Customer Reviews

The Successful Child: What Parents Can Do to Help Kids Turn Out Well

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book contains a lot of practical advice on how to foster desirable, pleasant behaviors and attitudes in children, which naturally contribute to their success in life. However, it has several fundamental flaws in its execution. The first and biggest is that, as many other reviewers have noted, the entire book is little more than a propaganda piece for attachment parenting. Because of this, there is never a moment in the book where he addresses ANY of the challenges his theories have faced. It is also filled with endless gross generalizations such as "The connected child will do what's right because doing what's wrong makes him FEEL wrong." ["Connected child" is his term for children who are raised according to his dictates. If you disagree with any of his tactics, you're in danger of raising a "disconnected" i.e. sociopathic failure of a child.) And "Children who are on the receiving end of sensitive parenting become sensitive themselves." Ad nauseum. Literally.

The book is filled with obsequious overgeneralizations. There are dozens of little "interviews" from, I guess we're supposed to believe, patients (although the speakers are NEVER identified, making it very confusing when the sidebar refer to "our son Matthew" while knowing Dr. Sears has a son Matthew too). These "interviews" produce hysterically unbelievable and melodramatic accounts of miraculously empathic (and boy howdy, ARTICULATE!) 2 year olds, shrewd psychological insight imparted by kindergarteners, etc. Oh, and of course, the book is riddled with obliquely validating comments such as "Research has shown," yet the book fails to have a bibliography or reference section. One eventually has to question why the book ends up seeming more like a sales pitch for attachment parenting than any real compilation of advice.

As the parent of a 6yo child with high-functioning autism who DID/does practice many of the things the Sears deem as "attachment parenting" to the letter, I can tell you that while I don't disagree that his child-sensitive approach to parenting does engender trust and emotional intimacy between parent and child, it is in NO way a blueprint for raising "successful" children, nor is it a recipe for producing any kinds of desirable traits in your children. There is little room for variables in Dr. Sears' tract, if any. I don't think following these practices would hurt any child, but I think that the claims Dr. Sears makes are, at best, spurious, and should be questioned and challenged a lot more than they currently are.

This book does an excellent job of discussing what parents can do to help their children become successful people. It delves into diverse topics such as responsibility, academics, compassion and communication. I highly recommend this to parents of children from toddlers to teenagers. I would also recommend a book the by co-author of this one, Elizabeth Pantley, called Kid Cooperation: How to Stop Yelling, Nagging and Pleading - as a guide to the practical aspects of using the tools described in The Successful Child.

I have read a lot of the Sears' books and agree with what he has to say about parenting. I found them extremely helpful. Even though alot of what he talks about is repetitive from book to book (ex: attachement parenting is a theme he devotes many pages to in all his books), I didn't mind this too much...but some people might. I don't really agree with his co-sleeping ideas, but to each his own. Overall, I think this book covers many topics that are relevant for parenting in today's society. My child is not even born yet, but I think that anyone from being pregnant to having a teen can benefit and gleen information that they deem relevant from this book.

I've read quite a lot of Dr. & Martha Sears' books and agree with some previous reviewers who have said that some of their most recent releases are just rehashes of old stuff [something I began to find very frustrating!]. However, this book was well worth my money!

I was pleasantly surprised to find a well organized book taking a "bird's eye view" of childrearing - not getting so bogged down in babyhood, but looking at the long term goals and results. I found the research quoted throughout fascinating and really enjoyed their synthesis of scientific study. I liked seeing their logic on how their suggestions for raising babies, preschoolers, and elementary age kids on up are likely to result in the attributes I want for my own children.

I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Siblings [something they are obviously experts at after 8 children!], Raising Moral and Responsible Children, and Sexuality; as well as the numerous suggestions and ideas for raising older children. This book is an excellent follow up to "The Baby Book" - what to do when the baby isn't a baby any more!

Even if you are not the least bit inclined towards Attachment Parenting, this book would be an interesting read just as a counterpoint to your own philosophy. I'm very excited to have found such a useful book!

William Sears and his wife Martha, a pediatrician and a nurse respectively, have written an excellent book. Although raising eight children does not make one an expert in child rearing, the personal examples they provide prove that they are. They also use real-life examples of parents and children they have met in their pediatric practice and also back their examples up with references to medical research.

When my daughter was born six months ago my wife and I followed our gut and cared for our baby the way we FELT was right. We spent a lot of time with her, spoke to her all the time, and did not ignore her when she cried. But I wasn't sure if we were doing the right thing. Upon reading The Successful Child we were relieved because the authors promoted a method in line with ours, and we used the book to refine our method further.

Most importantly, the book also helped us to understand our baby's behavior. For example, babies are not trying to manipulative us when they cry, they are communicating their needs to us. Ignore their cries and you are essentially teaching your child that their needs will not be met and that their attempts at communicating with you are futile, so they may stop communicating. This may result in a quieter child (which some books advocate) but at what cost?
The book is a little bit repetitive at times and I wish they would have listed the sources for the research they cite, but do not let this stop you from purchasing an excellent book...

I was extremely happy with the information in this book. It's easy to read,understand and follow. To my surprise, I came across a small section in this book that addresses the "quiet" child. This describes my child. Tho it was a brief portion of the book, the insights provided on a quiet child helped me tremendously in understanding my child, giving me a sense of relief. In a few short weeks, my relationship with my child has actually improved dramatically because of it. This book contains a wealth of information on many other fronts of the parenting process. Highly recommended ...

"A Successful Child" by William Sears is a successful book. After you read this, it is practically a "must" that you go on to read what I think is the easiest book (perhaps only book) out there on understanding the basics of character in order to instill character in your children. That book is "West Point: Character Leadership Education...." by Norman Thomas Remick.

This is another really well done book by Dr. and Mrs. Sears. Maybe much of this information is available in his other books, but if you haven't read "The Discipline Book", "The Baby Book" or "The Attachment Parenting Book", I could see this as being a really exciting and thought provoking work.

I just had to comment on the negative reviewer's obnoxious remark to the effect that simply having children does not make you an expert. Dr. Sears raised his children to adulthood, and they are now successful and happy people. Two or three of his children actually are physicians who practice pediatrics with him. One of them is even starting to take over some of the media responsibilities by appearing on shows such as Good Morning America.

In a world where so many kids are estranged from their parents, this is really really nice to see. Anyone that can raise kids to be adults like that has some good advice to offer the rest of us.

I bought this book and "The Child Whisperer" by Matt Pasquinilli on the advice of a professional. I was having difficulty getting my child to listen and follow through with simple tasks. It was affecting her school too. She is such a wonderful child, so kind and caring.

The problem was that she gets distracted easily, and daydreams too much. "The Child Whisperer" was so profound in its simplicity. It created a foundation of basic skills that changed my relationship with my child.

The man who recommended these two books suggested I read and reread "The Child Whisperer" first, then after trying the techniques within it for a few weeks, I was supposed to start reading "The Successful Child:What Parents Can Do to Help Their Kids Turn Out Well." Fantastic advice!!! "The Successful Child" is chock full of easy to use advice and insights that will build your child's confidence and esteem.

All children are wonderful and start out completely innocent. As parents, we can use all the help we can get to raise happy and healthy kids. This book helps!

The comment "it doesn't matter how much money you earn or the number of degrees after your name that counts, it is what you contribute to others and society that counts" My wife and I raised our two children with this philosophy and it worked!!!
They both are financially successful and have earned multiple degrees but are raising their children with the same philosophy. Furthermore, they married individuals that were raised with this philosophy. Read the book, it's worth every penny.