Are you a parent looking for a way to discipline your children in a way that works?
Do you want to learn a method that has some biblical merit behind it? Then I will suggest you check out 1-2-3 Parenting with a heart: Three step discipline for a calm and godly household. 
1-2-3 Parenting with Heart is based on a book by Thomas Phelan, which teaches parents to parent with justice and mercy. I found it didn’t back up the biblical claims a great deal but it did touch on a few verses. It’s a matter of finding the balance between being warm and friendly with being a person who has firm expectations.
The book is broken down in to six sections, each section having 2 to 7 sub-sections contained within. The six sections are:
- Building a Solid Foundation for Parenting
- Controling Obnoxious Behaviour: Parenting Job 1
- Managing testing and manipulation
- Encouraging Good Behaviour: Parenting Job 2
- Strengthening your Relationship with your Children: Parenting Job 3
- Enjoying Your New Family Life
This method of raising your children is recommended for ages 2-12. The book is well-written with a personable tone, including many real-life stories from families utilizing this method of parenting their children. I really liked the before and after cartoons, show casing how real challenges can be handled.
Let me see, what else can I tell you about this trade paperback? Oh, it has built in tips, set into corners and off-sides to make their helpfullness all the more apparent. 
Each chapter clossed with a series of questions to make you think a spell about what you just read and learned.
My thoughts:
Honestly… I don’t know what I think about this book, part of that unsettled feeling about it is that 1-2-3 method is not one that I would choose to employ. (cause every family is different in their dynamics). BUT I do very much like how the author spells out to use this method successfully and how he broaches other parenting concerns as well…such as teaching children (through the use of natural consequences) to take responsibility for what they can. 1-2-3 Parenting with Heart does an excellent job of sticking to it’s premise. Giving parents a defined method to help discipline their children without yelling. Just a simple countdown with follow through.
I guess my concern is that … so often throughout the book it seemed like parents were setting down rules and expecting their children to follow through… just I struggled to see the grace of God at work through this method. And maybe it’s there, because granted I didn’t read every word or paragraph…. it’s just a struggle, not a defined problem. I can see it as being very beneficial to a whole lot of families.
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1-2-3 Parenting with heart
Thomas W. Phelan & Chriss Webb Trade paperback, adult. 304 pages Reviewed for: Raincoast books. |
Could be interesting. My concern with parenting books is whether they address ideas on handling it when their prescribed way of thinking/parenting just doesn’t work as simply as they describe it in the book. I’d love to know if this one gives multiple approaches to their 1-2-3 system.
They give a variety of ways to do their program, but it still remains the basic program. They walk you through a number of scenarios and say handle it like this 1-2-3