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

About this book

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