DISCIPLINE WITHOUT SHOUTING OR SPANKING

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Summary: A Toddler Owner's Manual!
Review: "Discipline" offers practical advice on how to solve a variety of authors tell you *what to say*, *what to do* and *what not to do*. In a genre dominated by philosophical meandering, this book is an oasis of solutions. It is the Owner's Manual that parents never get with their two year old. Finally, someone took the terrible out of the two's

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Summary: A quick reference for the harried parent
Review: As a person who works with families, this book put some great techniques in a down-to-earth simple format that is easy to explain and understand. It offers a "flash card" type approach that with additional information is a great starting places for parents with discipline issues.

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Summary: Good information but some not-so-helpful tips
Review: I am a teacher so I thought it would be a great thing if I read up on the subject of child discipline as much as I read up on classroom management!!

I bought this book when my son was one-and-a-half as a reference for up-and-coming issues. I did like the outline format but found that some of the ways suggested to solve or deal with the problem were strange and, frankly, stupid. For instance, one of the tips for dealing with a child "talking back" was to pick the offensive word (if one was used), set a timer for one minute per year of age, and have the child use that word non-stop until the timer goes off. I do not want my child practicing a word he's not supposed to use! Also, a discipline technique for whining is to have a "whining place" where you send the child to whine when he feels like he needs to. I don't feel a "whining place" is necessary and that there are other ways to deal with whining.

This book tends to dance around the issue rather than deal with the issue iteself and teach the child how to correctly exhibit behaviors for certain situations or needs that need to be met. I would not have bought this book if I knew then what I know now. There are other positive discipline books out there that seem to be better-suited!

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Summary: Spare the Rod!
Review: It's been said 'Spare the Rod, Spoil the child' these days with the new Gen kids! Sorry, not very true but no Spanking! Playing pranks and making mischief as a child is really tons of fun but every kid needs a code of conduct - a Discipline to adopt behavior patterns and possess self control. Children need to be taught to pause and think of the consequences that may result from their various behaviors. It is critical for educators to model self discipline. Younger children tend to throw tantrums, be rigid, stubborn, have sibling rivalry, be possessive, etc and these are the trial times for the parent to tackle firm where situations demand disciplinary action. In this book, instead of spanking,the authors effectively provide measures to cope up in situations when its hard to draw the line with their loving kids. The flash card approach is a plus point. Verbal spanking is an option to spank the kid. Words said in loving way, clear and firm voice would have its effect than abusing word war. The book says all about practical suggestions to adopt and check those flaws in kids for their own good without spanking the child. By controlling own words and actions, parents demonstrate to their kids, a healthy way to react to stress. A good pick for young parents, should say!

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Summary: Screaming examples
Review: The author of this book uses "fictionalized" stories to give examples of how spanking is wrong and timeouts are right. The problem with these stories is that parents are always portrayed as "screaming" as they spank their child. This gives the impression that a parent who spanks is always out of control. Then the "fictionalized" account tells us that spanking never works and timeouts always work. I had a hard time believing the "fictionalized" accounts, they are just not believable!

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Summary: May work on a child not needing dicipline
Review: This book was too simplistic in its approach to dicipline. The methods would probably work on a child that isn't a dicipline problem, but merely acts out occasionally. The author also assumes that the methods will work, no exception. I can attest that a very willful child will not be swayed by the rewards or privilge removal program. I have yet to find a book that does truly help with a difficult child. This one certainly doesn't.

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Summary: Effective new ways to teach your children discipline !
Review: This extremely well organized book does an excellent job of offering workable alternatives to the "old ways" we adults were brought up with . My husband and I have tried many of the suggestions and found that they work for our 3 year old. If you've tried to reach your children and are about to give up and revert to spanking or shouting please try this book. It is easy to read and use & is an excellent reference.

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Summary: Tips, Compassion, and Humor for Parents of Preschoolers
Review: `Discipline without Shouting or Spanking', `How to Behave So Your Preschooler Will, too!' and `Positive Discipline for Preschoolers' are three different books with almost identical messages. All believe that shouting and spanking are counterproductive and that successful discipline requires a parent or caregiver to calmly teach and reinforce the rules of good behavior.

`How to Behave So Your Preschooler Will, too!' and `Positive Discipline for Preschoolers' are both 300 plus page books and are arranged similarly. They begin by explaining what is typical preschooler behavior and what developmental factors are at play during this stage. This information encourages parents to make a paradigm shift and see "bad" behavior as developmentally appropriate behavior that needs the gentle hand of an adult to help channel it. They then follow with in depth discussions of good discipline strategies and how they differ from our natural knee-jerk responses. Both books end with practical examples of how to apply these discipline strategies to common behavioral problems.

I would recommend either of these books to anyone who has come to see that shouting and spanking doesn't work and wants to learn what does. `How to Behave so Your Preschooler Will, too! is written in an organized, succinct, clean style and will appeal to those who enjoy a "textbook-like" book. `Positive Discipline for Preschoolers', on the other hand, has a more friendly, meandering tone and is written in a "chatting over a cup of coffee" style with tons of first hand accounts thrown in.

"Discipline without Shouting or Spanking' is half the size of the previous two books and confines itself to practical applications. An outline format is used to discuss 37 common behavior problems. For each behavior problem it offers several suggestions to prevent the problem, solve the problem and even what not to do. Each discussion ends with an illustrative story. I would recommend this book to those already convinced that "positive discipline" works and looking for an easy to read, "in the trenches" handbook.

All three books are excellent resources for the parents and caregivers of preschoolers but as their content is so similar, I'd strongly urge a potential buyer to take advantage of Amazon's Look Inside! feature and purchase the one whose format and writing style most suits your literary taste.