empathy in parenting

I tell my kids "that's life". You can't always get your way or have
everything you want. There are things I would rather have or be doing, but
in life there are responsibilities and limits.


"Calla" wrote in message
om...
I just wanted to share that I have started purposely being empathetic
with my daughter (5yo) every time she gets upset or angry. The
upset/anger is often caused by my not letting her do something she
wants to do, or asking her do something she doesn't want to do. In
those situations, it is a complete turnaround for me to behave
empathetically in response to her anger or crying. I did not know
that was something I should do. By empathy, I mean that I have been
saying things like, "I'm so sorry", "I can see you are really angry",
"I can see that really hurts", "this is sad," etc. I have been so
surprised at her response. She is genuinely comforted by those words.
The empathy diffuses her anger/crying and eventualy she asks me to
tell her a joke to make her feel better.

I got to this 'empathy' idea from hearing about "Love and Logic" and
reading all of the materials posted on

http://www.loveandlogic.com/Pages/0400articles.html

I don't think "Love and Logic" is the be-all end-all parenting
technique, but just using a few of their ideas has given me some great
tools and shown me the power of empathy.

Can someone recommend a book or two on empathetic parenting & handling
behavior problems w/empathy? I probably will get one book on "Love
and Logic," but I'd like to see some other sources on this topic as
well.