Your Competent Child: Toward New Basic Values for the Family - Hardcover

Juul, Jesper

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374527334 ISBN 13: 9780374527334

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2001

Synopsis

Juul (family therapist, director of the Kempler Institute of Scandinavia, and Family Counseling International in Croatia) believes that the concept of "family" is undergoing an exciting transformation. The traditional hierarchical family structure based on destructive values obedience, physical and emotional violence, conformity is being replaced by a new structure, which advocates dignity and reciprocity between parent and child, and assumes the belief that children are born competent to express their feelings and eager to cooperate. Juul uses examples from families around the world to illustrate his theories about how parents and children can more effectively develop together as families. Accessible to a broad audience. Translated from Danish. No subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

About the Author

Jesper Juul, born in Denmark in 1948, is a family therapist. He is the director of the Kempler Institute of Scandinavia, a center for family therapy, and Family Counseling International in Croatia. He divides his time between Copenhagen and Zagreb.

Reviews

"We often think and act as if our relationship with children is a one-way street on which the traffic flows from us to them," notes Danish family therapist Juul, who champions a brave new family dynamic in this thoughtful multicultural and multinational analysis. From birth, he contends, children are "fully humanDthat is, they are social, responsive, and empathic," and over the past 30 years, in particular, they have become "less fearful and respectful of authority." Far from interpreting this trend as a breakdown in traditional values, however, Juul sees it as a healthy progression. Tracing the evolution of the family from the totalitarian power structure that has been in place for centuries toward what he calls the "post-democratic family," in which each individual is taken seriously and "the quality of decision making is accorded more importance than the decision itself," Juul sees humanity at a crossroads. He describes a new structure that is less about power struggles and violence ("an insult to any person's integrityDincluding children's") and more about dialogue and the responsible use of power, as well as about a core concept of "equal dignity." Although the book is more of a social analysis, Juul's helpful ideas and guidelines for parents make for an inspiring how-to manual for anyone interested in creating families "in which every individual can grow and prosper." Placed along with other parenting titles, this book will find an empathetic readership. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374527334
• ISBN 13: 9780374527334
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260