House of the Sun: A Visionary Guide for Parenting in a Complex World

by M.Ed. Pat Shannon, Patty Bear

Overview

Parenting is a calling of the highest order. A humble job, it’s also the most honorable and important work in life. Yet you are given so little training to become the kind of parent you long to be. Frazzled by the dizzying changes of today’s complex world, bombarded by countless “shoulds,” and torn between the experts and your heart’s knowing, you watch your best intentions get overrun. What’s more, you are expected to simply be a good parent, regardless of the quality of parenting you received.

House of the Sun takes a fresh approach. It suggests that deep within you is a well of natural wisdom that’s the key to being a superb parent for your child. Gently, you come to understand why you sometimes parent in ways you wish you didn’t—and how to shift, whether your children are four or forty. Guided by a metaphor from Nature, you’ll discover the best in you so that you can bring out the best in your child by:

• inviting your natural wisdom to bloom
• building your parenting skills no matter your history
• applying timeless guidance to every age and stage
• calling on a memorable framework even when life is stressful

Whether you long to reverse dysfunctional family patterns or merely refine your current parenting style, House of the Sun is a companion and guide to nurturing the well-being of each person in the family, as well as for the development of the “Unique Gift” your child has brought to bless the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780997573527
Publisher:	The Flying Club, LLC
Publication date:	12/16/2016
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

For twenty-five years, Pat Shannon was the headmistress of the highly regarded Filey's Nursery School, where children of the illiterate, the wealthy, and everyone in between received a high-quality education. She earned a master's degree in elementary education and taught second grade before taking charge of Filey's. In this one-room schoolhouse, she and her teachers would shepherd over 1,600 children into a love of learning, to be highly prepared for kindergarten, and learn to let their light shine. She cofounded a program at her church for children ages four through eighteen and directed it for twenty years. In addition, she has shown dogs for twenty-four years with numerous champions and awards. Named an up-and-coming breeder by Sheltie International magazine, she has been a breeder for the last fourteen years with a lengthy client waiting list. Her jobs were never done for awards but rather the love of dogs and, especially, the love of children.

Patty Bear is a hopeless admirer of unsung heroes: people who bring excellence and beauty to whatever they do and who generously serve others. The mom of two young adults, a life coach, and an airline pilot, she has followed her curiosity over the past five decades by reading thousands of nonfiction books, endeavoring to understand complex matters in simple ways and pass on that practical wisdom to others. When she's not flying internationally, she's puttering in the garden, riding fat-tire bikes, reading books, and hanging out with her husband or good friends. House of the Sun is her first book.

Table of Contents

An Ordinary Hero

INTRODUCTION

1: Too Many Voices, Too Many Choices
2: Your Child's First Teacher
3: Warmth and Order: The Master Key
4: Invisible Wounds and Trauma

PART I - THE GARDENER

5: Show-and-Tell Teaching
6: The Three Stages of Human Development
7: Re-parenting the Gardener
8: Managing Your Power
9: Defining Total Success

PART II - THE SEED

10: Already Coded for Success
11: 24 Ways to Bloom
12: Germinating the Seed
13: Physical Warmth: Creating a Nurturing Space
14: Emotional Warmth: Feeding the Hungry Heart
15: Psychological Warmth: Nurturing the Buds of Individuality
16: Geniuses Play

PART III - THE SOIL

17: Shaping Genius with Structure
18: Routines Create Flow
19: Purpose-Driven Rules
20: The Magic of Manners
21: Taproots Habits: The Science of Success

PART IV - THE SUN

22: One Sun: Becoming a Team
23: Socialization: Your Child's Force Multiplier
24: Team Teaching

Mrs. Shannon's 20 Simple Truths for Growing Children

Bibliography
Endnotes
Acknowledgments
About the Authors