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  • The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)

  • By: Philippa Perry
  • Narrated by: Philippa Perry
  • Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,194 ratings)
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The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) cover art

The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)

By: Philippa Perry
Narrated by: Philippa Perry
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

THE #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

From the UK's favourite therapist, as seen on Channel 4's Grayson's Art Club.

How can we have better relationships?

In this Sunday Times bestseller, leading psychotherapist Philippa Perry reveals the vital do's and don'ts of relationships. This is a book for us all. Whether you are interested in understanding how your upbringing has shaped you, looking to handle your child's feelings or wishing to support your partner, you will find indispensable information and realistic tips in these pages. Philippa Perry's sane, sage and judgement-free advice is an essential resource on how to have the best possible relationships with the people who matter to you most.

©2019 Philippa Perry (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"A wonderful book." (Richard Osman)

"So clear and true.... Helpful for all relationships in life, not just parent-child." (Nigella Lawson)

"A fascinating read on the emotional baggage we all carry." (Elizabeth Day)

What listeners say about The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Not For Me

Reading a lot of parenting books at the moment some are much better than others. This book is very judgmental and opinionated about what a parent should and shouldn’t do. I found my self agreeing with bits of the book but then getting irritated at the inflexibility around sleep and rules.
Would strongly recommend a book called ‘how to raise successful children’, much better in my opinion.

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101 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Overall a great book

Narration was great apart from the many instances when she is impersonating a baby or child. Every one of those sections are irritating and off-putting. Nevertheless the excellent content is worth enduring those bits.

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65 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent advice but focussed on young children

This is a great book and would recommend for people with babies and very young children, however as my children are no longer toddlers felt the majority had less relevance for me.

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63 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book - annoying when doing kids voices

This is a great book with a lot of great advice but the author (who is also the narrator) puts on these weird voices when reading the parts where children are speaking. There is no need to put on these weird over the top cartoonish kids voices. completely takes away from a great audiobook.

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33 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mostly liked it!

I found this book really helpful. It agreed with a lot of our approaches and gave us some really good ideas to help parent in the present and future!
My only downside was that I found the voices the author was putting on quite cringe worthy and annoying. Especially the children.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I love this book!

I can't recommend this book enough. It has been so enlightening to read and has reached me in a way no other parenting book has. I think the message in this book would be invaluable not only for parents but for educators and anyone who works with children.
Was definitely worth paying for the extra Audible feature.

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25 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Basic, Patronising

Tried hard to get into this but the style is patronising and incredibly basic. It’s like being talked to as a child.

Excruciating.

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19 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Best parenting advice ever!

I’ve read a few books on parenting and this one is the best! It doesn’t give you tips, tricks and distractions, it give you sound advice on how to connect with you baby, toddler, child etc. How to build a relationship with them and how to understand what they are going through.

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19 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Glad I read it - Wish I had read it before!

My son had issues that earned his parents a spot in a course called "Circle of Security". I recognised a LOT of the material and the book delivers it in a great way - much better than the course. I finally "get" it.

Lots of examples. It takes a bit of concentration to use the techniques described in the book but I have managed a few times and it really makes a difference. Previously, if my son was upset about something, I might have tried to point out positive aspects of a situation and thus communicate to him that bad feelings must be avoided. Now I know to respect his feelings and help him describe them. It feels unnatural to me, but it does help.

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17 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

‘...and not to be too dramatic...’

I enjoyed a lot of the first half of the audiobook. Then some of the voices started grating. Then I realised that the protestations of ‘non-judgment’ were often followed by a ‘but’ or a ‘however’ and some form of very clear value judgment. I am open to my faults and can see that I have made about as many mistakes as the average parent, but with this book seems to be aimed at new parents and I think it is extremely unfair to burden them at a time of high anxiety with such absolutes. I do not believe the rate of attempted suicides by 10 year olds justifies the story that ‘made a non-judgmental point’ about parents working long hours. It is conceivable that other factors influenced this outcome. It felt unnecessarily extreme and reductive as a theory.
I switched off the audiobook 5 minutes ago when Perry’s statement: ‘not to be too dramatic’ was followed by the (clearly TOO DRAMATIC) suggestion that too much parental mobile phone use ‘could create the kind of need in a child that leads to addiction in later life’. Huh? I listened to it twice. Unless you have a respected study with randomised controls to weed-out a gazillion other factors, this is a weak assertion. You should not bandy such outcomes around so easily. Children are innocent. I find them to be generally very resilient. They are also superb manipulators. It is not helpful to terrify parents about the damage they might do. Such a shame. I liked the start of the book.

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13 people found this helpful