“Parenting today is a wildly challenging, confusing job, far beyond anything most of us expected.” -Ron Taffel, Ph.D.
This is how family therapist and child-rearing expert, Ron Taffel, begins his most recent book for parents, Childhood Unbound: Saving Our Kids’ Best Selves–Confident Parenting in a World of Change. What I love most about this book is how it speaks to the very real differences between raising children in today’s world versus the challenges of parenting faced by our parents’ generation. Ron is able to describe the differences in this rapidly changing post-millennial world without putting down either the kids (what’s the matter with kids today?) or the parents (why don’t they just get a clue?) or the world (can’t the horrors of the evil Internet just go away?).
The book begins with a description of today’s families–living with overextended schedules, in an unstable economy, in a world becoming more diverse than ever before, with technology front and center in unprecedented ways. Parents reading the introduction will immediately feel seen and understood for what a wild ride it is just to be a parent these days. In subsequent chapters, Taffel gets practical and specific about how parents can remain connected to their children while still creating healthy rules and boundaries. Using numerous examples from his own life, his psychotherapy practice and his conversations with parents across America, Ron suggests innovative methods to get children’s and teens’ attention, to set limits they will respect, and to engage them in meaningful conversation to provide the guidance they need.
Having appreciated several of Ron’s previous books as well as his articles in The Family Therapy Networker, we invited him to lead a workshop for mental health professionals sponsored by The Family Therapy Institute of Santa Barbara a number of years ago. The audience appreciated Ron’s extraordinary passion for his work combined with deep empathy and respect for just how difficult–and important–the job of parenting can be. Open and evolving, Taffel empowers parents to take an active role in their children’s lives and to form networks to support one another and to build stronger, safer communities. This book will inspire you to bring out your kids’ best selves and your own as well.
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