Rating: 
Summary: A God Send
Review: To say Howard Glasser and his incredibly insightful book have put peace in my life would not be profound enough. I read Transforming the Difficult Child the Nurtured Heart Approach and immediately followed it up with his workshop that I flew across country for. What a true blessing this approach has been. Our difficult child is a joy and is taking such pride in her school work these days. Her teacher not only noticed the change but after I gave her one of Howard's books as a gift she has now implemented it in classroom. Following the workshop I completed a survey with the comments, "When are you coming to Dallas? This information will change the world." Well, here I am planning the Dallas workshop in May. It is that profound! This "nurtured heart approach" works with ALL children and even your spouse. It is so simple, so nurturing, so refreshing and builds self confidence in the parent and their abilities as well as the children. This is an investment that you will never regret, never out-grow, and will pass on for generations. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: You'll just love this book
Review: The first thing I love about this book is that I don't feel blamed. It really confirmed to me that all this time I was simply doing the best I could with the ways I new...which is absolutely true...and that there was a reason why all those normal methods didn't work. And better yet there is a way that works. The approach makes total sense. It's so easy and so powerful. This should be required reading for all new parents. Well, so much for my child's ADHD...It's disappeared and been replaced by this loving and cooperative child. They should make it required reading for all the doctors who prescribe medications ten minutes after meeting a child (like they did with mine) so that they can have another way to truly help children.
Rating:
Summary: VERY HELPFUL RECOMMENDATIONS
Review: MY TWO BOYS ARE NOT ADD NOR ADHD, BUT ARE STRONG WILLED AND THIS BOOK WAS VERY HELPFUL IN GIVING IDEAS TO BETTER HANDLE THEM AND THEIR "GROWING PAINS" HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
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Summary: From hopelessness and despair to HOPEFULNESS and JOY!
Review: This approach is WONDERFUL and while the writing style could use a bit of polishing (it is a bit repetative) I don't think that's what's important here. It's the concepts behind the whole approach that are important. I'd give it a hundred stars if I could.Our situation is anything but typical........my niece (11) and nephew (7) came to live with my 12 year old daughter and I about 6 1/2 months ago. These children had been through a horrific time in their lives. Neglect, severe verbal abuse, physical abuse, witnesses of domestic violence, sexual molestation (both of them), and even a psychiatric hospitalization for my niece when she was 10. After the first week they were with me, when I think everyone was just relieved they were safe, all the negative behavior they had learned started to surface. Things were so bad I thought I wasn't going to be able to cope. Then I found this book and while it was somewhat difficult to get started at first it was MOST DEFINATELY worth the effort! If you have a "difficult child" or know one get this book! ...Our in home counselor (who has a master's in psychology) says the tranformation in the children is AMAZING (her word). It's a beautiful thing to see two such hurt and troubled children blossom and start to realize how wonderful they are and how successful they can be! Thank you Howard Glasser!
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Summary: A system that really works!
Review: My child is RAD, ADHD, PTSD, CPD, BiPolar, and GAD. I've tried every child raising system I can find, and although some helped a bit, none worked long term, or showed continuous improvement. This approach, based on the concept of giving pizazz for the positive, and holding a child accountable (in a non-energy giving way) for misdeeds, really works for my son. It is a slow go, but worth the effort. Also see his website and discussion boards.
