Teaching Your Children Sensitivity

by Richard Eyre and Linda Eyre

Book Overview

A nine-month program designed for families with children three and older combines advice and anecdotes with quizzes, games, and activities to help parents nurture sensitivity in children.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671517139
• ISBN13: 9780671517137
• Release Date: March 1995
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

One of my all-time favorite parenting books!

With a title like this, a Mormon family of nine kids, and their being the authors of "Teaching Your Child Values," you might think this would be a "sappy" book. It isn't! By "sensitivity" they don't mean "overly sensitive." They mean developing social skills that allow a person to be able to focus on others, and be LESS self-centered. Their approach is incredibly smart, practical and on-target. Their suggested activities have been tested with their own large family, and are fun and effective. I've made a lifelong project out of developing social skills, since I grew up somewhat lacking in them. Through exhaustive research and experimentation, I finally found some authors and approaches that I feel really work (see Constructive Living and other books by David K. Reynolds, and the todoinstitute.org and books by Gregg Krech). The Eyres' approach dovetails very well with these other philosophies and complements them, but it is more activity based and family friendly. The book is arranged to be worked through over nine months. Each month has a focus, with thought-provoking quotations, suggested activities for parents and children, and a "family focus" which is intended to start a new tradition in your family. The Eyres suggest that parents first try to learn and practice the skills, and then share what they're doing with their kids. The skills build on each other. They start with skills of Observing (Seeing, Listening), then skills of Feeling (Congruence, Concern, Empathy), next Communicating (Expressing what we see, Communicating what we feel), and finally Doing (Service, Anonymous service). The Eyres give the best exposition on the importance of "feelings" that I've ever read; including that great art is essentially a communication of feeling. It's especially powerful, coming from a no-nonsense business consultant (Richard Eyre). In general, what I think gives the Eyres' approach such genius and well-roundedness is that they marry disparate elements in so many ways. To begin with, Richard the business consultant is married to Linda, the musician. They combine a business type "parenting with goals and a plan" focus with an emphasis on the arts, both of which are so vitally important. Second, as one of America's leading proponents of values parenting, and as a religious family (though they definitely do not proselytize in their books), you might think they would be "goody-goody." But they are not. Their books are very honest, and their family is "normal" in the sense of having the same problems and concerns that we all do. Third, they emphasize responsibility, and their kids are refreshingly non-indulged. At the same time they promote nurturing, communicating one's love to one's children and loyalty to family in very specific and creative ways (see their wonderful "The Book of Nurturing"). Throughout all their books, their immense love for their children comes through in such an inspiring and poetic manner that I've often