Children Are from Heaven: Positive Parenting Skills for Raising Cooperative, Confident, and Compassionate Children

Acknowledgments

I thank my wife, Bonnie, and our three daughters, Shannon, Juliet, and Lauren for their continuous love and support.

Without their direct contributions, this book could not have been written.

I thank Diane Reverand at HarperCollins for her brilliant feedback and advice. I also thank Laura Leonard, my dream publicist, and Carl Raymond, Craig Herman, Matthew Guma, Mark Landau, Frank Fonchetta, Andrea Cerini, Kate Stark, Lucy Hood, Anne Gaudinier, and the other incredible staff at HarperCollins.

I thank my agent, Patti Breitman, for believing in my message and recognizing the value of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus nine years ago. I thank my international agent, Linda Michaels, for getting my books published in more than fifty languages.

I thank my staff: Helen Drake, Bart and Merril Berens, Pollyanna Jacobs, Ian and Ellen Coren, Sandra Weinstein, Donna Doiron, Martin and Josie Brown, Bob Beaudry, Michael Najarian, Jim Puzan, and Ronda Coallier for their consistent support and hard work. I also thank Matt Jacobs, Sherri Rifkin, and Kevin Kraynick for their work in making marsvenus.com one of the best places on the Internet.

I thank my many friends and family members for their support and helpful suggestions: my brother, Robert Gray, my sister, Virginia Gray, Clifford McGuire, Jim Kennedy, Alan Garber, Renee Swisco, Robert and Karen Josephson, and Rami El Batrawi.

I thank the hundreds of workshop facilitators who teach Mars-Venus workshops throughout the world and the thousands of individuals and couples who have participated in these workshops during the past fifteen years. I also thank the Mars-Venus counselors who continue to use these principles in their counseling practices.

I thank my dear friend, Kaleshwar, for his continued support and assistance.

I thank my mother and father, Virginia and David Gray, for all their love and support as they gently guided me to be the best parent I could be. And thanks to Lucile Brixey, who was like a second mother to guide me and love me.

I give thanks to God for the incredible energy, clarity, and support I received in bringing forth this book.

— John Gray

June 9, 1999