Title: Parents as Talent Developers: Essential Parenting Tools of Exceptional Parents
Author: James Reed Campbell; Brenda Harewood
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1524655090
Pages: 154
Genre: Parenting
Reviewed By: Liz Konkel
Pacific Book Review
Parents as Talent Developers aims to provide parents and families with the tools they need to further the success of children. The goal of this book is to empower families, using a guide of kernels which are “the seeds needed to grow the next generation of corn.” For the sake of this book, the kernels are the seeds used to further the education and achievements of children. The information gathered comes from a research team’s trip to find high-achieving students from public schools in minority neighborhoods of Long Island and New York City, but also includes the kernels of wisdom they gathered from interviewing these children and their parents in order to discover the background for the child’s success.
Authors James Reed Campbell and Brenda Harewood have a well-organized style with a clearly laid out and professional structure, which includes charts and lists that give a visual aid. The writing is easy to understand and the advice is clear and straightforward with a lot of kernels which can be fitted to anyone’s life. A lot of the advice stands out, but the primary objections for success center on education, communication, and spending time as a family.
Parents as Talent Developers succeeds in the strength of its tips and honestly which sets up advice that can be used to create the best growing conditions for children. Tailored for a modern family, the advice takes into consideration the monitoring of television and social media, so its tips that can be related to by any family and how they can put education first in a technology dominate world.
The main goal is “the key for a successful life,” which begins by teaching children school is important. Education is highly valued and it is the hopes of this parenting guide to further success for every child. Communicate with your children by reviewing what they did that day, that week, and set up homework times to keep them on track. Dedication to staying invested and supportive is key, along with showing an interest in your children’s lives and interests away from home. Campbell and Harewood pull forth tips which feel like gentle reminders to take a hold of your life and your children’s. It’s nice to see a guide that is clear about what they view as the difference between pressuring children onto a certain path and supporting what they really want to do.
The advice Campbell and Harewood share not only help you with how to get your children to live a successful life, but give good kernels for your own successful life. Advice such as “don’t be satisfied when you have the ability to do better” stands out because it encourages you to never settle and to always work hard to achieve high goals. Their kernels really give a sense of empowerment as each kernel of wisdom helps take charge of one’s own life, by reminding you that a “successful person learns how to turn negatives into positives.” This and many more tips can be found. Parents as Talent Developers is full of helpful tips and advice that not only can help families with ways to communicate and encourage children to value education in order for all to have a good life.
