Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood Review

I just completed a class in college called "Classroom Management".  The entire class was about how to manage your classroom by preventing behaviors when possible and by minimizing disruption when correcting behaviors.  One of the management types or theories was called "Love and Logic".  This theory spoke directly to my heart.  Love and Logic works by creating a safe and loving environment that kids want to be in and then applying logical consequences when they make poor choices.  It didn't take long for me to decide that this would be my main classroom management theory.  When I learned that they don't just address dealing with students from a teaching perspective but they also deal with kids from a parenting perspective I was very intrigued.  

Avin is only 10 months old so his "behaviors" are pretty minimal at this stage but I have already noticed that the things I thought would work with him don't.  My family has always believed in smacking little hands to keep them out of things that could hurt them.  I just naturally fell into that pattern with Avin but it only took a few times to see 2 things very clearly 1) I would have to hit Avin much harder than I wanted to for it to deter him and 2) He seemed to be learning very clearly to hit people when they did something he didn't like but not learning to leave things alone.  About that same time a study came out showing that kids who are spanked end up being much more physically aggressive than kids who aren't spanked.  That was enough for me, spanking as a routine solution to misbehavior is no longer an option.  So with no model to go on I started seeking out a solution that made sense for the gentle, loving way I want to raise Avin. 

Love and Logic just makes sense for our family.  I called my nephews' mom and told her about Love and Logic and directed her to their website. She got online and just from reading the resources posted for free on their site she began using Love and Logic techniques. Within days she reported a huge difference in my nephews' behavior.  My nephews are 5 and 7 so I wasn't sure if Love and Logic was something that I could apply to Avin or not.  I got on the Love and Logic website and saw that they had a huge variety of materials regarding parenting kids from birth and on.  I emailed Love and Logic and requested to do a review of the book "Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood".  This book focuses on teaching parents how to use Love and Logic to raise their children from birth. 

I own a million "self help" books and I've only really read about 2 of them.  Most of the time they are so boring that I can't make it through the first chapter much less the entire book.  I fell in love with this book about two pages in.  I had taken into the bathroom with me to read while I snuck in a 15 minute soak in the tub while my husband played with the baby.  Once I started reading I couldn't quit and my 15 minute soak turned into a 2 hour reading marathon.  I read the book from start to finish while in the bathtub because I just couldn't put it down.  It is a great mix of serious information and light, humorous stories.  Everything it offers is simple, quick, and logical.  I love that it works based off of loving your kids so much that they miss you when you aren't together and allowing them to learn from their little mistakes as young children so they don't make big mistakes when they get older. 

If you are looking for a gentle but effective parenting method Love and Logic is for you!  There is no yelling, no cruel or unusual punishments, no crying it out for babies, and no spanking involved.  There is just lots and lots of love.  The book teaches you as a parent how to stay calm, cool, and collected while dealing with your kids behavior.  When you use Love and Logic it takes a lot of stress out of parenting and makes it fun again.  I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a child ages birth to 6.  I will be using Love and Logic as my parenting style. 

You can visit LoveandLogic.com for tons of FREE resources to help get you started whether you are a teacher, a parent, or both.  You can also order "Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood" and many other wonderful books there as well.