What Kids Want and Need From Parents (Paperback)

What Kids Want--And Need--From Parents is truly a seminal book in parenting.

It begins with one man's 50-year journey to discover a better way to prepare American kids for life and culminates with the amazing discovery: the biggest factor in children's success in life turns out to be dependent on how their parents deal with their own childhood!

Teacher Joe Gauld sets out to change American education in the 60s, founding the Hyde School in Bath, Maine, committed to the idea every student is gifted with a unique potential. But by tracking Hyde graduates in life, he finds parenting a much larger influence on their later lives than schooling. So in 1974, he begins a program to regularly address parental growth and family issues.

Hyde's extraordinary ability to bond family and school receives national media attention, and Hyde grows into a network of seven private and public schools, plus a national Hyde Biggest Job(R) parent program.

Joe increasingly centers his work on families, finding parenting heavily influenced by how parents were raised. So parents' learning how to effectively deal with both the negative as well as the positive aspects of their upbringing becomes critical to effective parenting. Joe carefully leads the reader through this dynamic and ground-breaking parenting process.

While my family's three years at Hyde was a struggle, it forced me to open my eyes and eventually it changed my life. In retrospect, I wish I had the benefit of Joe Gauld's wisdom earlier. Our role as a parent and mentor is to draw out and demand our children's best. It requires that we make the same demand of ourselves, and there are powerful obstacles. Joe Gauld uses his family and other Hyde families as case studies that show us how to overcome these obstacles and establish meaningful bonds with our children. I've said many times that the world would be a better place if we all had the benefit of a Hyde experience. A good place to start is to absorb the wisdom in WHAT KIDS WANT--AND NEED--FROM PARENTS.

- Robert Krebs, Former CEO, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads

Today more than ever before, experts understand the overriding primacy of emotional dispositions to student outcomes. A smaller, but still significant number, has grasped that student dispositions are largely determined by those of their parents. But only Joe Gauld has realized, tested and proved that the essential requirement for rapid and lasting student character development and scholastic improvement is parents who are diligently working to improve their own emotional intelligence. Through this indispensable book you'll be inspired and empowered to do the most satisfying soul-work of your life, with the promise that you and your kids will be smarter, happier and more loving.

- Raz Ingrasci, President, Hoffman Institute Foundation

The essential leadership role of parents in any family is to be a mentor for the children, always holding standards high. Joe Gauld has captured all the elements necessary to build strong, deep and lasting bonds between parents and children. If you want to lead your children to a life of purpose and excellence, start with this book.

- Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Management, University of Southern California (and former Hyde parent.)