A Powerful Lesson on Unconditional Love and How to Raise Happy Children “A must for every family library.”— USA Today This collection of essays offers a gentle guide on how to put your love into daily actions.  A parent’s calling is to raise a person. By making loving actions part of your life, you have the power to build the kind of family unit most people long for.  Wonderful Ways to Love a Child  is filled with true stories of parents and children who are nurturing strong and loving families. The book provides the support that empowers you to be the parent you want to be and expands your parenting skills. No simple tricks.  Cultivating a loving relationship with your child demands integrity, compassion, and emotional honesty. It is a forever commitment to continuous loving actions–even when you are too tired. This low-stress approach to positive parenting produces children with high self-esteem. This is how children succeed. A perfect gift for new parents.   Wonderful Ways to Love a Child  is a prescription to strengthen family bonds that will last a lifetime. There are many different parenting styles–this one is based in love and logic, and positive discipline. Learn to put yourselves in your children’s shoes–and have fun in the process. In this book you’ll discover guides to: Loving yourself and allowing your child to love themselves - Giving the gift of your presence and being open to the miracle of transformation - Saying yes as often as possible, and knowing when to say no - Teaching that all feelings are acceptable and making room for the Crankies - Delighting in silliness by laughing, dancing and singing together - Teaching values by example - Other essential tools to ensure a loving, lasting friendship with your children–and make them want to come visit when they are older If you enjoyed parenting books such as  How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and How to Listen so Kids Will Talk ,  1-2-3 Magic , or  Parenting with Love and Logic , you’ll love  Wonderful Ways to Love a Child . “ Wonderful Ways to Love a Child is a beautiful guide to aid parents in cultivating love, understanding, respect, and kindness in the most important relationship they will ever have—the one with their child.” —Amanda Ford, author of Be True to Yourself and Retail Therapy “A must for every family library.” — USA Today “A beautiful and moving guide to connecting with your child. I buy this for all my parental friends!” —Becca Anderson, author of The Book of Awesome Women “If you don't have a child, surprise someone who does and give them a copy of this book. They'll love you for it!” — The New Times Judy Ford is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with heart and soul, who has been studying love and relationships for over three decades. Her work has been featured in Oprah Magazine , Family Circle , Women's World , Cosmopolitan , Glamour , Woman's Day , and more. With compassion and candor, she inspires us to persevere through life’s challenges and to share our gifts with others. For more, visit www.judyford.com Amanda Ford is a young, vibrant writer with a talent for uncovering extraordinary meaning in everyday events. Amanda's work has been featured in publications such as Real Simple, Glamour, The Chicago Tribune , and The Seattle Times . Speak Kindly Like adults, children respond well to kindness. While what you say and the tone of your voice indicates how you are feeling, your child will interpret your words and tone as direct messages about his own self-worth. So speak gently and kindly, and your children will listen. There's no need to sound like an old shrew to get their attention. Stop yelling. Shouting at children or to your spouse creates tension in the air, bad vibes around the house, and noise pollution in your head. It is not a good idea. Don't preach, nag, lecture, or pontificate either. Stop all the harping and blaming. Drop all criticism both direct or disguised. Don't bully, scream, call names, or threaten. For some of us, this is much easier to say than to do. We grew up in families that screamed and shrieked, blamed, and poked fun at one another, so it feels almost natural to do it. I suggest to parents with that kind of history that they stop before the harsh words come out and ask themselves, “If this child were me, how would I like to be spoken to?” Maggie was worried sick when Joel, eight years old, who was supposed to be playing at the neighbor's, could not be found. She searched high and low, called everyone, and yelled for him. By the time he came walking up the street two hours later, she was in tears. She was so relieved she wanted to hug him, scold him, take him in her arms, and threaten him so he would never do that again. Wisely, instead she gently took his hand, walked silently for a block, and then asked, “Where were you, Joel?” “Didn't you get the message on the answering machine?” he replied. “Ben's dad took us to play basketball. We saw a dog get hit by a car and took it to