In The Secrets of Happy Families, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler has drawn up a blueprint for modern families — a new approach to family dynamics, inspired by cutting-edge techniques gathered from experts in the disciplines of science, business, sports, and the military. Written in a charming, accessible style, The Secrets of Happy Families is smart, funny, and fresh, and will forever change how your family lives every day.
Many thanks to the author and Litfuse Publicity for providing me a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
Bruce Feiler, author of The Secrets of Happy Families, claims that 3/4 of the suggestions he offers in this book for how to improve family life will be new to most readers. Unless you are a business and team leading guru up to date with readings on small business, group dynamics, and positive psychology he’s probably right. Feiler interviewed experts in a variety of disciplines including industry, Fortune 500 businesses, the military, and professional negotiators. Counselors and family therapists responsible for most of the current family improvement literature are among those Feiler chose not to include in this manual for improved familial satisfaction. The resulting ideas are interesting ,eye opening, and may well benefit many families.
Some of Feiler’s ideas are novel for the family literature, such as developing family mission statements and resurrecting family dinner as an unnecessary pressure that can be replaced with an alternative together time. Other ideas such as morning chore charts and weekly family meetings have been discussed before, but Feiler adds new twists to these more traditionally discussed methods for family togetherness. He also describes the potential benefits and pitfalls of allowance, the importance of forming a dialogue with your children about sex versus just “a talk”, and the need for tradition, family history, and making vacation memories!
Underlying themes focus on promoting flexibility and the idea that families that want to be happy can pursue that goal via a plethora of different avenues. The most important element in successful families is that they have that desire to become and stay happy and are willing to try! This book is full of creative and inspirational ideas and comes complete with a crash course outline referred to as a toolkit for use by busy parents at the end of the book. The toolkit also serves as an excellent review and quick reference guide for implementation of several of the key ideas in the book. Some of the suggestions Felier offers may seem unusual or uncomfortable for some families to try, but the reported results are promising enough that this blogger is going to be keeping this book on her shelf for future reference. Well written and heavily researched this book promises to be an excellent read for those dedicated to creating and maintaining a happy family life!
About the Book:
Determined to find the smartest solutions and the most cutting-edge research about families, bestselling author andNew York Times family columnist Bruce Feiler gathered team-building exercises and problem-solving techniques from the most creative minds—from Silicon Valley to the Green Berets—and tested these ideas with his wife and kids. The result is a lively, original look at how we can create stronger parent/child relationships, manage the chaos of our lives, teach our kids values and grit, and have more fun together.
The Secrets of Happy Families includes more than two hundred unique practices that will help your family draw closer and make everyone in your home happier. It has already changed the lives of millions of families, and it can do the same for yours.
About the Author:
Bruce Feiler writes a column in contemporary families for the New York Times and is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including “The Council of Dads.” He is the host of several series on PBS, a popular lecturer, and a frequent commentator on radio and television. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and twin daughters. Follow Bruce on Facebook and Twitter.
Bruce is celebrating the release of his book with a family fun “Happy Family” Kindle HDX giveaway.
One winner will receive:
- A brand new Kindle Fire HDX
- The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on February 15th. Winner will be announced February 17th on the Litfuse blog.
Don’t miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by the Litfuse blog on the 17th to see if you won.
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