"Intentional Parenting: Autopilot is for Planes" by Sissy Goff, David Thomas and Melissa Trevathan

If you're looking for a parenting book on dealing with your child's disobedient and disrespectful nature, this book is for you! But it's not what you might expect. I think too often parents think their children's behavioral problems and disobedience have only to do with their children, but that's just not so. How our children act has everything to do with us as parents! Children thrive on our attention, praise, the way we speak to them and the one-on-one time we offer them.

"Intentional Parenting: Autopilot is for planes" is written by three family counselors who run Daystar Counseling in Nashville Tennessee. Sissy Goff, MEd, LPC-MHSP, is the counseling director for children and adolescents and is the author of five books. David Thomas, LMSW, is the counseling director for men and boys, frequently speaking on television and radio shows, and also an author of five books. Melissa Trevathan, MRE, is the founder and executive director of Daystar Counseling Ministries, speaks to various churches and schools, and has been a guest on popular television and radio programs throughout the US and Cananda.

These authors clearly know their stuff and give wise advice on how to encourage, teach, be consistent, merciful and playful parents. (And that is only a preview of the topics they will discuss!)  One of my favorite chapters was entitled "Being a Playful Parent." Sometimes as parents, we get so caught up in our day-to-day responsibilities, and spending time instructing and teaching our children that we forget to just play with them. Of course all of that other stuff is important too, but let me give you an example of why I think this is so important. Right after reading this chapter, I asked my 6 year old to think of something...anything she wanted to do the next day that we could do together at our house. (It was bedtime when I asked her.) Her eyes instantly lit up and she gathered a pen and paper and began making her list. She returned to me after just a few minutes with her list. It included a 5 or 6 simple activities that she would love to do together...Put together a fashion show with her fanciest clothes, have an indoor picnic, and play with her stuffed animals just to name a few.

This book offers great advice on parenting toddlers, children and teens although I feel like it may have been aimed more at teens than any of the other age groups. I assumed this is because parents tend to have the most problems parenting at that age. And it was still an enjoyable read for me even though my girls are still fairly young (6 years and 1 year) because my girls will eventually be teens too.

I rated this book as 5 stars and would recommend it to other parents I know!

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