Identifying a clear set of family values and rules could ensure a happier home life
Georgina Fuller finds out whether being a parent should come with a guidebook
I don?t know about you, but I devoured all the baby books I could get my hands on when I was pregnant with our first child. I highlighted all the bits I thought might be useful in Gina Ford, Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and What to Expect When You?re Expecting and mistakenly thought that would prepare me for navigating the crazy world of motherhood. How very wrong I was!
Eight years and two more children later, I had long since stopped bothering with parenting books. Until, that is, one which promised to give me solutions to overcoming whinging, arguments, uncooperativeness and tantrums (all a significant part of my day-to-day life as mum to Charlie, eight, Edward, five, and Jemima, two) landed on my desk. The Working Parents? Guide to Raising Happy and Confident Children by father of three Nadim Saad (£11.99, Best of Parenting Publishing), is based on the latest research in child psychology and leadership.
Saad, an entrepreneur with an MBA from INSEAD business school, takes the basic principles he has learned in the workplace and applies them to his family. He advises that we, as parents, should try to establish our own ?family culture? where we identify and exercise a clear set of values, for example, healthy living. First, he advises, we sit down with our partner to discuss what sort of values we think are imp...