Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason Audiobook (Free)

One basic need all kids possess, educator Alfie Kohn argues, is usually to be loved unconditionally, to know that they will be accepted even if indeed they screw up or fall short. Yet conventional approaches to parenting such as punishments (including ‘time-outs’), rewards (including positive encouragement), and other forms of control instruct children that they are liked only when they make sure you us or make an impression us. Kohn cites a body of effective, and largely unidentified, research detailing the damage caused by leading children to believe they must earn our approval. That’s exactly the message children derive from common discipline methods, even though it’s not the message most parents intend to send.

More than yet another book about self-discipline, Unconditional Parenting addresses the methods parents think about, experience, and act using their kids. It invites these to issue their most elementary assumptions about increasing kids while offering an abundance of practical strategies for moving from ‘performing to’ to ‘working with’ parenting-including how exactly to replace praise using the unconditional support that kids have to grow into healthful, caring, accountable people.