Rating: 
Summary: Terrible advice
Review: After reading the reviews posted by other parents, I bought this book hoping for some sound advice on discipline techniques for my 22 month old. I was astounded by the methods that Dr. Green suggests. His advice for the majority of situations is to "smack" the child. This is exactly what I am trying to avoid in disciplining my child. And his advice for keeping your child in his/her room when put to bed or sent to time-out is to tie one end of a rope around the door handle and tie the other end to something else so the door will only open slightly. Is that supposed to be professional advice?? That sounds almost abusive to me. In addition to what I consider poor advice, the book was written in the 1980's and seems a little out of date in several instances. If you are considering this book and are looking for alternatives to smacking your child or tying them in their rooms, I suggest you look for another book.
Rating: 
Summary: One pediatrician's opinion
Review: As a pediatrician and a parent of three children, I can't say enough good about this book. The advice is simple and practical, the behavioral hints are valuable, and while Dr. Green endorses limited corporal punishment, you don't have to agree with him to benefit from this book. I also appreciated the gentle humor. This is not a book that worships at the altar of childhood. It is one that depicts childhood as being an interim state on the way to adulthood. The child has to grow and learn, and the parents have to teach. Pretending otherwise, as too many "child development" books do, does everyone a disservice. Especially for difficult children, I also like the fact that Dr. Green recognizes the different ways that parents may have to cope. Some children are naturally less tractable than others. But even severely developmentally delayed children benefit from simple, humane parenting. This book was a useful guide.
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Summary: Thank you, Dr. Green
Review: Dr Green's approach to taming toddlers has changed helped me so much: within a week of reading his book & applying his methods to my 32 month old, my house became a happier place. Dr. Green defines the parameters, behavior & rules that are important to work on now & what we can wait to do later. His approach to working with children is funny & totally reasonable. The things that work best seem so obvious in hindsight, but I was too overwhelmed by "my little angel" to work it out on my own. My husband & I don't discuss behavioral problems every night over dinner anymore.
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Summary: A great help for parents
Review: Helpful, full of humour and good advice on how to deal with Supermarket tantrums and other toddler tricks. Was a great help to us in raising our 2 great kids, most importantly took away a lot of worries. Read it !
Rating:
Summary: A Pernicious, dangerous book
Review: How I hate to give a bad review - but here goes... This book is pernicious and dangerous, but sadly because it tells parents what they may want to hear, some of them will buy it. Why is my response to this book so strong? I am biased. I believe hitting children when they are naughty is abusive and counter-productive. This book does nothing to cure me of my view on this matter - in fact I find the discussion on punishment here to be yet another example of a circular argument. Instead, think of it this way: if I smack you I am inescapably conveying the message that it's OK to be violent. I am also telling you that it's OK for big powerful people to push smaller people around. With the best will in the world, these are the opposite of the messages I actually want to convey, but children pick up on what adults do more than on what they say. People might say 'what happens when there's no alternative?' but there are always alternatives. Smacking is the resort of parents at the end of their tether. It is an admission of failure, which may 'work' in the short term but will only cause more problems in the long term. It represents a lack of imagination on the part of the parent, and there is always a better way. How can I say this? Only because I am the parent of a toddler (and a three-month old baby), and I know at first hand how hard it can be. My toddler is a delightful little girl, as well as a frequent menace to society. If I want her to be even more of a delight and less of a menace she doesn't need 'taming' - she needs loving, and there's a world of difference. Obviously this is lost on Christopher Green, who seems to be of the 'I was thrashed to within an inch of my life and it never did me any harm' school of thought. Even if you wanted to read something that backs up your existing views on how great smacking is, I couldn't really recommend this, because Green doesn't give a coherent argument in defense of corporal punishment. Do yourself a favour: skip 'Toddler Taming' and read instead Adele Faber et al.'s 'How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk'. This is the best book available on bringing up emotionally healthy, happy children.
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Summary: At last, a doctor who understands!
