I recently bought this book purely on the strength of the Amazon reviews, and because I was bored (holding sleeping DS, having one hand free to use the Kindle). Have been reading it (about half way through) and it reads well and seems eminently sensible. However, DS being only 9 months, I wonder how 'real life' it is. Has anybody read the book and can comment? I'd be interested to hear if you find it is an approach that works for you.
The author says that playing is how children work through things and how they communicate things. He advocates getting down on the floor with kids, and to 'follow the giggles'. He says that it is through play that children can come out of feelings of isolation and reconnect, and work through feelings of powerlessness.
One example that has been of use for us already was with DS screaming and banging his head on the table every time we tried to clean his face with a cloth after a meal. Following the book, we made a game out of it. We pretended to wipe our own faces, finding it horrible and making silly faces. Apparently this reversal of roles, where the parents are now the 'powerless' ones even if only in a game, helps the child work through the issue. Things have improved, although DS still doesn't particularly like having his face cleaned. Still, I can't say of course if it was down to the suggestion in the book or just a general thing from getting older or something. And it is a relatively minor issue, so am wondering if it is a workable approach for everyday parenting later on.
What do you think?