From Fear To Love: Parenting Difficult Adopted Children By B. Bryan Post

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In his 2010 book From Fear To Love: Parenting Difficult Adopted Children, B. Bryan Post, PhD brings to the reader a new approach for dealing with difficult children. Though a relatively short read at 116 pages, Dr. Post is able to educate the reader regarding his development, The Stress Model™ (Post, B., 2010, p. 39), and give them new tools for working with children. Initially written for those individuals who foster or have adopted children, the behavior modification concepts and techniques can be applicable to any child who is having behavioral problems. Post describes the concepts as “part of a new parenting paradigm” (Post, 2010, Introduction, p. xix). In the introduction, Dr. Post defines a paradigm (via Dictionary.com) as: “A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them” (Post, 2010, Introduction, p. xix). What are the previous paradigms, and what is this new revolutionary approach that he has created? The previous assumption …show more content…

There are only two states for this: surviving and thriving. A “feeling,” however, is the cognitive perception of an emotional state” (Post, 2010, p.1). He goes on to discuss the basic elements of love, which include: patience, understanding, tolerance, acceptance, mindfulness and flexibility. The foundation for building a new relationship with a difficult child is to come to the realization that the child was not placed into your life by God for you to make them what you want them to be; it is to “protect, guide, and encourage him as God molds them into what God wants them to be” (p. 3). I believe this to be an important observation, as most of us have a tendency to want to mold our children into our likeness, rather than allowing God to mold them into

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