The Big Answer

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He disdains parenting kids however one was parented oneself, unless it worked wonderfully. He warns against the use of punishment and hitting, as well as letting discipline occur while one is too angry to be reasonable. (If only those who favor punishments would read Gordon’s Discipline That Works!) Waitly warns against bribes but advocates listening to and respecting feelings (active listening is the best way), regardless of how you feel about those feelings. All feelings are acceptable, as one learns in P.E.T.—Parent Effectiveness Training.

Waitly feels that the best type of parenting is authoritative parenting, especially given the poor track record of authoritarian and permissive parenting methods. He outlines the characteristics of children that have been raised by each of the three parenting methods—the authoritative-raised kids come out way ahead. He also feels that the best type of authoritative parenting accepts the idea of win-win power sharing that is done democratically and that rejects all punishment. He especially likes the ideas of Dr. Louise Hart, the creator of Winning Family Lifeskills.