Thursday, May 12, 2016

Beyond Good Manners by Tara Woods Turner and J. Blake Turner - Spotlight and Giveaway


This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tara Woods Turner & J. Blake Turner, PhD will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Unlock the key to creating a cultivated life for your child with this targeted parenting guide. You will learn how to raise an engaging, accomplished and sophisticated child, one who gets noticed for all the right reasons. From fine dining, travel and art appreciation to navigating social media with integrity - Beyond Good Manners: How to Raise a Sophisticated Child will show you how to take your child to the next level. Whether your child is 5 or 15 this is the one book you will reference time and again for advice and techniques that are relevant, practical and insightful.

Enjoy an excerpt:

Let's imagine you’re dressing for a dinner party and your child insists on wearing a glittery, sparkling ballet tutu instead of the $80 shantung capri pants you bought for her. What should you do? Let her wear the tutu. Crushing her sense of whimsy will do nothing to cultivate a sense of style for your child. It is not necessarily a battle of wills. She is simply trying to tell you something about herself. Listen carefully and then take the lead. Compliment her ownership of her appearance and use it as an opportunity to open the conversation about choices. Explain to her that she can wear the sparkly tutu but she should understand that it is not the most appropriate thing in her closet to consider. Tell her that this is an occasion where there is room for negotiation but that this will not always be the case. Then unveil some awesome ideas to add to the fun. You can show her how to further explore the topic of ballet and ballet costumes. She can read age-appropriate books on ballet and describe her favorite parts to you; watch documentaries on or video clips about actual child ballerinas; recreate a scene from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with her dolls or arts and crafts supplies. Introduce her to basic French ballet terms such as pas de deux or pliè and see if she can reproduce the first five positions. Kick off your shoes and do it with her! In future she will don her tutu with pride because she not only earned it but because her appreciation is now informed. More importantly, you have quieted her frustration - not her voice - and created a platform for growth and development. With time she will find more constructive, cooperative ways to display her individuality and creativity because you wisely chose to not make her behavior the basis for your response.

About the Authors:
Tara Woods Turner is an etiquette consultant, author and content contributor. She lives in New York City and believes strong societies are built upon strong families. She also spends way too much time analyzing James Taylor lyrics.

J. Blake Turner PhD, a researcher in mental health and associate professor at Columbia University, lives in New York City and is much more sophisticated than he used to be.

Buy the book at Amazon.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

14 comments:

  1. How has your environment & upbringing colored your writing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite literally, my upbringing made this book possible. The lessons I learned about etiquette and the importance of being respectful to others were absorbed organically from childhood becuae those were the expectations in my family. As I matured I began to see correlations between my own behavior and attitude and some of the wonderful opportunities I have had in life - people enjoy being around others when they are confident, kind and mindful of others. That coupled with my mother's insistence that we grow, embrace every possibility for fulfillment and never feel like we've learned it all have given me the keys to living a more enriched life. I lost my mom to cancer last year and as I was writing this book it was a bittersweet experience - her words, her example and my memories all collided in a beautiful way. It gave the book a depth it would not have had if I were just writing strictly to give out information. My childhood gave me a wonderful platform upon which I have built a life that made my book possible. I get excited at the thought that parents out there will buy the book and make amazing family memories of their own as they raise poised, confident, sophisticated children.

      Delete
  2. Do you write every day? Do you have a word goal for each day you write?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Peggy! I do write everyday even when it is ot necessarily on an upcoming book. I usually have several projects going on at once so daily writing is a must. But I am so in love with the process that I feel oddly unsettled when I haven't been at my keyboard for several hours in a row. Writing is cathartic and therapeutic in a lot of ways. I don't have a daily word count or quota - that doesn't reflect my writing style and would just make me feel like I was putting pressure on myself lol.

      Delete
  3. I'd like to know about your research for this book, was there anything specific that you did that helped you when writing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My research was very straight-forward. I am a certified etiquette professional and I also publish etiquette curricula so the basic material was second nature to me. The rest was simply a result of reflecting about what my clients, other parents in my life and society, in general truly want for our children. What is that elemental cache of achievement that is the hallmark of a child who has been well brought up? It isn't money or academic or athletic prowess - it's not even good manners. It's more of an umbrella approach that yields the best results. Once I was able to qualify this it was easy to write the book.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. You're welcome, Rita. It's one of my favorite chapters :)

      Delete
  5. Thank you for taking the time to offer us this giveaway

    ReplyDelete
  6. Absolutely our pleasure, James!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I enjoyed reading the excerpt. Can't wait to check out this book!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the opportunity to win, you're awesome! Happy Friday!

    ReplyDelete

So... inquiring minds want to know: what do you think?