Synopses & Reviews
The Natural Child makes a compelling case for a return to attachment parenting, a child-rearing approach that has come naturally for parents throughout most of human history. In this insightful guide, parenting specialist Jan Hunt links together attachment parenting principles with child advocacy and homeschooling philosophies, offering a consistent approach to raising a loving, trusting, and confident child.
The Natural Child dispels the myths of "tough love," building baby's self-reliance by ignoring its cries, and the necessity of spanking to enforce discipline. Instead, the book explains the value of extended breast-feeding, family co-sleeping, and minimal child-parent separation.
Homeschooling, like attachment parenting, nurtures feelings of self-worth, confidence, and trust. The author draws on respected leaders of the homeschool movement such as John Taylor Gatto and John Holt, guiding the reader through homeschool approaches that support attachment parenting principles.
Being an ally to children is spontaneous for caring adults, but intervening on behalf of a child can be awkward and surrounded by social taboo. The Natural Child shows how to stand up for a child's rights effectively and sensitively in many difficult situations. The role of caring adults, points out Hunt, is not to give children "lessons in life" but to employ a variation of The Golden Rule, and treat children as we would like to have been treated in childhhood.
Review
"I had grown jaded with the flood of parenting books, but The Natural Child is a rare and splendid exception. I think it magnificent; truly, simply, to the point; written with admirable clarity and economy; and of enormous importance at this time of crisis. I can't praise it sufficiently. I will surely sing its praises wherever I speak, and hope it sells a million. It could make an enormous difference were it read widely enough, and I thank you for publishing it." Joseph Chilton Pearce, The Magical Child
Review
"Jan Hunt envisions a different world for children, and her writing shows parents how to create that world. In prose that is at the same time eloquent and simple, she provides a mix of useful parenting tips that are supported by the philosophy that children reflect the treatment they receive. This is no less than an impassioned plea for the future not only our childrens future, but the future of our way of life on this planet." Wendy Priesnitz,
Editor, Natural Life Magazine
Review
"Jan Hunt is a most diligent, energetic, and well-informed person with regard to children's issues. She is one of the few people who understands and can write about the real needs of children as opposed to the rationalized needs of parents in relation to their children. Moreover, she can do this in an engaging fashion that does not put parents off. For the sake of children everywhere, I hope that her book is widely read and taken to heart." Dr. Elliott Barker, Director, Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Review
"
The Natural Child is a collection of engaging and instructive essays by Jan Hunt. The essays primarily deal with the difficulties between children and those who care for them. They cover a wide variety of issues, many of which have long been the subject of controversy and debate by child care authorities.
The author makes it obvious that she is a firm believer in attachment parenting, and in the importance of empathizing with children and responding to them with concern, protection, and tenderness. Her essays are grounded in a sound knowledge of child development and her own personal experience as a mother and a child-care professional. They are some of the finest examples in print of how a nurturing attitude to children can lead to appropriate and sane solutions to most of the common conflicts between children and their caretakers. The essays are written in a concise, uncomplicated, and practical style. Ms. Hunt does not fall into the trap, as many authors of parenting books do, of taking sides as to whose needs are more important-child or mother. Her view can be described as an understanding that child and mother are a collaborative unit which functions at its best when the mother is provided with security, care and help from others, including her mate, family, community, and society.
We live at a time when many Westernized nations do not value, or give priority and support to mothers to nurture their newborn. In fact, the conventional infant and child rearing practices in such cultures more often discourage a nurturing attitude and a caring response to infants and young children. Obviously, this is not the case with Jan Hunt. She is above all a teacher. Her essays teach us about the importance of nurturing in children's lives, how to think and act as a nurturing person, and how a nurturing response in the moment benefits child and parent, and in the long run, all of us." James Kimmel, Ph.D.
Synopsis
The Natural Child is the instruction manual that should have come with your child.
Derek Markham, ecoBrain
The Natural Child makes a compelling case for a return to attachment parenting, a child-rearing approach that has come naturally for parents throughout most of human history. In this insightful guide, parenting specialist Jan Hunt links together attachment parenting principles with child advocacy and homeschooling philosophies, offering a consistent approach to raising a loving, trusting, and confident child. The Natural Child dispels the myths of -tough love, - building baby's self-reliance by ignoring its cries, and the necessity of spanking to enforce discipline. Instead, the book explains the value of extended breast-feeding, family co-sleeping, and minimal child-parent separation.
Homeschooling, like attachment parenting, nurtures feelings of self-worth, confidence, and trust. The author draws on respected leaders of the homeschool movement such as John Taylor Gatto and John Holt, guiding the reader through homeschool approaches that support attachment parenting principles.
Being an ally to children is spontaneous for caring adults, but intervening on behalf of a child can be awkward and surrounded by social taboo. The Natural Child shows how to stand up for a child's rights effectively and sensitively in many difficult situations.
The role of caring adults, points out Hunt, is not to give children -lessons in life--but to employ a variation of The Golden Rule, and treat children as we would like to have been treated in childhhood.
Jan Hunt is the Director of The Natural Child Project, Coordinator of the Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in British Columbia, and on the Board of Directors for Attachment Parenting International. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.
Synopsis
It shouldn't hurt to be a child!
About the Author
Jan Hunt is the Director of The Natural Child Project, Coordinator of the Canadian Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in British Columbia, and on the Board of Directors for Attachment Parenting International. She has been featured on CNN Headline News and Yahoo.com and contributes to Mothering, Growing Without Schooling, and Readers Digest. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.