Louise Porter

Reading Louise Porter's book I recognised a lot of ideas from authors with whom I was already familiar, such as Faber & Mazlish, Dr Thomas Gordon, Alfie Kohn and Steve Biddulph. She advocates stepping away from authoratative discipline and directive parenting to a guidance model (known in some circles as Positive Discipline).

There are a few specifics of her approach that fall short of this ideal, and she is guilty of what a lot of psychologists do; reframing the way they look at, or talk about a basic punitive or coersive strategy to make it seem as though it is a "natural consequence" rather than a parent imposed control mechanism.

A lot of emphasis is put on having realistic expectations of children's standards of behaviour and abilities.

There is a lot of useful information in the last sections of the book dealing with children with special needs and gifts, Asperger's, ADHD, Sensory Integration disorders, physical and intellectual impairment, and physical, sexual and emotional abuse.… (meer)