| Children grow up naturally, but parents must learn how to parent. Parentsí Lives, Childrenís Needs spells out the developmental challenges facing parents at each stage of their childrenís growth. The author presents stories of her own parenting life and those of the many families she has mediated and counseled. Laced through the storytelling is a framework for parenting with kindness and communication, using specific steps for empowering children and working through conflict constructively. Finally, the author offers concrete advice for negotiating the super-packed tasks facing todayís parents. Central to the approach is guidance for building supportive relationships with other adults, as well as with other children. |
| Dr. Beth Roy has served as a mediator, counselor, and trainer for over three decades. She teaches conflict resolution at the University of California, Berkley, where she received her doctorate in Sociology in 1991. She is a founder and director of the Practitioners Research and Scholarship Institute (PRASI). Using lenses of storytelling and oral history, she researches issues in social conflict. Her earlier books include Some Trouble with Cows; Making Sense of Social Conflict and Bitters in the Honey: Tales of Hope and Disappointment across the Divides of Race and Time. She has parented two sons, both living rich and rewarding lives. |
“Beth Roy brings the same keen insights to the dance of parenting that she demonstrates in her other books. She emphasizes sound principles of communication and conflict resolution , resulting in an approach to parenting that is both global and very practical. Addressing the isolation of parents in the US, Roy examines the process of parenting in the context of culture, race, gender, class, history, and ideology. In this book Roy effectively articulates the aspirations of parents who want to raise children of conscience in a world that feels increasingly self centered and superficial. She manages to support and inspire the idealist in us, while challenging our deeply embedded cultural notions of parenting. Roy offers a model of parenting based on listening to othersí stories, trusting ones own perceptions, and living in community. As a mother who raised five daughters, I can testify that parenting is the most difficult AND the most important work in the world. Roy ís honest, sensitive, and commonsensical approach enables parents to make this monumental task much more enjoyable.”
—Mary Adams Trujillo, Professor of Communication, Northpark University, Chicago
"In this clearly written and engaging book Beth Roy helps parents cope gracefully and thoughtfully with the many risks of bringing up children.” She knows we live in a world that can be lonely, pressured, and antagonistic to the needs of family life, and tells us some of the ways people she has known have managed to come through despite these challenges. Reading Dancing with Children is like sitting with a favorite, wise aunt, and hearing her tell what she's learned about raising kids. ”The reader remembers to hope and relaxes, because there's good stuff to be learned from this writer.”
—Sydney Gurewitz Clemens, Early Childhood Consultant and Author, San Francisco
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