Interesting Books

I set up this blog mainly as a way to provide a forum for all the parents who have completed the Communicating with Kids course, or the Parent Effectiveness Training course which I used to run, as a way to keep in touch and share experiences. But really I’d like it to be for everyone, not just an exclusive club, so anyone is welcome to join and post comments.

I am new to blogging, so please excuse any hiccups along the way. I am not even sure what to write, so I’m just going to start with where I am on this Sunday morning. I am sitting at home, with a pile of very interesting books on the table, wondering whether to include them on my resources page. They have nothing to do with parenting. I realise that a lot of the books I read and gain the most useful insights from have nothing to do with parenting. I have read quite a few parenting books in my time, and I’m sure I gained useful information from them, but it began to feel a little too much like hard work. I felt a bit like I used to feel at school, obliged to read boring text books on narrow subjects.

The books I enjoy reading, on the other hand, are those that encompass wider issues, those which give me inspiration and knowledge about the human condition. So my pile of interesting books, the ones I devour and feel drawn to again and again, are those which explore human behaviour, drawing on latest research in psychology, anthropology, genes, neuroscience, cognitive development and social studies. It is from these books that I have gained the most profound insights as a parent (and human being) and it is this knowledge that has informed my work more than most parenting books.

I am considering putting these books on the resources page with a direct link to Amazon so that you can go straight there and have a look inside the covers and read some reviews, so watch this space.