SELF-ESTEEM: The Key to Your Child's Well-Being

by Harris & Reynold Bean Clemes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 18, 1980

Clemes and Bean offer nothing new to parents and teachers hoping to improve children's sense of self-worth. They set forth four obvious conditions of self-esteem--""connectiveness,"" uniqueness, power, and models--and describe how children deficient in any of these areas behave and might be helped. Wendy, a ""low-uniqueness"" child, is aided by a therapist who shares her own comic books and tells Wendy's parents to praise (and praise) their daughter's good points. Jeremiah lacks models--so his teacher enlists his father's aid in monitoring his homework. The authors' attempt to fit everything into their categories leads to redundance--dealing-with-grievances appears under power, for example, while resolving-fights falls under connectiveness. There's no distinction, moreover, between large and small issues: both losing a parent (through death or divorce) and trying to do a chore, uninstructed, are seen as threatening to a child's sense of models. As for suggestions, who can fault the tried and true: listen without making judgments, encourage children to take on more challenging tasks and activities? A collection of conventional wisdom, crammed into an unnecessary, ill-advised framework.

Pub Date: Feb. 18, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION