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Real Parenting Advice: What They Won’t Tell You About Parenting

Are you looking for real parenting advice? Practical, down-to-earth tips that work and are realistic to use on a day-to-day basis? Then I’ve got a book for you! I also recommend this post featuring what my children taught me over my first ten years of parenting.

What They Won't Tell You About Parenting - honest, practical, down-to-earth parenting advice.

What They Won’t Tell You About Parenting

I feel like parenting coach Tom Limbert’s What They Won’t Tell You About Parenting is written for parents who hate parenting books – although you should still read it if you are a parenting book geek like me. His book is full of pop culture references. I missed a few of those, as a not-hip person who was raised as a third culture kid without a television and who still doesn’t own one. His advice is sound, and the book overall intrigued me enough to check out his parenting site. If Mike were a sports fan, I would buy him Limbert’s other book, Dad’s Playbook: Wisdom for Fathers from the Greatest Coaches of All Time in a heartbeat. Actually, Mike loves sports movies, so maybe I should get it for him even if he never watches actual athletic events.

Favorite Parenting Advice from the Book

This is a parenting book worth reading! Here are some of my favorite bits of advice.

Parents Need to Teach and Lead

I love Limbert’s vision of parents as teaching leaders who are mindfully shaping the next generation. Over and over he reminds us that our children take their behavioral cues from us. We need to model the behavior we want to see in our children.

Emotional Intelligence

I still remember how transformational it was for me to read Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence as a senior in college. Limbert’s book includes straightforward advice on how to be an emotionally intelligent parent so that your children can build the emotional intelligence they need.

Be Grateful

Parenting is one of the toughest, most thankless jobs out there. Sometimes this means that we forget how intangibly rewarding parenting can be. Approaching parenting with gratitude will transform your life. Take the time to discover the things about your child that make life amazing. Focus on building and expanding those areas, instead of dwelling on the things that are hard.

The Somewhat Magical Formula

You really need to read the book to get this, but Limbert’s formula truly is somewhat magical (love that grounded-ness – nothing works ALL the time). His phrase, “It’s OK to feel ____, but it’s not OK to ____.” is pure gold.

Embrace Mistakes

As parents, we all make a lot of mistakes. Limbert’s advice here is my favorite quote from the book: “Made a mistake? How fortunate. It’s an opportunity to teach and learn.”

What parenting insights have you gained on the job that nobody told you about going in? 

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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

7 thoughts on “Real Parenting Advice: What They Won’t Tell You About Parenting”

  1. My biggest insight, LOL, is trust your own judgement when it comes to your kids and how to raise them. That trumps even what your pediatrician says!

  2. You’re right that statement is pure gold.

    Now that I’m thinking about it Jeff doesn’t really like sports, but he also enjoys sports movies. Probably because they’re usually about the under dog winning.

  3. Elisa | blissful E

    You do an excellent job of modelling gratitude in parenting – it’s one of the many things I admire about you! “It’s ok to feel _____ but not ok to do ______” is one of the things I strive to get across to my children (strengthening our will rather than following our emotions), and I will be borrowing his way of putting it so succinctly.

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