Gentle Discipline - Thank you!

I'm teaching a class (online) now using someone else's curriculum; and planning how I will teach it differently next semester, putting my own spin on assignments and such. One assignment I want to have is for my students to write a letter to a prominent child development theorist. In that spirit, here's my own letter to the author of a book I just got into.

Dear Ms. Flower,
A fellow mom just lent me your book Adventures in Gentle Discipline. Driving home from her house, my daughters - 22 months and 7 months - feel asleep in the car and I decided to take advantage of the precious calm and quiet moments and read a 'grown-up book.' I must admit that as much as I love reading, I have read very little for myself over the past two years. And, being a child development specialist, books pertaining to those topics used to be my favorite reading material! But these days, they are too long, or, they just don't pertain to my situation and I've got somewhat of a narrow attention span these days. (Or, when it comes to the topic of discipline, most books are about older children.) But your book is different.

I've actually only made it a few pages into the introduction! But reading the Foreward by Ms. Granju brought tears to my eyes as I was reminded that I'm not alone in having intense emotions and reactions to my kids. And then I sighed a deep sigh of relief as I read the beginning of your introduction because I also felt, perhaps "smug" as you say, about my parenting, until my second child came along. You write that your "daughter abruptly changed into a regressive, demanding, unreasonable - and very confused and needy - little girl." I also "hardly recognize her, or myself as a mother." Your words resonate with me.

So I would like to thank you for sharing that. As mothers, it helps to hear about others' not-so-perfect experiences to keep us feeling that there is hope we will get through these uncontrollable times; and so we can enjoy the precious moments in between, before they slip quickly by.

So I've already gotten something out of your book but I look forward to hearing more from you and the other parent voices in there. The Table of Contents offers promising phrases like 'Reinventing Time Out,' 'Whining,' 'Temper Tantrums,' 'Sometimes it's Just "No",' 'Problem-Solving Instead of Power Struggles,' 'Changing Development, Changing Discipline.'

Now I'll try to get a few more pages read before one of my girls wakes up!

Sincerely,
A Mommy Relieved