Permission to Parent

After being bombarded by parenting fad after parenting fad, moms and dads finally have a friendly, commonsense guide to raising thriving children. Today, many parents have rejected the dictatorships they resented from their own childhoods. But they overcorrected by turning into child-pleasers. Showering praise and letting kids rule the roost has actually eroded the very self-esteem parents are trying to create. Using her clinical experience, psychiatrist Robin Berman shows parents how they can take charge while building a loving family with deep connections. How children learn love and respect at home becomes the template for how they show love and respect in life. It’s a huge task, but Dr. Berman is your ally every step of the way. Every parent’s struggles are reflected (many of them comically), but so are heartwarming triumphs. Parents, teachers and children themselves recount turning points at which they figured out what great parenting looked like and the magic it unlocked. This engaging book—a perfect mix of medical research and inspirational anecdotes—just might be the key to being the parent you want to be and the parent your children need. This essential guide bridges the gap between being too strict and too lenient with actionable, psychiatrist-approved strategies: Loving Limits: Learn why “hate me now, thank me later” is a parent’s most powerful tool for raising respectful, resilient children who feel truly secure. True Self-Esteem: Move beyond the empty praise that creates fragile kids and discover how to cultivate authentic confidence that comes from overcoming challenges, not avoiding them. The Strength of the Bond: Discover why the connection you build is the single most crucial ingredient for your child’s happiness and future relationships. An Emotional Grown-up: Get your own “ghosts of parents past” out of the way so you can respond with calm, conscious guidance instead of reacting from old wounds.