A book review of How to Talk So Kids Can Learn at Home and in School: What Every Parent and Teacher Needs to Know by Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
Stars: ****
Fireside (1995)
Childcare & Family Education
272 pages
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Summary: The leading experts on parent-child communication show parents and teachers how to motivate kids to learn and succeed in school.
Using the unique communication strategies, down-to-earth dialogues, and delightful cartoons that are the hallmark of their multimillion-copy bestseller How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish show parents and teachers how to help children handle the everyday problems that interfere with learning.
This breakthrough book demonstrates how parents and teachers can join forces to inspire kids to be self-directed, self-disciplined, and responsive to the wonders of learning.
How To Talk So Kids Can Learn
Are you familiar with the bestselling book How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen so Kids Will Talk? This is the same authors. This book (and that one) were both written in the 90s. This makes it quite out of date (ouch that makes me feel old.) The listen one was updated but I couldn’t find an updated version of the learn one. Even though it’s outdated, it’s a good read. You just have to keep the year in mind. I would REALLY love to see an updated version but sadly both authors have passed.
So what makes is a good book? This book doesn’t just give advice on how to talk to your kids, it gives real examples with comic type cartoons (see image below). Walk through step by step what to say in different scenarios. Scenarios that are covered include but are not limited to:
- How to Deal with Feelings That Interfere with Learning
- Seven Skills That Invite Kids to Cooperate
- Solving Problems Together
- Praise That Doesn’t Demean, Criticism That Doesn’t Wound
- The Parent-Teacher Partnership
Although most of the book is referring to kids in school it can definitely be used for homeschoolers too.
Here is an example of one of the comics. There are TONS of these.
You would definitely need to read this book more than once, slowly to digest it and put it into practice. If you are having trouble helping your child with homework or you homeschool, this may be helpful.
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