Yes. The whole premise of the book Hold on to your Kids is that all the good things we want spring from what we invest in the relationship. That sounds so obvious...but it is really worth reading. I spent years thinking that I could get the desired results from a sort of behaviorist approach, telling myself that what worked for dolphins at Sea World should work on my kids. Not so much.
Well, it does work with people, too. I know a few trainers.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Shoot-Dog-Teaching-Training/dp/1860542387But nothing is perfect either. Animals and people have personalities and sometimes you can't reach them.
And kids are still growing so you have to adjust as they adjust.
We use the LL approach with Mr W and it works 95% of the time. The other 5% we have to resort to loss of privileges and one day we had to resort to spanking.