Rating:
Summary: Reason to hope:
Review: Last night I implemented just the first part of "Nurtured Heart"-- by first observing my two sons (age 10 and 14) and making as many positive statements as I could muster. The result was nothing short of miraculous! "I appreciate your self-control, honey, in not hitting your little brother even though I could see you were very frustrated with him...etc" Simple yet powerful words. My fourteen yr old, who has been diagnosed with ADHD and who is recently off all medicine has consumed us with worry for the last couple of years. He is a challenging, yet very bright boy. So he fits the profile of the child for whom this book is targeted. However after using the first step in the strategy from Dr Glasser's book, my son went into the kitchen, put his dishes in the dishwasher and then started bundling the recyclables and garbage and taking it out to the cans. He has been responsible for these jobs for several years, but this is absolutely the first time ever, that he has done them without being told to--usually several times. Nothing has encouraged us like this book has and we have engaged in everything from individual therapy to medication--yet in a single week the program Glasser and Easley outline has literally transformed our family. This book is designed to help parents with kids who are not average--usually bright but intense and helplessly invested in the negative attention there behavior gets them. The basic premise is that traditional parenting techniques ie reward/punishment or lecturing /admonishing just are not effective with kids who are this intense. The book is explicit and easy to implement--and for once--there is not a hyperfocus on "disorder" and the lifelong "sentence" that implies--the emphasis is on building true self esteem and success with these youngsters with lessons that will help them grow into successful adults. This book upends the dominant trend to medicate first (and foremost) and outlines strategies that have enabled kids to either not start medication or stop Ritalin and other psychostimulants altogether. This book has certainly given us the confidence to successfully help our son. Thank you so much for writing this book--
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Summary: An appropriate solution to many issues
Review: I bought this book, and at the same time "Chaos to calm", and "The Explosive Child". We do not have an ADHD child, but the approach in this book worked wonders for our 4yr old who was becoming defiant and a really big headache, we were being sucked into a cycle of our own impatience and escalation of ineffective discipline. The basic premise of this approach worked wonderfully. Even if you can't do the entire appraoch, implementing the basics ( they offer a staged approach) will probably get you alot of success. The other 2 books, chaos to calm was a structured approach, that had some similarities but not the focus needed that comes through so well, in Nutured Heart. The explosive child was way beyond what we needed, once I read it I realized we were not dealing with such severe issues.
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Summary: Your child doesn't have to be the most difficult...
Review: This book has changed the entire mood of my home. One of my twin boys had a short fuse. I could never tell what would set him off or why. We tried all kinds of parenting approaches: 123 Magic, Parenting with Love and Logic, counseling. They all worked on twin A but not twin B. We couldn't figure it out. Then, we started to think that, perhaps, he had ADD. Late one night, I came across a review for this book on an ADD website. At 2:00 am, a parent is willing to try anything. I went straight to Amazon and ordered it. The results were immediate. Not only does this approach give you simple techniques, it predicts how the child will respond and how to handle it. The thing is, I never would have purchased this book if I had seen it in a store. My child was nowhere near as difficult or active as the kids described in the book. Not purchasing this book would have been my loss. For the first time in a long time, I get my child. I understand what he needs and why. Because I understand, I'm willing to do the things I need to do. It's great being a successful parent.
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Summary: Our Success with this Approach
Review: I learned of Tranforming the Difficult Child in May of this year, and began implementing the recommendations (with resolve) with our 10 year old son immediately. Everyone who knows him saw an immediate, major improvement in his ability to listen, to get and stay on task, to control his actions, to have meaningful conversations. These gains began in the first couple of days, and have accelerated ever since. Our son's official "diagnosis" if you will, is ADHD non-attentive type and Non verbal learning disorder. While fun and likeable (also smart) is still immature for his ten years. He had never once had a best friend in his class (his long-time best friend is in fourth grade). With the confidence and ability to control that he gained through our application of the nurtured heart techniques, he has made not one but fourfriends in the fifth grade class!!!! He's enthusiastic about school, was crushed not to have made "Responsibility Club" this week (homework snafu) - a problem of prosperity. His teachers have embraced the form I adapted from your book. It's come home everyday with feedback, and in fact the highest scores possible, each and every day (they love the form). Like many parents, I have tried many, many angles to help our son. Nothing has worked in the past. Implementing the approaches in this book has changed our lives.
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Summary: Simple Ideas that Just Ring So True
Review: I am a licensed mental health professional, but I bought this book because I have a "difficult child." After my years of training, I typically roll my eyes with boredom when I am exposed to new parenting books. I cannot say that this book has changed my parenting much--I confess that I have not even finished it--but the first 5 chapters really grabbed me! Just the author's explanation of "difficult" kids' behavior really rang true for me. Just thinking of the main ideas presented in those early chapters makes me feel more hopeful. Who knows how helpful it might be if I actually got around to finishing it?! I learned about this book at a website for stressed-out parents. Parents at that site praised this book highly. I was somewhat skeptical, but decided to try it. I am very glad that I did, as it allowed me "re-frame'' my child's behavior in a more helpful way. Particularly if there are readers who worry that a parenting book will be too simple-minded or watered-down for them, I think this is a book worth trying.
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