BOOK | Being at Your Best When Your Kids are at Their Worst

Being at Your Best When Your Kids are at Their Worst:  Practical Compassion in Parenting When children are at their most difficult and challenging situations arise, how can we react in a way that reflects our family values and expectations? Often, when chil­dren “push our buttons,” we find ourselves reacting in ways that are far from our princi­ples, often further inflaming a situation.When our children are at their worst, they need us to be at our best—or as close to it as we can be. Educator and family counselor Kim John Payne, author of Simplicity Parenting, offers techniques that simply and directly shift these damaging patterns in communication and parental behavior. These grounded and practical strategies will help you: Slow down the interaction Be more in control of your reactions Open up a much wider range of helpful responses Sense what your child’s deeper needs are even though they are misbehaving Respond in a way that gives your child a feeling of being heard and sti