Parents Being Parents
Succinct advice encourages parents to become engaged in their children’s education.
Parents Being Parents by Livia J. Miller is a positive book filled with helpful ideas about encouraging children to learn through communication, environment, and modeling behavior.
The book begins with a discussion of the earlier years of education, when all schools offered courses like home economics, wood shop, art, and music that allowed most every student to find his or her niche. Now many of these programs are being cut, and students lack confidence and focus. Miller also mentions the way teachers must now teach to a standardized test, which she views as a downfall of education.
The writing style is conversational, making it very easy for the intended audience (mostly parents) to understand. Miller advises researching a child’s school to ensure it is meeting state standards, and she writes often of the importance of communicating with the child’s teacher. These tips will help parents set goals with their children, and will benefit students by assisting and encouraging them to succeed.
A parent and teacher with a BA in psychology and a master’s degree in cross-cultural education, Miller makes many important points, such as, “As a parent, the awesome responsibility of the child’s success begins with you.” She also writes, “Children that are surrounded by people, who care enough to set high standards, boundaries, and give positive encouragement, usually succeed in school and life.” While this statement is certainly easy to agree with, evidence to further support the author’s claim, such as quoting a study on how this was proven and what those students succeeded in, would greatly benefit the text.
Miller advises her audience to communicate with children/students and to help them find things they enjoy so that they can expand their education around those passions. However, there are no specific ideas offered about how a parent could implement definitive concepts and how they would help the child’s education. Suggested activities would make the book more user friendly.
The cover has a pastel-colored, patterned background that features a picture of a family with school-aged children. This image accurately portrays that the book is about families, but does not convey the role of parents within their child’s education.
The volume has short chapters, often two or three pages, with another two pages of questions the parents should ask themselves, which makes the book a quick read. The biggest obstacle is that the text is riddled with grammatical errors, typos, and incorrect words, as well as a few run-on sentences.
Parents Being Parents is a positive and encouraging guide for adults to help students become engaged in learning.
Reviewed by
Beth VanHouten
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
