Haim Ginott

Haim Ginott (1922-1973) was a school teacher, child psychologist, psychotherapist and parent educator, born in Tel Aviv who later worked in the United States. He began as an elementary school teacher in Israel in 1947, took his degrees at Columbia University, and later served as a clinical psychologist, a university lecturer and a consultant to the Israeli ministry of education for UNESCO. His communication approach asks the parent or teacher to understand the child's feelings and to answer in respectful, compassionate language, treating only the behavior as unacceptable and never the child. His best-selling book Between Parent and Child set out these principles for families, and his ideas about how adults speak to children are still taught to parents and teachers.