The most important parenting skill!

Was the first thing that I would say to my mom every Christmas morning. She would always say the same thing to me, "Patience honey, we have to wait for everyone to wake up". Even though I already knew what the response would be, I still had trouble understanding the importance of patience. "Patience is a virtue", my dad would always say, yes, a virtue hard to grasp for any young child. That is why it is an important skill that parents must teach to their children. And the best way to effectively teach patience is by being a patient person in everything you do.

I know that this sounds rather simplistic but its amazing how many parents do not realize that their actions are always under scrutiny from their children's eyes and ears. I myself fell into the trap of not being self-aware enough to notice my negative behavior around my kids. That is until I read a book that revealed a new way of thinking about effective parenting.

I recently finished reading the book Screamfree Parenting by Hal Runkel. Let me just start out by saying that this book is truly different than most parenting books out there. Mr. Runkel, who is a licensed therapist, suggests that the most important thing that a parent can do is to focus on themselves and their own behavior. Of course he is not suggesting that parents ignore their children's bad behavior, but rather handle each situation with an emphasis on self-awareness.

Mr. Runkel integrates a real life story with each teaching point, which helps to make his main points more clear to the reader.