Review: I am staggered at some of the negative reviews of Toddler Taming. I found this book simply wonderful. I've read numerous child care books and the writers always seem to talk down to you. Dr Green with his "if it feels right for you, then it is right" message is the first childcare writer I have read whom I feel really understands the problems that parents have with difficult toddlers. I've had four and our life has been helped immeasureably by this book. I would recommend it to anyone. Ignore the comments about trivialising and patronising the reader. He does nothing of the sort. He simply uses humor to get us through stressful situations and IT WORKS!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful and Refreshing
Review: I found this book to be not only very helpful but really refreshing.
Personally, I don't find it permissible for myself as a parent to hit my child at any time. But I still appreciated the fact that the author goes out on a politically incorrect limb and states that in the real world, in loving families, it does happen. He then address the issue in light of that fact. My personal belief is hitting would be counter-productive in the long-run. Children are professional imitators -- why create that whole can of worms to be opened later? But making that mistake doesn't constitute child abuse, it just isn't very clever. The other suggestions he makes, which other reviewers have labelled abusive, are about stopping anger from escalating. If everyone did this real child abuse would actually be prevented.
His main message is don't be drawn into battle. And he gives advice on how to achieve that. I've found it very helpful and been feeling really confident as of late. Since I've been trying out his suggestions, e.g., distraction, my 19-month-old daughter hasn't had a full-blown tantrum yet. Instead of dreading entering the two-stage, I'm now looking forward to it.
All the positive said, even though it is a nice change not having the author sound sanctimonious, I do find the author's tone somewhat off-putting. It is a bit rough?? Too familiar?? Can't exactly place my finger on it, but it doesn't warrant that 'my bible' status. So I giving it four instead of five stars. Plus, I think the (excellent) ideas in this book are pretty wide-spread, so this particular book isn't really a rare gem. Still, it's clear and very easy to read. I really enjoyed it and I would definitely highly recommend this book.
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Summary: encourages parents to opt out
Review: I had a hard time getting through this book. It was very condescending to parents, and instead of tackling the difficult issues it offered "excuses" for parents to opt out. instead of offering tools to deal with toddler problems it suggested spanking, crying-it-out, and drugging children to make them sleep at night. (something our community needs LESS of - not more doctor endorsed drug problems) It also makes fun of some of the issues which seem very important to little people and acts as if they are conniving little brats who are always trying to get the upper hand and continually trying to undermine parents. In all conscience, I could not give this book away to get rid of it.
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Summary: Relief for the weary parent
Review: I have only used the sleep system described in this book and that alone was worth at least 10 bucks. I was not aware of the mistakes we were making to adversely effect our daughters behavior. This book was obviously written by someone who has been there and knows that not all methods work on all children or all parents. I learned more effective ways of doing things in just 2 chapters than I did in reading entire books by different authors. Bravo!
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Summary: Helped me find a way to stay sane
Review: I loved this book. It was so down to earth and practical. I had been reading The Baby Book, and was into attachement parenting. Then my son hit 14 months and life suddenly kicked up a gear. I was tired, worn out from lack of sleep, suffering from no grown-up time with my partner, and shocked at the sudden change in my child. I felt like I was failing and struggling. My sister mentioned Dr Greens book, and I am pleased she did. It acknowledged that parenting is a tough job and kids can be horrible and show some pretty shocking behaviour. I realised I wasn't failing, my kid was normal!! This book uses humour and gives practical advice on how to deal with eating, tantrums, hitting, hair pulling, potty training and all the other stuff your kids can pull out if the hat. It deals with sibling rivlary, effects of relationship break-ups, pre-school, common illnesses. Yes, ok he does endorse smacking, but gives alternatives to deal with difficult, normal toddler behaviour. He also gives a real insight into toddlers motivations, and helps you keep your cool when dealing with tough issues. He reminds us what our aims are and not to get caught up in fire fighting as it is so easy to do. I recommend this book to everyone. Whether you agree with smacking or not, its a worthwhile resource. The book is so much more than that one issue. Its the most referred to parenting book on my bookshelf.
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