But, if that really were the case, why do so many parents feel inadequate? Can being a parent really be only a combination of a few 'quick and easy' tips and techniques? Can parenting be that simple? Well, from my own experience as a parent, I would say absolutely not.
With all my years of training and experience, you would think that I am breezing through the upbringing of my own two children. With a mother like me who knows all the theory surely my children are models of the best-parented children.
Well actually, no - they are not.
I have found that if I automatically try to go to the prescriptive elements of what I know, even I, as the expert in innumerable case studies, still don't get it right with my kids.
Actually, I don't want my children to be 'perfect' little people with no spark of personality. I want them to have all those qualities in order for them to survive in this tough and exacting world. However, to get them to that point, my husband and I will have to weather the development of the stubborn streak and deal with the early rages, the sulks, the defiance, the non-compliance. We will have to because that is our role - to guide our children through these early emotional and behavioural experiences and, with compassion, to help them learn how to have those feelings and behave in a way that also allows them to live and communicate as social beings.
This is an extract from Your Child ... Your Way by Dr Tanya Byron (£10.99, Penguin, www.penguin.co.uk).
