I do amuse myself with the title of the blog having the word ‘Dad’ in it and now I’m doing a learning update with the word ‘Parenting’ in it. But anyway… 🙂
The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
I’ve just finished a book called ‘The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read‘ by Philippa Perry. It’s not a book I would normally read – as I have no children. But I’ve been thinking lately it is hard to find good books to read and perhaps the reason for this is the narrow range of books I’m interested in.
I’ve always been interested in psychology, but that’s been about adult psychology. I’ve never been that interested in children or child psychology. Although, that said, sometimes at family gatherings I would rather be outside playing with the children than inside making small talk with the adults.
I also like the cuteness of a baby but I do have this habit of liking a well-behaved baby. When things go pear-shaped, when the baby cries or a child shows other signs of bad behaviour, it’s time for them to go back to their parents 🙂
Reading this book made me realise more about the reasons babies and children have bad behaviour and what the best options are for these situations. One of the quotes from the book is “Behaviour is communication.”
Another interesting point from the book is that teenagers get far more excited about things than older adults. They are at the age of peak excitement. Maybe this explains why, being an older person, I don’t get so super excited about things these days.
One other concept (which is mentioned in the book) about your behaviour is that it can be shaped by your upbringing and parents tend to raise their children in the same way they were raised. The cycle repeats.
An interesting concept in the book is that relationships ‘rupture and need repairing‘. Kind of similar to when couples argue, eventually one person will have to make a ‘repair attempt‘ to stop the argument from continuing.
I feel like I got a lot out of this book in relation to communication and dealing with emotions – from the parent’s perspective and the child’s perspective. But I’m not planning on writing a complete book summary so I think I’ll leave it there.
The New Diary
Onwards to my next book, which is on a bit of a tangent. I’ve always liked journaling. I don’t do it all the time but it can really help me deal with stress and anxiety. The other key thing I use it for is to make better decisions. After a bit of research on Reddit, the next book I’ve started reading is called ‘The New Diary: How to use a journal for self-guidance and expanded creativity‘ – by Tristine Rainer.
Once I finish it, I’ll post another learning update.
Struthless YouTuber – Journaling
There is an excellent YouTube video on journaling. I’ve recommended it many times. The YouTuber named ‘Struthless’ used journaling to help fix his substance abuse issues, so he’s used it in a really practical way. He lists a large number of really useful techniques. I’ll link the video below.
The Journaling Techniques That Changed My Life
One of his techniques is answering these five daily journaling prompts.
- What excited me?
- What drained me of energy?
- What did I learn?
- What 10 things am I grateful for?
- How did I push the needle forward?
I think they are pretty interesting questions, because they cover a number of different aspects of a person’s life.
Just Do Today
The other thing I’m doing lately is using the phrase “Just do today.” I saw this phrase in some old notes I was looking at. The logic behind it relates to not living in the past or the future, just focusing on what you need to do today. People often say just live in the present moment but who can really do that. I feel it’s much easier to focus on the present day – it’s just more achievable.
A few of my students have asked me about the purpose of this blog. I’ve started writing a post about this because it’s not something I’ve thought too much about. It’ll probably be the next thing I post.
I’m always keen to hear about book recommendations, so feel free to post them in the comments below.
My local park in Melbourne. With my setup I use for outdoor student sessions.
Leave a Reply