Shauna Shapiro PhD

This is definitely one book that should be in every parents bookshelf. The book uses real life examples, research and practices to help develop your child towards self regulation. The book conclaves how parents are not to sculpture but take on more of a gardener role in order to give the nourishment and guidance the child requires during development . Of course, there are times for safety reasons that you must quickly rescues the child from immediate danger but everyday occurrences calls for more guidance. One aspect I really like in this book which is lacking in most, if not all books, on child care are methods to practice control over yourself. In Mindfulness Awareness Practice # 7:Body Scan" the book explains a method I have used many times to reduce stress. Sometimes we have to get our self together especially if you are having one of those days that we all do from time to time. There are more mindfulness awareness practice that would be very helpful for parents and Grandparents, like me, that are a caregiver for many hours per week.… (mehr)

There is no better way to describe this book, than using its quotes from within.

"The Mindful Discipline invites us to wholeheartedly meet our children, ourselves, and life, moment by moment."

"The Mindful Discipline approach is holistic, flexible, pragmatic, and most importantly, focused on long-term development more than short-term compliance."

If I could give this book more stars, I would. I think every person who is or will be a parent should read this, even 10 years in advance-it will change your life, and all of your relationships, including the one with yourself. I honestly wish that my mom had read this book, and I will be purchasing this for myself, every baby shower, expecting parent and all friends and family-it's that good, necessary even.

If you've ever visited my website (www.evolvingthread.com) you'd know that I honor, harmony, balance, transformation, wisdom, and Divine Oneness, and this book embodies it all! It provides real-to-life examples, research and practices in a book that I just couldn't put down and guarantee that I will pick up again and again! This book also uses incredibly wise, relevant, profound, simple and understandable metaphors that I absolutely loved! One of my favorites:

"Rather than thinking of your child as a stone to be sculpted...In a way, your child is like a plant. She starts out as a seed: full of potential, but undeveloped. If the seed receives the nourishment it needs, it will grow root, push its way out of the ground and develop through various phases: shoot, sapling and, eventually, a full grown tree that bears the fruit of maturity. (Neufeld 2004)
You, the parent, are like a gardener. Your role is to provide the nourishment needed in order for the plant to survive and thrive. If the plant's growth seems to be stalled you try first to understand what form of nourishment might be missing. More water? Which nutrients? Protection from other invasive species? A gardener knows that she can't simply shout at the plant to make it grow faster. Nor will pushing and pulling it result in a tree's maturing and bearing the fruit before it is time. Nature unfolds in its own way and its own time. We play an important role in our child's development, but it's not all up to us. Our job is to read our children's needs, do our best to provide the nourishment, and be patient. We must trust ourselves, our children, and the developmental process...The guiding premise isn't that our role as parents is to discern what nourishment is needed, moment by moment, and to provide the nourishment that nature needs to bloom our children into their full potential. We offer this book to support you in becoming the most trustworthy, flexible and intuitive gardener-parent you can be."

This book is one of my favorites I've ever read. The cover is as beautiful as it is enticing. I immediately knew this book would be important in my life without having read a single part of the description. Some other things that I enjoyed in the book: I loved that in "Mindfulness Awareness Practice # 7: Body Scan" that the crown chakra was actively used, without ever being mentioned by name, which I think makes this book perfect and accessible to people of all paths, practices and states of consciousness. I also enjoyed the way the authors broke this practice down. I've seen many versions of this and this was the most simple and effective one I've come across. I also loved the "Mindful Awareness Practice #14: Wise Elder Visualization." It is original and is now my go-to practice in any situation that I find stressful or difficult. I had tears reading Shauna's beach story, and have never felt more pull towards wanting to start my own family than the desire I felt completing it. Many times I stopped reading, called in Peter, and read passages to him. He enjoyed them so much that he asked me if he could read aloud to me, and did so with a grin on his face the entire time. We'd pause, sparked by the immense wisdom, and would have wonderful discussions and visualizations of our future family together, and then we'd eagerly turn back to reading more!

This is the honestly the hardest book review I've had to write, because it's that remarkable and important. There is so much more I want to add, but especially I want to add a thank you to the authors for writing it. I am so grateful for the existence of this book-it will bring harmony to the world.… (mehr)