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Rating: 
Summary: These techniques really work!
Review: As an educational therapist and parent of two children, I found this book to be helpful both for my clients and my family. The ideas make sense and implementing them is straight-forward. I tried several of the ideas at home to see if they are easier than they sound...wow...instant changes in problem behaviors! For example, my four year old would not stay in bed at bedtime. Offering her an incentive (5 pennies if she stayed in bed), and a consequence (lose a penny for each time out of bed) stopped the behavior in one night. 90 minutes of arguing to zero on the first try. I highly recommend this book to parents of easy and not so easy kids.
Rating:
Summary: These techniques really work!
Review: As an educational therapist and parent of two children, I found this book to be helpful both for my clients and my family. The ideas make sense and implementing them is straight-forward. I tried several of the ideas at home to see if they are easier than they sound...wow...instant changes in problem behaviors! For example, my four year old would not stay in bed at bedtime. Offering her an incentive (5 pennies if she stayed in bed), and a consequence (lose a penny for each time out of bed) stopped the behavior in one night. 90 minutes of arguing to zero on the first try. I highly recommend this book to parents of easy and not so easy kids.
Rating: 
Summary: Not very realistic.
Review: I read all of these reviews prior to purchasing this book. I remember reading the review from the woman who mentioned that this book wasn't helpful for her as her child has AD/HD and bi-polar disorder. I didn't let this review stop me from buying the book, as there were other positive reviews from parents that didn't have children with ADHD.I wish I would have heeded the warning from the mother of the ADHD child. I should NOT have purchased this book. I have a son with ADHD, and I bought the book. There were a few good tips here and there... but the book was overall upsetting and insulting to me. The expectations this author has of her 9 year old son with ADHD is ridiculous! The book is written with commentaries from the author (mother of child with ADHD) the son, and the therapist. The mom is SO hard on the son. Her list of rules is endless. Even the therapist mentioned on several occasions that the parents rules are too extensive. As I was reading the book, I thought that the mother would listen to the therapist and lighten up her expectations of the child. NO. She siimply demanded that the son follow her rules -- all two million of them. After everything I have read about children with ADHD -- if you follow the advice of this author/mother, you will overwhelm your child and push them away. The author makes her son out to be an animal because he can't follow her unrealistic set of rules. At 9 years old with ADHD, she expects him to do the following every morning: Get up, get dressed, make bed, get breakfast, eat breakfast, clean up dishes & empty the dishwasher if needed, brush teeth, comb hair, kisses, depart for school bus. And this was her list after she pared it down upon the suggestion of her therapist! Give me a break! Perhaps this book would be helpful to the parent of a child with out ADHD... but I didn't find it very helpful as the parent of a chld with ADHD. The unrealistic expectations of this author/mother were a huge turn-off for me. If you are the parent of a child with ADHD, I do not recommend this book. The author/mother is the source of the chaos in this book, not her son -- the child with ADHD. I would like to see this author/mother walk a mile in her son's shoes, and see how it feels to follow her rules.
Rating:
Summary: Good For All Families
Review: This book is SO useful, and you certainly don't need to have an ADHD or unusually challenging child to benefit from its advice. Our family found that even with nickle-and-dime problems like young teenaged girls "borrowing" each other's stuff, this book helped us out of the unending cycle of the kids doing something wrong and then us punishing them with everyone being angry at each other. The advice in the book is very specific and while you do need to be disciplined about your follow-through, it doesn't take the practice and special training of the "How To Talk So Your Kids Will Listen" approach (although there's nothing in here that would contradict that method; you could certainly work on them together). This is not "holier than thou" book. The mother is very open about all the mistakes she has made and all the things that she will never be able to do perfectly. She's also honest about the times when she and her husband started to let things slide again and how they got themselves back on track. That was reassuring. The goal here is not to have a perfect family, but one that works better. It is also a moving book. The little boy has written some sections, and if you think you hate yelling at your kids, his parts will remind you that it is even worse to be yelled at. I'm sorry that all the links are to ADHD books because I really do think that any family can benefit from this book. What child isn't challenging?
