Discipline Books - Page 12

The Everything Parent's Guide To Positive Discipline: Professional Advice for Raising a Well-Behaved Child (Everything Series)

Carl E. Pickhardt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Better guides are out there 2 out of 5 stars.
8 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I am so glad I dodn't actually fork over the money for this book! I, too, found it at the library. And back it will go tomorrow!

If this is the first book you have ever read on how to discpline your children, perhaps the discpline techniques he advocates would seem wonderful or miraculous. If you have no idea what to do with your kids, and your parents' example didin't inspire you, maybe this book is a good starting point. But personally I found it over-simplified in its concepts, and too wordy on the wrong subjects. For example, he claims that star charts as a rewards mechanism always work. There is, however, quite a bit of evidence that they don't actually work well in the long run; that it is far better to get your child to want to do a certain behaviour, rather than just do it to get a little star (or whatever the reward is). He cites animal training techniques for inspiration. Having experience with dolphin training in particular, I have to tell you that the dolphins get lazy if you reward good behavior every single time they do it. The trick, I was told, is not so much in getting the dolphin to do the behaviour. The trick is to get them to WANT to do the behaviour. And we are talking about children here, not animals. Kids are often capable of a lot more than we gie them credit for, unlike most animals I've worked with. The author also simplistically tells the reader that positive reinforcement always works. I am not in any way advocating negative reinforcement, and this is perhaps one of the few points on which we agree. But I feel that making a statement like that is just too cut and dry. Is there anything in this world that ALWAYS works?
Furthermore, I found each of the age-related sections of this book way too airy. The section on 4-8 year olds had almost nothing to say at all. Since I have a 4 1/2 year old, and another one on the way, I was thoroughly disappointed! I wanted to know about physiological changes that occur during the age ranges he mentions, as well as emotional adjustments they are starting to make. These sections were woefully inadequate. I also wanted real-life examples of how his techniques have specifically worked for families. But perhaps this was my fault. I was too bored (to tears)to read any further, and may have missed a story or two in there, somehwere.

For a far better, more concise, more practical and much more pleasureable read, try Michael Green's "Beyond Toddlerdom", the follow-up book to "Toddler Taming". His common sense, good humour, and down-to-earth style make for inspiring as well as practical reading.

Funnily enough, the best books I have read on parenting aren't actually about parenting at all. Get your hands on anything by John Holt (especially "How Children Learn" and "How Children Fail") for a far better insight into what motivates children at what age. It's all very well to have a few tricks in the bag on how to punish children, but it means nothing unless you try to understand why they do what they do first. Holt's in depth observations of kids' behaviour opened up a world of insight into children for me in a way that no book specifically dedicated to parenting ever has. Holt's books are especially useful if you have problems in relation to your child's schooling and susequent behavior at home.

Hopefully you don't accept the first quote you get when you need to get something fixed, right? In my opinon, the same goes for raising children. Keep in mind that it may be in your and your child's best interests to check out other opinions on discpline apart from this guy's.

Taking Charge: Caring Discipline That Works at Home and at School

Joanne Nordling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The single best book on parenting I have read 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I don't know any parent who would not get something of enormous value from this book. The techniques are practical and effective, and ever mindful of building and respecting the child's self-esteem. This book is particularly necessary for new parents who were themselves raised in more dysfunctional families, and who don't want to unconsciously pass on that dysfunction to the next generation. Nordling never frames the discussion in these terms, but she clearly illustrates how to 'take charge' in a way that is not shaming, but builds your child's self-esteem. It is also brilliant on pitfalls to avoid (Nordling calls them self-sabotage) and how to identify and deal with specific types of misbehavior. These are lessons that adults raised in dysfunctional families may not have learned instinctively. The book is great beyond words, because if you practice what is in its pages, it will transform your life and your household. Both parents should really be on board with this program. (I am a dad. My wife and I have both benefitted from reading this book.) I do not think it is exaggeration to say that our world would be completely transformed if Taking Charge were required reading for all parents.

Editorial Review:

If the children in your family or classroom are driving you crazy and you need ideas for getting back in control of the situation, this book is for you. It is a definitive guide to the art and skill of disciplining children with love and respect, for children from tots to teenagers. TAKING CHARGE is based on over forty years of parenting, teaching, and counseling experience, resulting in an overall approach that works. Solid ideas for contemporary parents and teachers.

