Our children can be our greatest teachers. Parenting expert Susan Stiffelman writes that the very behaviors that push our buttons - refusing to cooperate or ignoring our requests - can help us build awareness and shed old patterns, allowing us to raise our children with greater ease and enjoyment. Filled with practical advice, powerful exercises, and fascinating stories from her clinical work, Parenting with Presence teaches us how to become the parents we most want to be while raising confident, caring children.
"Shows parents how they can transform parenting into a spiritual practice."
- Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now
"Clear, wise, soulful, and poetic."
- Alanis Morissette
"I trust Susan Stiffelman with my heart, my family, and my community because she understands that parenting is not just a job but a spiritual practice. Susan comes alongside parents both as an expert and as a guide, a counselor, a friend, a healer."
- Glennon Doyle Melton, author of Carry On, Warrior and founder of Momastery.com
"An empathic tenderness runs through this wise and down-to-earth guide to parenting with greater awareness. You can feel the love that Susan Stiffelman has for the families she works with in her therapy practice and her confidence in all of us to grow into the challenges and gifts of being a parent."
- Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn, authors of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting
"With her mix of practical tools and personal stories, Susan Stiffelman shows how to create close, loving family relationships and captures just how transformational and fulfilling parenthood can be."
- Arianna Huffington, author of Thrive
"This book brings new awareness about a parenting process that increases the health of our culture itself. Recommended to all parents and parents-to-be."
- Harville Hendrix, PhD, and Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD, authors of Giving the Love That Heals: A Guide for Parents
"This is exactly the advice and support you need as a parent! Seasoned, wise, and practical, Parenting with Presence helps parents take a deep breath and tend themselves and their kids with compassion, love, and mindfulness."
- Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart, and Trudy Goodman, PhD, founder of InsightLA
"Parenting with Presence is a gentle but powerful reminder that our own awareness, our own calmness, and our ability to respond and not react to stressful situations are fundamental to raising healthy kids. . . . This is an important work."
- Tim Ryan, US Representative from Ohio and author of A Mindful Nation
"Who knew that the child or teen crying in the next room is actually our spiritual teacher? Who would have thought that annoying outbursts and provocative behavior could lead to more conscious, spiritually tuned-in, effective, even enjoyable parenting? Susan Stiffelman's groundbreaking, immensely readable guide teaches all we need to know about how to nurture our children - and ourselves - to become more conscious, compassionate, and, believe it or not, calmer human beings."
- Kathy Eldon, founder and chairman of the Creative Visions Foundation
"I stole it from my mother and devoured it! A fantastic read that should be mandatory for all parents. I cannot wait for it to come out so I can hand it out to everyone I know."
- Amy Eldon Turteltaub, cofounder of the Creative Visions Foundation and vice president of Creative Visions Productions
"One of the best parenting books I've seen in a long while. With clarity, warmth, and wisdom, Susan Stiffelman bridges the world of spiritual transformation with the down-to-earth realities of parenting. Parenting with Presence is full of insights that will set parents on a path of healing and joy. I highly recommend it!"
- Elisha Goldstein, PhD, author of Uncovering Happiness: Overcoming Depression with Mindfulness and Self-Compassion
"As a mother, I found
