The Heart of Parenting: How to Raise an Emotionally Intelligent Child

The Heart of Parenting: How to Raise an Emotionally Intelligent Child by Gottman, John. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780747530589.

In Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child , psychology professor John Gottman explores the emotional relationship between parents and children. Its not enough to simply reject an authoritarian model of parenting, Gottman says. A parent needs to be concerned with the quality of emotional interactions. Gottman, author of Why Marriages Succeed or Fail , and coauthor Joan Declaire focus first on the parent (a "know thyself" approach), and provide a series of exercises to assess parenting styles and emotional self-awareness. The authors identify a five-step "emotion coaching" process to help teach children how to recognize and address their feelings, which includes becoming aware of the childs emotions; recognizing that dealing with these emotions is an opportunity for intimacy; listening empathetically; helping the child label emotions; setting limits; and problem-solving. Chapters on divorce, fathering, and age-based differences in emotional development help make Gottmans teachings detailed and useful. --Ericka Lutz