Life Teachings
 Jeanie Davis Pullen
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 1999 Yellow House Productions
  ISBN: 0967266009
Amazon's price is: $12.95

Raising a Child. Stories of how the choices we make every day form our lives & those of our children.

Jeanie David Pullen came up in Kentucky, in a time when the Big Things in life were talked about on the front porches of her family's homes, where no one was an expert in anything other than their own lives & experiences. So when she came to motherhood, back in the 1960s, she set about forming a template of how she would raise her child.

Life Teachings: Raising a Child is the sum of this author's wisdom, & the core of her answers from her speaking career when soon-to-be parents come up to her, & ask how; “how shall we raise our child?”

Her template for parenthood is not detail specific, rather it is future focused: how would you like your child to be twenty years hence? As most of us want for our children the foursquare basics: shelter, food & clothing, oh yes, & by the way, lots of money, this author's Wish List might seem, at first glance, obvious & a bit warm & fuzzy, however behind Jeanie Davis Pullen's Wish List are far deeper concerns: “be happy...have no guilt...be gracious...have a sense of wonderment...communicate well...appreciate nature's role in life” & so on.(P.12)

In “Young Children believe what parents say to them” Jeanie Davis Pullen speaks to, perhaps, the most damaging dysfunctional breakdown that happens between parent & child, from generation to generation. In the beginning your child will hang on every word you utter, will take every idea you speak, literally. It takes a while for a child to learn the nuances of humor, sarcasm & deceit. While a child will puzzle over the tone of your voice, what you say will register. If you are a liar or an evader, what you teach your child, you will get back tenfold. “Monkey See/Monkey Do.” Becoming a parent is a grand opportunity to clean up your act, listen to how you speak about the world & your life. Exactly what do you want your child to learn? The same bitter envy you've been toting about since your parents gave your sibling the “better” tricycle, or didn't give you that thing (which you can hardly remember wanting) you so had to have back in the fifth grade?

Jeanie Davis Pullen weaves the stories of her life, with insights into authentic emotions one of which, was the fear she didn't realize she carried for years about the death of her mother. She devised unobtrusive family gestures, probably no one else would notice, to forestall her child's need to be heard NOW! How learning that not being able to afford something, was a luxury in disguise. That there is more to an adult's life besides parenting.

A delightfully meditative, immediate & informative read -- one that will go to my own children as they embark on the greatest relationships of their lives. Perhaps it will remind them of how I raised them.

Life Teachings is fine feminine philosophy.

Jeanie Davis Pullen is an educator, consultant, & speaker with an advanced degree in gifted education. She is a high school teacher & also teaches graduate courses at the university level. For over 13 years she has been the director of a large summer institute for gifted children in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. She is working on her next Life Teachings about Communicating, Preparing for Work, & Leadership.

www.YellowHousePublications.com
(11/24/02)

Rebecca