Build Your Child’s Self-Reliance
By Dr. Alanna Levine
Ten Speed Press, $15.99, 246 pages
Raising a Self-Reliant Child: A Back-to-Basics Parenting Plan from Birth to Age 6 by Dr. Alanna Levine is exactly what the title says – a back to basics approach to parenting. If you’re the type of parent wants a practical advice about child rearing, this is a fantastic resource.
Dr. Levine helps parents by not only giving advice, but helping them conceptualize why these methods work. She encourages empowering children, helping them figure out from a young age just how much they’re capable of. She also tries to help caregivers minimize potential points of stress before they happen, such as bedtime and toddler food wars, by strategizing ahead of time about how to set up their child for success.
“It’s not easy to resist the urge to swoop in to rescue, to speak when we know the answer, and to watch our children make mistakes, but with practice, it becomes second nature. The result is competent, capable, successful, proud children, ready to take on the world.”
Her warm presence offers a steadying dose common sense in a reassuring authorial voice. When much of the information targeted at parents can feel like a cacophony of fear and anxiety, instilling a deep fretfulness in parents that they might screw up their children for life, Dr. Levine’s book offers the reassurance that even within struggles there are lessons to be learned, frustrations are normal, and balance is the key to raising a self-reliant child.
Reviewed by Axie Barclay
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