8 Weeks To a Well-Behaved Child: A Failsafe Program for Toddlers Through Teens

by James Windell

Provides guidance for parents on a range of child behavioral problems, from simple disobedience to criminal delinquency, and demonstrates how to implement an eight-step program that encompasses parenting skills and improved parent-child relations. Reprint.

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

James Windell, M.A., is a writer, college instructor and editor. He also has a consulting business called My Personal Editor.

As a writer, Mr. Windell wrote the weekly newspaper column Coping With Kids for the Staten Island (NY) Advance and the Oakland Press for more than 28 years. He also wrote the Coping With Kids column in Working Mother Magazine. In addition, he has published journal articles on juvenile justice and criminal justice, and has written several booklets on such topics as children's self-esteem, discipline, and hyperactivity. He has been writing non-fiction books since 1991 and has published 38 books. He has been the editor of The Michigan Psychologist for 15 years. In addition, he has been editing and consulting with authors and writers for several years.


His first book, Discipline: A Sourcebook of 50 Failsafe Techniques for Parents, was published by Macmillan in 1991. He subsequently published 8 Weeks to a Well-Behaved Child (Macmillan/Hungry Minds, Inc., 1994) and several other parenting books.


In addition to parenting books, he has authored or co-authored books on such topics as divorce, ADHD, child psychology, writing a dissertation, grief and loss and criminal justice.

Some of his more recent books are A Widow’s Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice for the First Five Years (Sourcebooks, 2015); Crime and Intelligence Analysis: An Integrated Real-Time Approach (CRC Press, 2016); Who Shaped the American Criminal Justice System: Innovators and Pioneers (Cognella Publishing, 2018); Cognitive Behavior Protocols for Medical Settings: A Clinician’s Guide (Routledge, 2018); Juvenile Delinquency in American Society: Race, Class and Politics (Cognella Publishing, 2019).
His most recent book is Sentencing Youth to Life in Prison: Justice Denied (Routledge, 2022).

He has written two plays and edited a novel.


Mr. Windell earned his Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology at Oakland University (Rochester, MI). He has been a consultant to various juvenile court programs, the State of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Social Services, and to daycare and preschool programs. He has run parenting classes at the Haven, a domestic violence shelter for women and children in Pontiac, MI. He has been a court psychologist and run high-conflict divorce groups and anger management programs for adolescent delinquents.

Since 1991, Mr. Windell has appeared on over 185 radio and television programs including CNN, The Company Show, Gerry Spence, and The Donahue Show. Reviews and articles about his books and his work with parents have appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Detroit News, Working Mother Magazine, Child Magazine, Parent Magazine, Parents Digest, and many other publications. His book 8 Weeks to a Well-Behaved Child was a best seller.

He teaches criminal justice classes at Wayne State University and Oakland University. He lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan with his wife, Jane, a speech and language pathologist and Director of the Early Childhood Education Department at Schoolcraft College.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worked like a charm. Things were 100% better by chapter 4. It is more in a parent training program than a child training program. It was almost miraculous once I got my behavior under control there was a complete turn around in my child's behavior

[Melinda]

This book had some great ideas. It is a good refresher and puts you back in the right path. Week One was especially eye opening. It gets hard as each week goes on and you have to remember to do so many things. Near the end I felt like I was part of some scary science experiment. It felt so mechanical, technical. I take away the good and cast away the rest. I am a better parent for having read it. And my children are better behaved because I am better parent.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this as a tool when working with families and it was easy for families to follow along. I think it helps parents start to change how they approach their children and how they think about parenting instead of simply giving a "do this and this will happen" type of intervention.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

wow, I am only half way done with this 8 week course but I have already seen changes in our family.