Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves: Transforming Parent-Child Relationships from Reaction and Struggle to Freedom, Power and Joy

To my gracious surprise, this book has healed ME in more ways than I could have ever imagined… I feel blessed and relieved beyond words. If you’re looking for one good book on parenting, this is the one you absolutely need. I truly believe that ANYONE AND EVERYONE should read this remarkable book regardless if you are a parent or not… All my life I have struggled with the pains of my childhood and now I finally understand why, despite the many different therapists that I have tried… None of them did what Naomi just did for me. I feel as if I went back into my own childhood and re-parented myself. I also understand why my own parents did what they did and now I no longer blame them. I feel free to be my authentic self as a human being and as a future parent.

I have read a lot of parenting books I would recommend this book to everyone. This is the best parenting book I have ever read!!! If you only have time or money for 1 parenting book definitely buy this one. If you are going to read more parenting books I would recommend: -Parenting from the Inside Out by Mary Hartzell and Daniel J. Siegel, -Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen -Between Parent and Child by Haim G. Ginott

I recently read "Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves" and I have to say that it is an amazing book and one that has created a fundamental shift in how I approach my relationship with my children. I have always been an advocate for gentle and respectful parenting, but this book has offered me "mental" tools to examine my own internal world and reactions to my children, and frankly, my spouse. I've passed it along to several friends and they feel the same.

I agree with most of the 5-star reviews here. This is the best parenting book I've found - a great leap from the many modern parenting books out there. In fact, I'd say it is the only parenting book you will ever need! Like another reviewer, I am ordering many copies and actively distributing to all the parents I know. Finally, a book that spells out with crystal clarity that yes, you can respect and trust your children fully, and love them unconditionally, without any "ifs" and "buts". Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves provides the tools for being always kind and loving in our day-to-day interactions with our children, and illustrates the guidance via eloquent real-life examples. These tools are easy to remember and put to practice, and they actually work. This book has transformed my relationship with my 10-month old, giving me permission to fully love her the way I always felt - without holding back ANYTHING! Quite a liberating shift. The guidance carries all the way from infancy through the teen years, and I am so grateful that I stumbled upon it while she is still little! The transformative effect of the book goes way beyond parenting, as both the title, and the subtitle proposed by James Prescott on the cover ('Saving the emotional lives of our children and the future of humanity'), suggest. It lays out a readily available path to self-healing and self-realization through our relationship with our children (as well as with other people): simply by starting to examine how we respond to others a little more closely. Imho, this is one of the most important books ever written, period. I have a wish. I grew up in Europe (France) and, really, I CANNOT WAIT to see the book available there as well, in other languages, and start infusing its wisdom and compassion overseas. Any publisher out there interested in making a difference? Call Naomi today, you'll do yourself and the world a favor. Our world needs this book. QUICK!

If you read only one book about parenting, this is the book to read. It is fantastic, empowering and compassionate. If you liked the Continuum Concept, this book presents the same ideas but within a Western Society framework. It is well written with lots of examples. I will read this book several times to make sure this wonderful information sinks in fully.

I'm not a parent, and I bought this book for the second half of the title. The book was recommended reading by an organization devoted to educating people about nonviolence, and nonviolent parenting methods. I found the book to be very valuable reading, and something I will refer back to. From the first description of dealing with an upset child (a girl aged 4 who is crying on the floor of a grocery store) to the section on power plays and how to allow/receive them, I recognized that I can utilize the guidance in this book as a way of dealing with things that come up in work situations, and in any relationships. I can practice inwardly on myself, and change how I respond in any situation, to any stimulus. This doesn't mean not honoring my true responses, but rather, finding what they are underneath the mind chatter, and automatic pilot option(s). This book picks up where something like The Power of Now leaves off. When you're caught in the grip of your own mind in an interaction, or all by yourself, this book offers workable steps to apply "on the job" as it were. It can help ease that gripping and allow there to be more space, and more loving options available.

I have a young child who tends to get very aggressive when trying to tell me that his needs aren't being met. Until recently, he never listened to anything I asked of him. I was at my wits end. I'd tried everything. Things only got worse. Then I found the answer that unlocked the mystery behind my child's behavior in Aldort's book, "Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves." It changed my relationship with my son the day I started following her recommendations. As I learned from the book (verified by my experience) it won't do any good to punish a child's behavior; it fact, it will only make it worse. There's an underlying reason for his behavior, and until I address it in an understanding and kind way, it will continue. Now I understand why he was acting the way he was and, more importantly, how I was causing it without even knowing it. Once I understood him, I could concentrate on solving the larger problem rather than correcting (punishing) the behavior. Ever since I changed the way I interact with and speak to my child (according to Aldort's recommendations), my relationship with him has been transformed and, no surprise, he hasn't been aggressive at all. The book has given me tools of love and connection in all areas of parenting. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Buy one for yourself and one for all of your friends.