Jesper Juul argues that today's families are at an exciting crossroad. The authoritarian parenting style based on obedience, conformity, and physical and emotional violence that governed traditional hierarchical families is being transformed. In this international best-selling book Jesper Juul talks about embracing a new set of values, based on the assumption that families must be built not on authoritarian force or democratic tyranny but on dignity and reciprocity between parent and child. Children are competent to express their feelings from birth, and they are eager to co-operate as well as assume responsibility for their personal and social behaviour. As parents we must work on listening to and learning from our children. When our children's behaviour makes us feel less than valuable, then it is often because we are. "Raising competent children" is well-written and easy to read. There are plenty of examples from everyday life. Jesper Juul is a renowned international authority on the family, and his book challenges parents to see the years with their children as an exciting time of growth and development for the whole family.