The Parenting Breakthough

by Merilee Brown Boyack

A real life plan to teach your kids to work, save money, and be truly independent.

Genres: Parenting

219 pages

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was awesome. the only thing keeping it from being a full 5 stars for me is the fact that i finished the book exhausted just from THINKING about all the mental and physical work it will take to train my children to be capable, responsible and contributing members of society when they grow up. hahahaha.

in all seriousness, though, this book is the embodiment of my personal ideals for how i would LIKE my children to turn out. she emphasizes at the beginning that this is not a child behavior or discipline book but instead a step by step approach to teaching kids all the things they need to know how to do by the time they're grown as well as when they should be old enough to handle the "training." of course, anything you may want to modify for your own family or personal situation can be done wherever needed.

thanks to this book, i have now convinced ethan and grace that they are both old enough to be able to make their own breakfasts and lunches and furthermore they have actually been doing it! i like how boyack approaches teaching these skills as "training" sessions with follow-up practices. i also like how she says that it's not just the mom who can do all the training.

the section on allowances was also really eye-opening for me especially since i have always been somewhat conflicted on whether or not my kids need/should have an allowance. the way they have approached it in their family makes a lot of sense to me and it is definitely something we will be implementing. (basically they get allowance from age 5 to age 12 when they are cut-off from monthly allowance and are then given a school/clothing allowance for the year. the amount of allowance is their age in dollars per month. so 5 dollars a month for a 5 year old and so on.) i like the idea that even young kids can learn how to manage their money and how to pay tithing and learn to save as well.

i will definitely be using this as my handbook for many years to come.

[Amber]

Good Book on the basics of parenting. Real focus on teaching kids life skills and how to work. The part I liked the best is the age-appropriate things they should be able to accomplish-like by age 6 they should be able to scrub a toilet and unload the dishwasher. Has a good section on setting individual and family goals. I am really going to try and work on some of these things over the summer like she suggests.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives you a plan for raising independent children. Jobs that they can perform at each age.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. So many great ideas to teach independence. Now I just need to implement them.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Parenting book for the LDS crowd with lots of practical ideas. Her breezy tone was kind of annoying at times and it's a little outdated.

[Sharee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. When my oldest first saw me reading it and saw the front cover (a picture of a boy scrubbing a toilet) he tried to hide it from me so I wouldn't get any ideas. But when I started paying allowance as a result of my reading, he became an advocate pretty quickly. :). Lots of good ideas on how to teach your children responsibility, work, good spending and saving habits, and creating a good home environment based around the character traits and goals of your own unique family unit. I will read this again in another year or so.

[Rhonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I'd read this book years ago, before I had children. But better late than never! Changed the way I think about some aspects of childrearing. I feel there are so many useful ideas in this book, I want to give it to every parent I know and say "Look, here's a great plan for raising great kids. Read it and see what you think."

[Jodi Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The author has a great sense of humor and I felt like I related with her on many different levels. Some chapters I had an overwhelming feeling thinking how can I ever find the time and patience to teach my children to be independent, then the next chapter I felt like I could pat myself on the back and realized I am doing okay! Great job Merrilee your book was great!

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love her talk and enthusiasm at time out for Women and I have listened to her Talk on CD "Teaching children to FLY, a guide to independance"
I love the idea of training my children to one day leave my home and go on to have their own lives and actually be prepared for it.

[Kadie Bennion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this. She has some interesting ideas on her approach to parenting, which I can definitely see. I guess I had just never thought of it quite that way. I liked the idea of training your children to be independent adults - that day is going to come sooner than I like!

[Crystel]

I absolutely LOVE Merilee's books. I haven't finished this one yet, but I will. Her other books are not on here, but I have to say Strangling Your Husband Is Not An Option is my favorite of her books so far. :)

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best parenting book I have ever read. It explains how to help your kids grow up, not just watch them get bigger.

[Jerianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars. This book was really fun to read and had a lot of great ideas in it. I think it changed my life.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned SOO much from this book! VERY good application advice for many parenting difficulties.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good as far as patenting books go.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book on parenting and teaching your children to become self-sufficient.