Raising a Thinking Child: Help Your Young Child to Resolve Everyday Conflicts and Get Along with Others

I echo what's been written about this book. I kept checking it out of the library over and over until I finally decided just to buy it. My 3 year old has been figuring out a DIFFERENT way to solve problems since we started ICPSing. Beginning with word concepts that can be started at a very early age (same/different, is/is not, good idea/not a good idea) then moving into more complex problem solving is a great approach. This book gives parents, or anyone working with children solid approaches on how to teach problem solving. I highly recommend this book.

This book and its successor, Raising a Thinking Preteen, are going to be required reading for prospective parents when I am king of the world. There are so many cliche phrases that we learn from our parents, TV, etc. that are very destructive, and certainly not constructive, and this book teaches parents how to talk to their children to foster many positive traits, including the "hungry mind" attitude.

My six year old son loves to play the ICPS games and has shown a marked improvement in conflict resoution with peers. He now knows the meaning of the word "frustrated" and how to avoid frustration (and how to avoid temper tantrums) by thinking of and evaluating his own alternatives in many cases. Instead of yelling or pushing to get his way, he offers to trade or works out a deal for sharing. It is a pleasure to watch his self-confidence grow and his self-esteem rise. As he grows older, he will be able to think for himself and avoid being controlled by others or becoming controlling himself. This book has been helpful for the whole family. This Mom now has some training in how to model good problem solving skills for the rest of the family, as well. Communication skills in our home have improved greatly at all levels due to Shure's book. It is one of the best parenting/communication books that I have ever read.

This book teaches good thinking habits for the children and the adults. We often want to resort back to the way our parents raised us and sometimes it's old hat. Old hat isn't always bad, but getting the kids to empower themselves is much better. A little wordy but not too bad. It's the same thinking process as another book we found extremely helpful in motivating our children, "Mommy-CEO." Both books demostrate a logical plan for the entire family. This approach allows the children to "think" on their own and keeps them focused. My mom was very controlling and I just had to change my parenting skills and habits for my own sanity. I think we are all stronger, healthier and much happier.

I have read over 20 books on parenting and this is the first one that really tells me how to do it, simply and concretely. This book has made my home much more peaceful. My kids come up with their own ideas and I don't have to tell them what to do anymore