The best books for caring education

Also called “positive parenting”, benevolent parenting is becoming more and more popular. This approach is characterized by the concern of parents to put themselves in their children’s shoes to understand what they are going through and to support them in their crises, learning and development. No, it is not a question of agreeing to all the requests of the little ones or of making them child-kings, but of listening to the needs of the child. Moreover, the whole thing is based on recent research carried out in the field of neurosciences – on brain development, therefore –, and which demonstrates the importance of empathy in communication between parents and children. Several books take this approach and support parents who have chosen this educational path. Here is a selection of the most popular:

[Les résumés sont ceux des éditeurs.]

At the heart of the child’s emotions
By Isabelle Filliozat (Marabout)

All the keys to understanding and helping him weather his emotional storms. Parents are often at a loss when faced with the intensity of their child’s emotions. They willingly seek to calm them down, to silence the cries, the tears. Yet emotion has a meaning, an intention. She is healing. This very concrete book draws its examples from everyday life, helps parents understand fear, anger, joy, sadness and the need of the child to express these feelings. All this to better accompany him towards autonomy and towards more appeasement.

Talk so toddlers will listen
By Joanna Faber and Julie King (Editions du Phare)

For more than 35 years, parents have turned to the book Talk so kids will listen, listen so kids will talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish for her respectful and effective solutions to the endless challenges of raising children. Today, in response to growing demand, Adele Faber’s daughter, Joanna, in collaboration with Julie King, is adapting the communication skills of Speak so children will listen for children from 2 to 7 years old. Using a lively combination of stories and comics, Joanna Faber and Julie King present concrete tools capable of transforming the relationship with toddlers on a daily basis. The challenges and conflicts of everyday life are found there. This book is an essential first aid manual for communicating with toddlers. It will promote their autonomy, cooperation, harmonious relationships with parents, teachers, brothers, sisters and peers. It also includes a chapter on the special needs of children with sensory disorders and autism spectrum disorders.

I have tried everything! Opposition, crying and fits of rage: crossing the period from 1 to 5 years
By Isabelle Filliozat and Anouk Dubois (Marabout)

How to stop fighting with your child. Parents tend to interpret excessive or annoying behavior of children as manifestations of opposition, ill will, insolence. Some blame themselves and look for the trauma. What if there were other causes? The discoveries of neuroscience and experimental psychology shed new light on these sometimes exasperating behaviors. This book offers scientific explanations to better understand the little ones and new directions to act concretely according to their ages.

Sleep Without Tears: Sleep Science Discoveries O at 6 years…
Pair Rosa Jové (Les Arènes)

Baby sleep is a problem for many parents. Yet sleeping is a natural process. What if the recommended methods were counterproductive? This book offers a completely new approach to children’s sleep. Forget everything you knew: no, babies don’t need to “learn how to sleep”, they are born knowing how. Disciplinary rules and methods misinterpret the child’s signals and disrupt a natural physiological process. Letting a baby cry is a real danger to his brain, which secretes adrenaline and other substances in response to stress. Reassuring and warm, this book allows you to understand the sleep of toddlers and to accompany it with kindness. At the end of the book, Dr. Rosa Jové offers a “Short guide for desperate parents” with simple and practical solutions to deal with the difficulties.

Be your baby’s expert
By Mélanie Bilodeau (Midi Thirty)

In this book, Mélanie Bilodeau proposes to deconstruct several myths and popular beliefs surrounding baby development. To do this, she relies on the most recent evidence and scientific research in psychology and neuroscience, all presented in the most popular way possible (and of course with a touch of humor). This book aims to answer several major questions relating to the first year of a baby’s life. Its author does not talk about the care to be offered to him, but is rather interested in the essential role played by the significant adults who surround the child, and this, from birth. Always favoring positive parenting and caring education, this book will allow you to develop a better understanding of your baby and greater confidence in your own ability to decode it effectively. Because beyond the advice received left and right, your sensitivity and your parental instinct should always be at the center of your choices and your interventions since, in the end, you are the expert on your baby. !

For a happy childhood
By Dr Catherine Gueguen (Pocket)

The latest scientific discoveries on the development and functioning of the brain are revolutionizing our understanding of the needs of children. They demonstrate that an empathetic relationship is decisive in enabling the brains of children and adolescents to develop as well as possible, by fully deploying their intellectual and affective capacities. Catherine Gueguen shares these discoveries with us and offers educational advice for parents and professionals. A real plea in favor of a benevolent education that challenges many received ideas.

Empowering parent
By Nancy Doyon (12:30)

What is the parent’s role in their child’s great march towards self-determination? How can he accompany it with tact and sensitivity? How can he follow it, taking into account the ten main stages of his socio-emotional development? And above all, how to find the balance between a benevolent framework and an empowering approach? Long-awaited, Nancy Doyon’s new book dwells precisely on these questions and offers parents and caregivers the opportunity to discover the empowering approach, a sensitive approach, based on the knowledge and in-depth expertise of the author, a figure essential in education in Quebec.

Discover positive parenting: To be a parent from the heart
By Mitsiko Miller (Trécarré)

Cultivate wonder
By Catherine L’Écuyer (Quebec America)

Who wouldn’t like their child to be eager to learn and persevering; that he is capable of introspection, contemplation, concentration; that he shows himself grateful every day, taking nothing for granted? However, our time continues to distance him from these aspirations, to divert him from nature, from free play, from silence… In our breathless world, children slip from an early age into an environment contaminated by noises, screens, frantic rhythms. Barely three apples tall, they already have to deal with high expectations, early schooling, overloaded days. This is how the natural curiosity and peace of mind that should normally rock childhood are stifled. Cultivating wonder means offering our children fertile ground where they can quietly discover the mysteries and beauties of the world. An amazed child becomes an amazed adult, whose thirst for learning never dies.

Highly Sensitive Parents: How to Turn Emotion into an Asset
By Elaine N. Aron (The Man)

Being a parent is the most precious and rewarding role in the world, but also the most demanding, especially when you are hypersensitive. When you think deeply about each problem and experience your emotions intensely, parenthood can indeed turn into a great source of stress. Fortunately, the practical, comforting and positive advice of psychologist Elaine N. Aron, a true reference in matters of hypersensitivity, can help parents concerned to make their emotionality an asset in their daily life. Discover in this book how your exceptional ability to listen can improve your relationship with your children, promote their well-being and help you develop closer ties with them at every stage of their journey.