Help--My Kid is Driving Me Crazy: The 17 Ways Kids Manipulate Their Parents, and What You Can Do About It

by David Swanson

* WINNER OF THE NATIONAL PARENTING PUBLICATIONS HONORS AWARD*

Nationally respected child and family psychologist, Dr. David Swanson, offers parents clear and simple techniques for disarming the strategies kids use to manipulate them -- Thereby reducing conflict and restoring peace and happiness back into the home.

Every parent knows that children quickly learn how to manipulate in order to get what they want.  Now, this invaluable and insightful quick-reference book, written by a prominent clinical psychologist who regularly appears as an expert on television shows including The TODAY Show, The Early Show and EXTRA, identifies the 17 unique and specific ways children manipulate their parents as well as how to stop each tactic. These uncannily sophisticated and undermining strategies

Filled with informative and practical advice, this insightful, award-winning guide is designed to get parents the help they need in "5 minutes or less!"  If you are a parent desperate to put an end to the conflict and begin building a strong, loving relationship with your child, " Help " has arrived.

Genres: Parenting

240 pages, Paperback

First published July 23, 2009

About the author

Dr. David Swanson is a licensed clinical psychologist.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Amy Gebhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the young age of 4, my daughter is a master of negotiation (Let me do this just once and I will do _____ for you), and Steamrolling (Can I? Can I? Please? Please? How about now?). She is also working on adding Emotional Blackmail (I'll stay sad until you give me what I want) and Divide and Conquer (But Dad said... But Mom said...) into her repertoire. I thought this book was right on the money- I've definitely had a few of Dr. Swanson's example conversations before. I also really loved his countermeasures and think this book will be very helpful in keeping my emotions in check while having these "battles" in the future.

[Angela Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was scarily accurate, but better yet, it was incredibly efficient. All the other parenting books I've read concentrated on pointing out what the parents are doing and how to fix it and, while it made sense, it also made the solution feel really difficult. This one approached the problem from a different perspective and gives you real easy ideas for going about solving everyday frustrations. I would definitely recommend this to any parent, not just one like me who has a stong-willed child! LOL

[Karla Owen foisy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much new on the parenting arena....basic principles, while using alt of words, were keep calm while disciplining, don't feel the need to continue explaining yourself, and don't back down from original consequence. All great reminders, but not much in the book that hasn't been said before.

[Kenneth Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book on why your kids make you want to kill them. LOL

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good practical solutions to common behaviors.

[Miss Ryoko]

This is another book that doesn't apply to me (as I don't have demon spawn and never plan to have demon spawn), however, as a former pre-school teacher and still current child care giver, I definitely want to see if I agree with the 17 things this guy has to say. I bet I've seen all 17 of them in action!