The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child

Alan E. Kazdin

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Not yet published By: Houghton Mifflin

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Editorial Review:

A lifesaving handbook for parents of children who are occasionally, or too often, "out of control"

Includes a bound-in twenty-minute DVD featuring Dr. Kazdin and his staff illustrating key concepts of the Kazdin Method.


Most child-behavior books are filled with advice that sounds reasonable, fits with what parents already believe about child-rearing, and is—as Dr. Kazdin proves—guaranteed to fail. The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child makes available to parents for the first time Dr. Kazdin's proven program—one backed up by some of the most long-term and respected research devoted to any therapy for children.

Kazdin shatters decades' worth of accumulated myths about tantrums, time-outs, punishments fitting the crime, and much more. With the practicality of Ferber and the warmth of Brazelton, Kazdin leads parents through every step of the Kazdin method in action—how to use tone of voice, when and how to touch, how to lead your child in a "practice" session, how to adjust your approach for different-age children, how to involve siblings, and more. The program is temporary, but the results are permanent—for very young children, adolescents, and even beyond.

Go to Your Room!: Consequences That Teach

Shari Steelsmith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

"Must" reading for all parents. 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Go To Your Room!: Consequences That Teach was written specifically for parents with problems on getting their children to do what they want them to from! Shari Steelsmith offers addresses 59 specific bedtime misbehavior ranging from chores, homework hassles, and tattle-telling, to whining tantrums, and backtalk. Go To Your Room! focuses on consequences, and draws upon applicable, practical, workable, effective parental responses to juvenile non-compliance from a variety of sources, including parents, authors, and educators. Go To Your Room! is "must" reading for any parent that every felt the need of a common-sense guide for improving their child's everyday behavior at home or in public.

Editorial Review:

Go to Your Room! is distinctive because it focuses on consequences rather than a general collection of techniques. It tells parents why many consequences don't work and how they can start selecting ones that will actually change their child's behavior. The author polled hundreds of parents to discover what issues were of most concern to them. The information provided for each consequence comes from a variety of sources, including parents, authors, and educators.

8 Weeks to a Well-Behaved Child: A Failsafe Program for Toddlers Through Teens

James Windell

List Price: $11.95 By: MacMillan Publishing Company Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $2.35

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

It may sound crazy, but this book has changed my life! 5 out of 5 stars.
139 of 139 people found this review helpful.

I am the mother of 3-1/2 year-old twins. Several weeks ago Iwas ready to throw in the towel in the Discipline department. "Mychildren never obey me. They don't listen to anything I say and hardly ever cooperate. Nothing I've tried has worked. I feel like a failure as a parent." My screaming had escalted to new heights, and I had even resorted to spanking my children in frustration and anger. I felt downhearted about myself and my twin daughters.

Desperate and depressed, I picked up this book. Its titled seemed like too much to hope for, but it promised a concrete program with "homework" assignments that would give me new parenting skills week by week. Now, several weeks later, we are a changed family. The techniques that Windell teaches are so specific and so effective that you will begin to see results almost immediately. For the first time, an author addressed MY personality as a parent (I was definitely an "Active Intervener"!). Of course I knew that I didn't want to spank my children, but had anyone ever really told me HOW not to and still get results? Not until this book. Yes, I had used time-outs and positive reinforcement, but not with any lasting effects, until this book told me EXACTLY how, when, and why, and just as importantly how NOT and when NOT to use those techniques.

Now my tirades are down, their compliance is up, we are communicating, and everyone is happier. I am so proud of all of us! I thank this author and recommend this book wholeheartedly to ANY parent, especially those who don't believe in corporal punishment and need guidance on how to achieve other methods of effective discipline.

Editorial Review:

Especially useful for the parent who has tried everything and is desperate for something that works, ”8 Weeks” is a necessary addition to any parent's library. (paper)

The Miller Method: Developing the Capacities of Children on the Autism Spectrum

Arnold Miller, Kristina Chretien

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Negotiation Generation: Take Back Your Parental Authority Without Punishment

Lynne Reeves Griffin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Proactive Parenting at its Best 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Lynne Reeves Griffin offers no-nonsense advice for "taking back parental authority without punishment." From establishing kid-friendly lifestyles rather than adult-centered lives for children, organizing early dinner and bedtime rituals that allow a child to perform well in these areas before they're too tired, demanding respect for all members of a household, building fences and adjusting them as a child grows not only in size and age but in emotional ability to manage more responsibilities and freedoms, to refusing to react emotionally or to talk (and talk and talk!) in the middle of a conflict involving rules that are supposedly non-negotiable, Lynne's strategies for working with rather than against a child while maintaining family order and parental sanity are all simple to understand and implement. I'd recommend this book to any parent or other adults who care for children. Since successful proactive parenting involves planning, reading this book before conflicts arise is one of the wisest moves a new parent can make!

