Review: Definitely worth owning this book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 8, 2012
I loved James' easy communication style in this book. It was as if he was sitting next to me while sharing his personal wisdom from his own journey.I found it fascinating to read: "Socrates hit the nail on the head when he wrote in 5th century BC: "The children love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, show disrespect for elders and love to chatter in the place of exercise."  Replace chatter with Twitter or Facebook and you have a description of today's children. So maybe some things do never change."There are some things James talks of that are not my way, like having a favourite child, or not arguing in front of your kids, (energy is always sensed so I believe better out in the open and cleared away quickly) but different ways and diversity is what makes the world such a great place and these things need discussion as he is doing.Having personally written the book `The Intimacy of Death & Dying' I found James's statement:  "This simply would not happen if you, the parent or carer, are diligently looking after the infant or child at all times." concerning. Sadly there are unfortunate moments when children have been hurt or died in situations that were unavoidable and parents will forever beat themselves up, they surely do not need the addition of feeling judged.But James goes on to share their own near misses very openly, one of which we had an identical experience. He is very real and honest, talks of the importance of manners (which will support your kids in life in ways you could never imagine) and shares a great quote on being a parent from Facebook. Check it outI loved that James' believes children need to learn support for the Earth, to love reading, the importance of `doing nothing' and the importance of teaching them that `Life is not fair'. Brilliant advice.James quotes Thomas Edison, the inventor "When a man dies, if he can pass enthusiasm along to his children, he has left them an estate of incalculable value." James will definitely leave this legacy for his children and more than that is sharing his hard won insights so that others can become caring and wise parents as well. It is definitely worth owning this book.