Strategies for Raising Happy Children - Essay Example

Dr. Sylivia Rimm is a bestselling author of parenting books and appears regularly on NBC’s Today show. She is the Director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and a clinical professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She has twenty years of clinical work experience, working with families and concerned parents (Rimm, 1996).

In an era where there exist varying family set-ups, such as families with gay or lesbian parents, single-parent families, stepfamilies, and traditional two-parent families, Dr. Sylivia wrote this book to provide a parenting blueprint, especially for parents who are not in a position to meet her or attend her talks in person. She employs her compassionate, yet no-nonsense style in presenting basic strategies to parents, for guiding children from birth to adulthood (Rimm, 1996).

Exceptionally arranged, this book comprises of cornerstone as an alternative to chapters. Questions are grouped per cornerstone, and answers are provided at the end. To facilitate skimming, innovative skills are placed in margins, to enable those seeking advice on issues such as bedtime battles, attention deficit disorder, and shyness to find answers easily (Rimm, 1996).

This book covers a wide area of everyday family life. It covers issues on common annoyances and deeper issues. Sensitive topics which are rarely discussed, such as immigrant parents, grandparenting, and marital problems between husband and wife and their impacts on children are discussed respectfully. The book considers it necessary for parents to review their difference and avoid quarreling in front of their children because this kind of approach impacts them negatively. Another material covered by this book is a selection of appropriate rewards and punishments, aiming at decreasing arguments and power struggles. Dr. Rimm encourages the independence of parents without over-empowering the children.

In her book, Dr. Sylvia provides practical guides to parents on how to form a united front, and how they should cooperate with schools and teachers to encourage children learning and creativity. Her major concern in this book is to provide a remedy for preventing children's early shutdown from learning, by providing a well-rounded, down-to-earth guideline for parents from all walks of life. She emphasizes that achieving children's encouragement at home is a challenging task, and even the most experienced and strong parents need a game plan for it (Rimm, 1996).

Another aspect covered by this book is the importance of providing a conducive environment that encourages children to desire to learn. Realistically, parents cannot control their children’s environment, but they can set directions that will virtually lead them to achievement(Rimm, 1996). The four major themes exhibited in this book are:
- Teaching children habits that inspire learning.
- Setting positive potentials by example through appropriate rewards and praise.
- Parenting establishing a united front, to avoid sending mixed messages to children.
- Giving children a sense of confidence, without empowering them.

The key strength of this book is its continuous updating and expansion. This keeps tabs on up-to-date information on the modern ever-changing world of raising children. Its’ division into cornerstones is an added advantage too, in that a parent does not need to sit down and read the book from cover to cover. Rather, a parent needs to turn the page on the appropriate cornerstone read through and get instant answers. This book's acceptance by a wide range of parents from varying backgrounds is its additional strength, as it reassures its distinctiveness in addressing parenting matters. The strength should be a motivating factor for parents to read and implement what the book contains.

Creating an environment where a child gets attached to an object for performance is a key weakness observed in this book. In a contemporary ever-changing world, attachments to objects, especially by children if discouraged, so to teach children’s “how to think”, as opposed to, “what to think”.