Your Competent Child: Toward New Basic Values for the Family

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)

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.