The Brat Stops Here!: 5 Weeks (or Less) to No More Tantrums, Arguing, or Bad Behavior

by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen

In her private practice, Mary-Elaine Jacobsen worked with thousands of parents to help them with their defiant, obnoxious, and challenging children. By following her program parents have seen their children's arguing, tantrums, and disobedience come to an end.In THE BRAT STOPS HERE, Dr. Jacobsen comprehensively outlines her program for giving parents the essential tools they need to set limits and expectations and follow through with their kids when they cross the line. The key to Dr. Jacobsen's program is the Privileges On/Privileges Off approach. When a child does not comply with the rules of the house (which are carefully explained to the child in an age appropriate manner), he or she loses all privileges and must earn them back by apologizing, acknowledging what they would do differently, doing what was asked of them in the first place, and performing an additional chore. Following this approach consistently over the course of five weeks will have a dramatic effect on the household--including reducing tension in the interaction between parents and children, developing skills that will help children get along better at home and at school, and laying the foundation for children to become self-sufficient, responsible adults.

Genres: Parenting

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 24, 2006

Reviews

[Starla Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with a lot of information and guidance. I highly recommend.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book but I still wasn't really sure how to get my 8-year-old to stop his bratty behavior.

There was a list of things that parents MUST provide for their child: Adequate shelter (which doesn't mean a professionally decorated bedroom filled with play things), adequate clothing (which doesn't mean name brand stuff), adequate food (which doesn't mean eating out or treats), access to education (which doesn't mean driving your child to school if they miss the bus or taking homework to them at school if they left it at home), access to health care, and NO abuse. I think my child often forgets that he has so many things to make his life comfortable. It was nice to read him this list and tell him that I could take away alot of things if that would make him better behaved.

I also liked the idea of making a bubble chart when there's a problem. You put the problem in the bubble and have your child think of things (good and bad) that could solve the problem. Then talk about what would be the best choice to make.

I have a child who gets easily overstimulated so I also liked her idea of watching for signals and having him sit down and sort something (beads, rocks, ribbons, etc) into piles (according to sizes, colors, etc) to calm him down. I haven't tried this yet but it sounds great if it really works!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great visualization and illustration of what to do when your children can be a bit unbearable. The author is great in detailing in a consistent plan of how to begin and follow through with a behavioral/chores chart and also with great understanding of why children may at times misbehave. Also contain great examples of what the author's patients endured and how they follow through with their plans. This is a better guide to use for children 6 and older years of age. Arrangements of guidelines should be made age-appropriate for each individual family.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had highly aggressive strategies in discipline that I didn't agree with. I thought the chapter on behaviors to ignore/engage in was very useful, but other than that this was not the type of parenting I would strive for.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't remember ANYTHING About this book.. and my kid is still a brat. HA HA.

[LoriAnn Kocialski · Rating 1 out of 5]

I so DO NOT agree with this authors view on how to raise a better child! I don;t see how ignoring a child's bad behavior is going to make them stop doing it! I DID try and it does not work!