Editorial Review:

The classic power struggle between parents and children- demystified.

Nationally recognized behavior management expert Lynne Reeves Griffin offers a commonsense yet radical approach to parenting that will enable adults to win the tug-of-war with their children about what is, and isn't, acceptable behavior.

This proactive plan provides parents with the tools to reclaim their authority, establish boundaries, and cease negotiation tactics such as rewards and punishments, based on the specific ages and temperaments of each child. Featuring anecdotes from more than 20 years of parental consulting, the author reveals the real struggles parents face in raising today's children.

Sleep Talk: A Breakthrough Technique for Helping Your Child Cope With Stress and Thrive Through Difficult Transitions

Lois V. Haddad, Patricia Wilson, Judith Searle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Help Your Child Thrive! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Using the techniques offered in this book can change your child's life! It clearly tells parents how, through the use of nightly Sleep talk, childern can receive messages of a parent's love and acceptance. The book contains numerous scripts and clear instructions on how to use this method to bond with your child and offer him or her age appropriate suggestions to assist in decision making and the development of self-confidence. A master index to the Sleep Talk scripts is found at the end of the book, making this book an easy-to-use resource throughout your child's development. It would be wonderful if every parent, grandparent and caregiver were given a copy of this book and used the techniques so respectully offered by the author. This is a simple and loving way to bond with your child and positively impact his or her development. This book will enrich your life and the life of your child.

Editorial Review:

1. How do you help a toddler give up a pacifier or thumb sucking?
2. How do you prepare your child for a new baby in the family for his first day at school?
3. What do you do when your child consistently wets the bed or bites her fingernails?
4. How do you support your school-age child when he is faced with disappointments, a family member's death, or divorce?
5. What is the best way to encourage your child through the toilet training stage?
6. How can challenging transitions be made smoother for everyone?

Learn how to reaffirm positive behavior, modify negative behavior, and help your child do the same. Sleep Talk offers opportunities for parents to be more effective in helping their children cope with ordinary and extraordinary situations in life. Explore a revolutionary new approach to giving your child guidance and support in a context of love and approval.

Heartfelt Discipline: The Gentle Art of Training and Guiding Your Child

Clay Clarkson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Christian parents are sure of one thing–they must discipline their children. Ask them to define discipline, however, and you will find little agreement. Many parenting experts support a strict, “hands-on” approach–usually in the form of spankings. Other believers think a permissive, “hands-off” is the best way to demonstrate love. Caught between these extremes, well-meaning parents feel torn and even more confused about what the Bible really says on the subject.

Is there a better way to lovingly train and guide our kids? Yes, says author Clay Clarkson, and in Heartfelt Discipline he offers a long-awaited, biblical discipline solution that is caring and effective–one that leaves parents feeling confident and guiltless, not saddened or conflicted.

At last, here is a faith-directed approach to discipline that spares the rod but doesn’t spoil the children. Through biblical advice, answers to commonly asked questions, and positive encouragement, Clay Clarkson presents a new, biblical model of discipline–one that allows parents to embrace a completely new way of thinking about childhood discipline, renew their relationships with their children, and transform the dynamics of their family life.

The Discipline Miracle: The Clinically Proven System for Raising Happy, Healthy, and Well-Behaved Kids

Linda Pearson, L. A. Stamford

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

No one's children are well behaved all the time. While it may be a thankless task, being a good parent involves knowing how and when to administer discipline. Yet the majority of books on the subject merely apply band-aids to specific problems, failing to provide readers with an overarching philosophy on discipline that will see them through any situation. The Discipline Miracle presents a comprehensive approach centered around three fundamental principles: * Be a safe harbor. Give the child a sense of security by being dependable, responsive, and emotionally available. * Be a good boss. Insist on appropriate rules that will make children feel safe, and teach them to use self-control. * Prepare kids for the real world. Give them what they need (boundaries, rules, and consequences), not just what they want. The Discipline Miracle will help readers be the best parents they can be -- and raise the best kids. Used consistently, these principles can make the difference between momentary lapses in behavior and continuous problems that can affect children throughout their lives. The Discipline Miracle provides a unique framework for raising happy, well-adjusted children, and is an essential addition to the bookshelf of every parent.