Children need us to validate their feelings so they can become grown-ups who know who they are and what they feel” (17). I realize this isn’t the authors’ intent and they do give a lot of “but this doesn’t work all the time” caveats. From what I understood, 2 is the really tough time and the perfect time to start laying the basis for positive discipline, however I didn’t find the tools needed in the book for 2 year old. It's padded out to a completely unnecessary length with all the parenting stories, and I found them horribly grating after awhile. The only thing dated about this advice is the testimonials from parents who claim that — before understanding authors Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s insights on communicating with kids — they would have simply “smacked” them.

Big takeaways for me were to acknowledge feelings, describe what I see, be playful, give choices, and describe their wish fantasies. One time, my husband was working in his office upstairs and it was vital that he had a few hours of being alone to finish his work. It’s getting busy right now growing more skin cells to cover that poor knee and make it as good as new. Just tonight my kid was having an epic bedtime tantrum, in and out of bed, sitting up in bed, crying. Kids often won’t do as they’re told out of love for their parents, which is why they need extra motivation.It's a dense read, but it's packed with many real-life examples and multiple different scenarios and synopses that while helpful, could also be glossed over. This user-friendly guide will empower parents and caregivers to forge rewarding, joyful relationships with terrible two-year-olds, truculent three-year-olds, ferocious four-year-olds, foolhardy five-year-olds, self-centered six-year-olds, and the occasional semi-civilized seven-year-old. Give kids information so they’ll know consequences, but do it in a kind, non-threatening manner (61). I feel like I can now thrive in life with my child, whereas before this book, it was all just a big struggle. And, it will help little kids grow into self-reliant big kids who are cooperative and connected to their parents, teachers, siblings, and peers.

How you punish your child will ultimately teache him/her how to handle conflict in their personal lives.I really DON'T APPRECIATE being shown so reasonably how much of what I thought I knew is actually wrong. The problem with this example is that a husband and wife are considered equals in our culture, and equals don’t need to offer rewards or punishments.

I have both the print and audio editions and really enjoyed listening to it so the parental voices became someone else's besides my own. It's a helpful book, but after reading so many "stories" of parental success, all written in the same voice ("To my surprise, it worked! If I'm being totally honest my kid doesn't seem impressed, but my coworkers have actually mentioned that I seem nicer lately.They discuss the benefits of using these new methods, the reaction or change in behavior that your child responds with, and how to continue to implement these new methods in the future. One study found that when people are offered large monetary rewards to complete a challenge, their creativity and engagement in the task plummets. And what’s more, they will lead to self-reliant big kids who are more cooperative and connected to their parents, teachers, siblings and peers.