Parenting Books - Wichita,KS

We have become huge fans of "Parenting With Love and Logic". It has REALLY helped us, especially with our 4 year old who is quite a handful. It really builds on helping kids develop personal responsibility and problem-solving skills. You basically put problems and issues back in their corner and let them mess up and even fail in the very early stages of life, so they don't do it when it can really harm them. I think a key component that needs to be emphasized about it is that you DO show sadness and empathy even when you're giving them a consequence they aren't going to like. It's not about offering them a choice and when they pick the "wrong" one telling them "I told you so." It's about offering choices YOU can live with and getting them to think. We've seen a big difference in our 4 year old since we started it, and it's been a magic potion for our 2 year old and tantrums -example -"If you want to continue to scream and have a fit, you'll have to do it in your room, but if you want to be quiet you can stay down here and play." He stops immediately! You have to be calm, but that's good anyway, and our house has been so much more peaceful.

How To Talk so Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So your Kids will Talk, Playful Parenting, Love and Logic, Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child, and I have heard good things from 123 Magic, but have not read it.

Good Luck!

Back to Basics Discipline by Janet Campbell Matson. See summary at www.backtobasicsdiscipline.com
It's very loving and clear with high expectations for kids and it's not one of those books that tells you all the reasons why you shouldn't discipline so that you miss the early teaching window and then have a difficult kid later for the terrible 2s 3s 4s.
And it's not into "punishment" as in angry reaction to something for the sake of regret-but discipline, as in calmly teaching the right way to behave. If you act early, your child will never get used to the difficult habits that form before 2 like tantrums and stuff.

If you plan on not allowing something, the sooner you address it, the easier it is for your child to get used to the right way to act so it's not a battle when their stubbornness sets in around 2. They also get secure in the knowledge that you make their expectations clear and enforce their boundaries from day one, therefore they do it for themselves much earlier and can have more freedom sooner which is less work for you, and more confidence for them.

i am at this moment waiting for delivery of "how to talk so your child will listen and listen so your child will talk" off amazon - i read the excerpts online and it looks great - tons of people have recommended it. look at amazon because you can "preview" most of the books they offer - and i got this one for a total of $8 - INCLUDING s&h. good luck!

The book I keep going back to is How To Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk... I like Playful Parenting too... it's good to remind me how I want to behave. There's a lot of good ones, but a lot of bad ones too! Between Parent and Child is the book that the How to Talk books are based on. It's good too, but How to talk is such a light read it makes it easier to get through!

K.

I just started reading "Have a New Kid by Friday", so far so good but will start this afternoon on trying it out, so we'll see. Our son is just turning 4 and we've let him get away with way too much, so we have got to get it under control now or else! I did try to read How to Talk so your kids will listen, but found that treated him too much like an adult and like he understood his actions and consequences, so that didn't work for us. It really depends on where you are with your child and what your philosophy is, so just try out a bunch and see what works for you. Good luck!