Book Review - Stop Reacting and Start Responding™ (Sharon Silver)

~ Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 9:53 AM ~

Few weeks ago, I posted about this awesome Stop Reacting and Start Responding™ campaign and that I'll be following up that post with my review on the e-book which I received as part of my participation in the campaign. So here goes:

Bedtime

Title: Stop Reacting and Start Responding™
Author: Sharon Silver

Publisher:  One Voice Publishing
ISBN: 9780983156109
Ebook: 224 pages

Description from the product page:
"There are many wonderful books out there sharing new ways to parent. The question is, “Do you have the emotional capacity, or time, to read about a new method when you’re in the middle of a whirlwind of anger or reactions?”  Stop Reacting and Start Responding™ addresses that issue.

When a parent is involved in a whirlwind of emotions, anger or reactions, it’s hard to think. Being too emotional to think also makes it difficult to search for answers to change what’s going on so you can arrive at a calmer outcome. Stop Reacting and Start Responding™:
* Is a no-nonsense, reality-based book written in the “blog” style, using short, concise tips
* Offers quick reminders of what to do when a par­ent and/or child is reacting
* Tackles the emotions that are produced during the everyday situations that
* parents face
* Explores a different way to look at situations, and shares a new perspective that ignites a parent’s own wisdom, allowing them to resolve situations calmly, lovingly, and firmly
* Allows parents to enjoy the read and then use it as a tool to remind and support them when they or their child are reacting

A per­fect example would be, when a child says, “No!” A lot of parenting information only addresses how to stop a child from saying “No!” Stop Reacting and Start Responding™ explores why a child might be saying “No!” and shows a parent how to acknowledge those emotions, while teaching the child what they should be doing instead.  And does it all without punishment.
"

This book is for parents with children from ages 1 to 10. I love the title! Stop Reacting and Start Responding! That's the way how us, parents should do!

Plus, this book is very easy to read! I like that the book  is divided  into 15 chapters and from each chapters, it's further described into situations that parents encounter on a daily basis. You can just flip over to any pages and you'll bound to identify with one of the many situations yourself and learn from it!

I like the tips on giving our children choices (two choices only of both are approved by ourselves, that way, either choice our child choose is still OK with us!),  not ignoring our child (as it will let them think they need to do more things to get our attention!), how to handle children's tantrums, the importance of our tone of voice when disciplining our child and so on. I do however feel that some of the situations given are not applicable to me yet.

In my opinion, the "Stop Reacting and Start Responding™" is a good choice for parents to learn more about how they can respond to their child in a positive way!

You can get this book from http://www.proactiveparenting.net/the_book.

** Disclosure: I am a participant in a Living My MoMent campaign for Proactive Parenting™ and have received the e-book Stop Reacting and Start Responding™ by Sharon Silver as part of my participation.

All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

DIY Chinese New Year Lantern Style #1

~ Posted on Monday, January 17, 2011 at 9:18 AM ~

Chinese New Year (aka CNY) is coming in a few weeks time! Few days earlier, I was inspired with this photo I saw on my cousin in-law's house. She homemade this very pretty lantern and hung it in her house and I was like 'oh man... I want one of those too!' But reality check... I don't think I could try that out so fast (cos it requires 30 pieces of red packets to do it) and I really don't want to waste that many red packets in my 1st attempt, so I Googled around and found some ideas to experiment.

Here goes my DIY Chinese New Year Lantern Style #1:

What you need is: 8 pieces of red packets (or what we Chinese called 'Ang Pows'), stapler, scissors, cellophane tape and a piece of string.

Take 1 red packet, ensure the front is facing you,
fold in the 2 top corners until they meet.
Repeat with the bottom & for the other 7.
Take 4 of the red packets, arrange them
with the folded edges & staple the corners together.
Repeat with the other 4 red packets.
WIth both the top & bottom of the lantern, 
line up the folded edges & staple them together.
Don't worry if your lantern looks weird,
they will eventually close up together.
I actually use the cellophane tape to close
the gaps in between the edges of the red packets.
If you want, you can put in a string through the
hole so that you can hang the lantern!

The results? TADAAAAAAA!!!

Stay tuned as I will post another style of making this lantern soon! Hope you enjoy my simple tutorial!

12 at 22...

~ Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 9:33 AM ~

Not sure what's with the hands behind his back while weighing himself...

12kg at 22 months old now...

According to the Growth Chart website, Ben is at the 50th percentile for his weight and height..

I'm not too concerned with his weight or height anyway, he's active and healthy and that's what any parents ever asked for!