Go read the Disclaimer again. I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. Seriously.
Parenting Press publishes authors with connections to transactional analysis, and who quote transactional analysts who have had their licenses revoked (sometimes in multiple states), and in some cases have been convicted of crimes connected with their therapy practice. Parenting Press books typically quote each other. Often authors quote themselves, each other, and co-author books together. When these books refer to sources with very different approaches, they tend to quote them in a way that fails to capture the different approach, and at times constitutes out-of-context use of a source.
Parenting Press has a number of good points: they are opposed to corporal punishment. They take a problem-solving approach. They are willing to take on topics such as sexual abuse, bullying, children's feelings, and so forth. They give specific, clearly described advice at least part of the time.
Parenting Press' single largest author is Elizabeth Crary. Elizabeth and Fred Crary are the founders of Parenting Press. Their books are not primarily sold through U.S. bookstores; they sell through book clubs, and they sell foreign rights overseas.
While the titles published by Parenting Press' appear to draw from many different sources for advice, and present themselves as being road-tested and really useful, in fact they are consistently drawing from the well of behaviorism, only slightly modulated by more recent insights (or more ancient understanding, depending on your perspective). Because they fail to make good use of the idea of attachment, they often advise tactics which damage the parent-child bond, and fail to emphasize tactics that make good use of it.
Other than their opposition to corporal punishment, Parenting Press in general does not question the parental agenda, and only occasionally encourages parents to rethink their agenda. Parenting Press' description of children's development is increasingly understood to be incorrect.
Copyright 2006 by Rebecca Allen.
Created August 14, 2006 Updated August 14, 2006