, biting, clothing, homosexuality, blended families, Disney movies, summer camp, hero worship, bullies, and more--every milestone (and millstone) parents face is included. Meltz dispenses straightforward and specific advice about how to handle various crises of child rearing. Traditionalists may quarrel with Meltz's opinions concerning gays and open communication with children; she espouses a commitment to truthfulness, setting firm limits, and trying to see the world from the child's viewpoint. Though lacking a formal introduction or summation, this is a good encyclopedic handbook to use as needed through the childhood years. Extensive notes and recommendations take the place of a formal bibliography. More practical than academic, this should circulate very well in public libraries.--Margaret Cardwell, Georgia Perimeter Coll., Clarkston