Tending Sacred Ground: Respectful Parenting showcases a Quaker practice that suggests the methods for following these cultivations and testimonies for creating the kind of family/community they wholly envision. By using them, following them, and abiding by them (on both sides, for our children can be our teachers also, of course), they can work toward all manner of challenges whilst constantly monitoring as they live with and guide their children. ~ Exclusive Magazine, Review

This collection of insights on parenting is a joy. The nuggets of wisdom come in an easily absorbable size, are gently offered, and nudge us to rethink attitudes and interactions we take for granted as parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and family members. Each nugget brings a story and moves us another step toward grace and respect. Pamela Haines shows how warmth can infuse respect, bringing us adults closer to our best selves, and building a world in which children are free to play, think, make mistakes, and learn without shame or blame. With short, pungent passages containing fresh insights about what love entails when we're with the young people we care about, it’s an ideal bedside table book. In five or ten minutes, we can go to sleep having set our sights again on what it means to truly care in this topsy-turvy world. Patty Wipfler, Founder, Hand in Hand Parenting ~ Patty Wipfler

The heart of Tending Sacred Ground is an invitation to be present as we call on deep wells of respect—for our own parents, for our children, and for ourselves. Pamela Haines is a great storyteller because she’s also an excellent noticer—of herself, her own children and others, the work and joy of parenting, and our condition as human beings. In the spirit of the best kind of parenting book, this one shows the way with stories about celebration and challenge, stumbles and openings, growing and revelations alongside our children. ~ Melinda Wenner Bradley, Philadelphia Quaker Youth Religious Life Coordinator

Straight advice can be very welcome to parents wondering if it’s time to start their baby on spinach. But in the more complicated questions of care and upbringing, the beauty of a story is that it doesn’t expect obedience or resistance—it raises questions. Pamela sometimes offers us wise counsel, but I was more struck by her uncertainties and the number of direct or implied questions on almost every page. A great beauty of this book is the way it treats children as moral agents who have the right to their own views and satisfactions. Pamela urges us to recognise that they can be our teachers too—if we let them. ~ John Lampen, Author, The Peace Kit, The Worship Kit and Peaceful Inside

This book is a gift to parents. It raises parenting to the spiritual realm that—though seldom acknowledged—it is. The forty reflections are of a parent seeking to do her best as she lives with and guides her children. Two recurring themes make this book so helpful to parents. One is the author’s straightforward acknowledgment of her own feelings, negative as well as positive. Another is her respect for the feelings of children. As parents recognize themselves in the segments of family life, this book will help them to deepen their own spiritual journeys. ~ Harriet Heath Ph.D, Convenor, Quaker Parenting Initiative