A psychologist with a reputation for penetrating to the heart of complex parenting issues joins forces with a physician and bestselling author to tackle one of the most disturbing and misunderstood trends of our time -- peers replacing parents in the lives of our children.
Dr. Neufeld has dubbed this phenomenon peer orientation, which refers to the tendency of children and youth to look to their peers for direction: for a sense of right and wrong, for values, identity and codes of behaviour. But peer orientation undermines family cohesion, poisons the school atmosphere, and fosters an aggressively hostile and sexualized youth culture. It provides a powerful explanation for schoolyard bullying and youth violence; its effects are painfully evident in the context of teenage gangs and criminal activity, in tragedies such as in Littleton, Colorado; Tabor, Alberta and Victoria, B.C. It is an escalating trend that has never been adequately described or contested until Hold On to Your Kids. Once understood, it becomes self-evident -- as do the solutions.
Hold On to Your Kids will restore parenting to its natural intuitive basis and the parent-child relationship to its rightful preeminence. The concepts, principles and practical advice contained in Hold On to Your Kids will empower parents to satisfy their children's inborn need to find direction by turning towards a source of authority, contact and warmth.

"Something has changed. One can sense it, one can feel it, just not find the words for it. Children are not quite the same as we remember being. They seem less likely to take their cues from adults, less inclined to please those in charge, less afraid of getting into trouble.Parenting, too, seems to have changed. Our parents seemed more confident, more certain of themselves and had more impact on us, for better or for worse. For many, parenting does not feel natural. Adults through the ages have complained about children being less respectful of their elders and more difficult to manage than preceding generations, but could it be that this time it is for real? -- from Hold On to Your Kids

"From the Hardcover edition.

Reviews

Clinical psychologist Neufeld and health clinic physician Mat? (When the Body Says No) offer readers much more than simple platitudes in this excellent book. The problem: today's kids are more peer- than parent-oriented and are not manageable or teachable. Furthermore, the unconditional love and acceptance they crave is completely absent from their peer relationships. According to the authors, parents need to take the lead in reestablishing the cherished connection they once had with their children as infants. They suggest seven principles of natural discipline, directives that include staying attached; keeping connected; never using separation techniques, anger, or impulses to "punish" the child; and never focusing on a child's behavior, no matter how horrible it may be. All the nagging, time outs, reward charts, and tough love commonly prescribed to parents should be replaced with the process of "collecting," or reengaging with, their children. This book, much like Patricia Hersch's A Tribe Apart, maintains that peer attachment, or "tribalization," is leading to a society no one wants-where teen depression, bullying, aggression, and suicide are almost commonplace, too many children are capable yet completely unmotivated, and high schools resemble prisons. Highly recommended.-Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

"Hold on to Your Kids blows in from Canada like a Blue Northern, bringing us genuinely new ideas and fresh perspectives on parenting. The authors integrate psychology, anthropology, neurology and their own personal and professional experiences as they examine the 'context' of parenting today. This is a worthy book with practical implications for mom and dad."
--Dr. Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and The Shelter of Each Other
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""Hold on to Your Kids is visionary book that goes beyond the usual explanations to illuminate a crisis of unrecognized proportions. The authors show us how we are losing contact with our children and how this loss undermines their development and threatens the very fabric of sociey. Most importantly they offer, through concrete examples and clear suggestions, practical help for parents to fulfill their instinctual roles. A brilliant and well written book, one to be taken seriously, very seriously."
--Peter A. Levine Ph.D., International teac