Ok - so this article had me intrigued so I went and read the P.E.T. book and I understand what is going on in this conversation now. I think active listening was something I needed to contextualise in terms of what the parent was actually trying to do.

I am not entirely sold on every concept in the book, but then I am not a big believer in using only one theory in its entirety either, but I think there are a lot of great strategies used in this book. While I don't think I agree with everything (at this stage) I think it is challenging me and it has already started to change some of my thinking. I am also starting to notice things in people's conversations that I never noticed before.

I am only up to the bit in the book where they use this conversation between Danny and his mum as an example (and I surprised how much clearer it is to me having read all the stuff that comes before this example) and I am curious about where it is going to go from here.

Thought I should come back and further respond to my previous comment