What I liked about it:
* The respect for and understanding of children. Ezzo and Bucknam recommend teaching your children the why of expected behavior. They state, "positive development takes place when parents build into their child's conscience the reason why 'right is right' and 'wrong is wrong.' " I've always been a fan of that way of thinking.
* The emphasis on positive discipline and language. The author's place a great emphasis on training and expectations, not just correction.
* The recognition of child development and cognition, which lead to reasonable expectations. The authors explain that around 3 years of age "your child's intellect is sufficiently developed to the extent that he is ready to receive the why of moral training." Before that parents should understand that their job is really about guiding outward behavior only.
Not so crazy about these things:
* The book felt a bit gimicky- they referenced the others book in their series way too much. At one point I just laughed out loud as Ezzo and Bucknam listed about 10 adjectives describing children whose parents follow the "wise" series. Not only does this sound boastful, it sets people like me up for high expectations of their children and eventual frustration when your children aren't perfect.
* Schedules and routines as described in the book are good things to think about, but too structured for me. Although I love structure and schedules, I don't need more pressure put on us. Much of our day is already set with sleeping and eating times, but I like to let the rest of our play time just loosely happen. (That said, I was challenged to try to teach Hudson how to play with his toys for a longer amount of time in order to get him to a more creative, productive type of play. I agree not all play has the same benefits- random, chaotic play is not as valuable as working with one toy for a longer period of time.)
* Many of the examples were vague or even irrelevant (a story about a 6 and 8 year old- what was that about?). In the second appendix I did find an answer to this that satisfied me. The authors described (through a really strange fairy tale story) the way that parents should approach disciplining their children. They state,
"take whatever you believe about life and turn these values into goals. Let the goals determine your training priorities, and use methods that facilitate your goals while meeting your child's needs." I probably should have read that part first because I appreciated how they said it was really up to each family to decide what was most important to them in guiding their children.
Overall, I did find it to be a valuable read and a useful tool in considering how I parent my preschooler. I rolled my eyes a few times, but was glad I persevered in reading it. We've already implemented their ideas about children's interruptions and, as I said, helping Hudson have more productive, creative play by suggesting he start the day with time in his room alone with his toys.
Thus far, my favorite parenting books have been The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg and Making the Terrible Twos Terrific by John Rosemond, but this one is probably second tier. There are not nearly as many books available for preschoolers as there are for babies, so I was thankful for it for that reason at least.
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Preschool-Wise-Preschoolers-ebook/dp/B003WUYRDG/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
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