I was wondering what all the fuss over this book was until I attended a conference where a teacher presented a situation based on this book that fascinated me. I will share this with you so that you can get a glimpse of what this book teaches:

"There is a little girl playing hop scotch on the pavement. Its a bright sunny day and she is filled with joy, jumping and playing in the warm sun. She has laid her bike down nearby and her mother sees her hopping around with these handlebars sticking out. Her mother says "Jenny stop hopping, you might hurt yourself! Jenny stop doing that!". Jenny, hearing her mother's concern, stops hopping immediately. She stops "feeling joy" because her mother told her it wasn't safe! Imagine what the mother has just inadvertently taught her lovely daughter."

When I was sitting in this conference, a mother was aghast at the realization of what she had taken away from her daughter. When we protect our children, sometimes we teach them to put their emotions away, in many different ways. This is just an inkling of what comes out of this book.