Connection Parenting Parenting Through Connection Instead of Coercion, Through Love Instead ... Book

In Connection Parenting there are no quick fixes, no time-outs, no threats, no coercion used in Pam Leo's methods... instead she teaches parenting through connection. One of the things she said that stuck with me is about how we need to stop treating children as "second-rate citizens". While this may seem a little over the top I feel like we, as a nation, do treat our children pretty poor. We raise our children the way we were raised (with a few changes here and there) but don't stop to think about the most loving and respectful way to raise our most innocent and precious beings. Connection Parenting isn't easy any way you slice it. It takes a lot of patience. It takes a lot of creativity. It takes a LOT. But I feel in my heart that Pam Leo is on the right track in this book. I wish there were more practical examples of how to implement connection in those all-too common difficult moments with toddlers and preschoolers.

I want to add that I do remember being frustrated a little with the book after reading it. I feel like, while I love the parenting methods, they are a tad too permissive for me. One of the points that the author makes is that we don't have to teach our children that they are in the real world at such a young age when speaking of consequences/discipline. But I have realized that i.e. if you have your child in preschool then they are in the real world. They have to abide by the teacher's rules and play well with others and have consequences for their actions. A teacher isn't always going to have the time to talk things through like the book suggests, and I think that is fair. I guess I say all that to say that I believe that I want my child to be a little more flexible and a little more well-mannered by our culture's standards than I think connection parenting would result in.