Letting Go of Perfect: Overcoming Perfectionism in Kids

This was more basic than what I needed. I liked the explanation of the different types of giftedness and there are several nice tables that summarize information, but as others have noted, the solution side is lacking. Most intelligent parents are going to figure this stuff out...which I have.This book is for people who are just starting to learn about perfectionism.And I think the book had a flaw that all resources on perfectionism seem to have...there's nowhere near enough discussion about how young perfectionists need to know the parameters of what is expected from them and the adults in their lives need to help them manage expectations. This is present in an oblique, vague manner but I needed something specific as our difficulty at school is the lack of clear guidelines and information on what to do from the teacher. My young perfectionist does fairly well if she knows what's going to happen (from the teacher) and if her expectations are managed (from her parents), but if those are missing, she struggles to cope when her effort doesn't yield the results she was aiming for.

Lots of repetition throughout the beginning chapters that didn't seem necessary. There was a lot of time spent describing traits of a perfectionist, but I already know I have a gifted child leaning toward these tendencies. I was looking for more parenting techniques than were provided. The options contained within were already things I had been using for quite some time and seem pretty basic. There have to be more advanced approaches to nip perfectionism in the bud before it becomes too much of an issue.What I liked was the last chapter with some links to sites containing info regarding aspects of giftedness. I believe I will be referencing those websites more than this book in the future.

As an educator passionate about gifted parent education, I am always looking for helpful books to recommend to parents and colleagues. Adelson and Wilson's "Letting Go of Perfect" quickly made it's way to my "most recommended" book list. Unlike other books I have read about perfection, "Letting Go of Perfect" delineates characteristics and motives regarding multiple types of perfectionism. The authors provide numerous practical strategies aimed at each specific manifestation of perfectionism to help students transition from unhealthy/maladaptive perfectionism into healthy perfectionism.The book also contains a wealth of additional resources for teachers, parents, and students including books (both fiction and non-fiction), websites, and games. I wish I had this book when my children were younger! It is a must for teachers and parents needing guidance about their perfectionistic children and students!

This book contains lots of practical advice for helping children deal with problems that can follow from perfectionism. Some of the advice is quite general, but parents and teachers should be able to adjust it to each child's situation.The author's different types of perfectionists are really illustrations of the ways problems from perfectionism can be manifested, and somewhat different advice is given for each. The descriptions and the advice are not limited to gifted children, but often apply to them.It is a good resource for parents and educators, including homeschooling parents, of children with perfectionist tendencies.

This book was so helpful to me as a parent of an extremely perfectionistic child. I wish I would have had it sooner when the signs of perfectionism really were starting to show (when my son was in 4th grade). 5 years later it is still so relevant. I plan to purchase more copies and give as gifts to teachers and other parents of children who are struggling with perfectionism.

My own 7 year old is beginning to struggle with perfectionism. This book was easy to read and had lots of good information for me.

Letting Go of Perfect was not quite what I was hoping for in the way of help for a perfectionist granddaughter, and I felt the problem solving was simplistic.

This book finds a good balance between being smart and rigorously researched on the one hand and readable and practical on the other. The book profiles five basic prototypes of perfectionists, with engaging examples of each. There are suggestions for teachers and for parents in helping kids overcome perfectionism.There is also some good "mythbusting" here as well as a good discussion on the difference between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism.I found the tips to be helpful when thinking about children, but many of them can be applied to adults as well. I know a lot of recovering perfectionists who are struggling with this well into adulthood!

This book may be more usefull if you're in America. The references to children where all what grade they where in, which make no sense to anyone outside the US. The support links where mostly American and the books recomended wheren't available in the UK. Aside from that I read this book in an evening and found the infomation very basic and I cant say that I learned anything new from the book and have gained no new insight into my childs perfectionism or how to help her. A big dissapointment.