Rating:
Summary: A Practical and Compassionate Approach to Helping Your Child
Review: This book may be useful for children with only ADD with no hyperactivity or children not suffering from any biological problems. But if you define chaos by not remembering to turn off lights or flush the toilet or by forgetting homework, then I don't think you truely know what chaos is. I live with a ADHD and Bipolar child who truely causes chaos in my home, including hitting, slamming doors, throwing things, cutting his sister's hair, climbing out the window, etc., and he is only six. This book did not help me at all. It made me cry and wish I just had the problems they discussed. If you have true chaos choose another book. The Explosive Child by Ross Greene helped me a lot.
Rating:
Summary: How do you define chaos?
Review: This book may be useful for children with only ADD with no hyperactivity or children not suffering from any biological problems. But if you define chaos by not remembering to turn off lights or flush the toilet or by forgetting homework, then I don't think you truely know what chaos is. I live with a ADHD and Bipolar child who truely causes chaos in my home, including hitting, slamming doors, throwing things, cutting his sister's hair, climbing out the window, etc., and he is only six. This book did not help me at all. It made me cry and wish I just had the problems they discussed. If you have true chaos choose another book. The Explosive Child by Ross Greene helped me a lot.
Rating:
Summary: A Practical and Compassionate Approach to Helping Your Child
Review: This excellent book helps parents in a practical way to approach understanding and "solving" problems their child/children with ADHD may have with coping with learning and life. Parents are guided through the process of identifying the difficulties their child is having and also with identifying the resources to help them set up mechanisms with which the child and the family can develop successful school and social careers. This book is down-to-earth and practical. And, through the voice of Theodore, Dr. Heininger's son, we are given insights into the emotional turmoil ADHD can create in a child. Very helpful, and highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful resource for parenting ideas
Review: This is one of the best parenting books I have read. Don't let the title dissuade you from thinking that this book is only for families with ADHD children. It provides many ideas for organizing and structuring family life to reduce stress and lower the amount of yelling. The ideas are constructive and positive while the roles of punishment and negative re-enforcement are minimalized. A few of the ideas Sharon Weiss, the second author, gave me helped with getting my children to do their chores and teaching them how to structure their time so homework, getting out of the house in the morning and bedtime are not so laborous and time intensive. The ideas presented are helpful for younger age children not yet able to read to teenager.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful resource for parenting ideas
Review: This is one of the best parenting books I have read. Don't let the title dissuade you from thinking that this book is only for families with ADHD children. It provides many ideas for organizing and structuring family life to reduce stress and lower the amount of yelling. The ideas are constructive and positive while the roles of punishment and negative re-enforcement are minimalized. A few of the ideas Sharon Weiss, the second author, gave me helped with getting my children to do their chores and teaching them how to structure their time so homework, getting out of the house in the morning and bedtime are not so laborous and time intensive. The ideas presented are helpful for younger age children not yet able to read to teenager.
Rating:
Summary: The Preeminent "How To" on Parenting Difficult Children
Review: Want THE ABCs of how to handle difficult children? This book is it. In addition to explaining WHY certain children act out in ways that can be frustrating to parents - it explains HOW to proactively handle such situations. The book begins with an eye-opening beginning: The voice of a 12 year old child who is a client of behavior expert Sharon Weiss. The child's mother and book's co-author, Janet Heininger, then personally relates her journey through difficult behavior with her son. Finally, the practitioner, Sharon Weiss provides a professional explanation of WHAT is happening between the parent and child, WHY, and specific 1., 2., 3., steps for HOW to handle such a situation. This incredibly illustrative style is repeated in each chapter and - by the end of the book - YOU feel like the expert. All descriptions and instructions are put forth in clear,non-clinical terms. A truly empowering book that I would recommend for any parent or professional.
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