Dare to Discipline

The New Dare to Discipline: Dr. James Dobson

The first edition of Dare to Discipline was published in 1970, and this new revision reveals two decades of reflection and experience of the author, Dr. James Dobson. It is the purpose of this paper to summarize the book, state the author's premise, and to conclude with a personal reaction to the book and how its concepts might or might not be of assistance in classroom teaching.

Dr. Dobson takes a common sense approach to child-rearing. He does not agree with the relaxed methods of the early 70's when parents were trying to treat their children as equals and ended up having households or classrooms that were much too permissive for the well-being of the children involved. Such environments, according to Dobson, create anxiety for both the children and the adults.

The first four chapters of the book provide an overview to his philosophy which tends to be rather conservative and oriented towards Christian thinking. He contends that one of the primary tasks of child-rearing is to foster respect for the parents (18). Children will not do what the parents ask or expect if there is no respect in the first place. Dr. Dobson says that the best opportunity for real communication between parents and children is after a disciplinary event (34). The child feels vulnerable and will be open to what the parent says. The child needs reassurance that he or she is loved, and the parent can do that along with standing firm on the behav

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find comfort in predictable social systems (154). Even second and third grade children are quite adept at evaluating the effectiveness of teachers. Some of the barriers to learning are being a late bloomer or a slow learner. Dobson advocates teaching every person to read, even if it means a one-to-one student teacher ratio (176). He does not believe that children should arbitrarily start kindergarten at age five and first grade at age six. Some children may need another year of maturity before handling classroom learning. Slow learners should be given many opportunities for success and shielded from failure, if at all possible (177). Another barrier to learning is underachieving. This may arise for a number of reasons, and Dr. Dobson advocates the interest and support of parents for this type of student. Each student is equal in the eyes of God and deserves to feel self-esteem, regardless of the level of academic excellence (198). The final chapters of the book are devoted to morality, support for mothers, and an appendix of information regarding substance abuse in adolescents. The basic premise of the book is that there needs to be a balance between love and control. This idea is woven throughout every concept and cha

Category: Psychology - D