Jerry Wyckoff

I really, really like this book. It gives parents a rational approach to discipline which is neither overly soft nor overly harsh. And the way the book is organized makes it extraordinarily accessible and useful for nearly every behavioral problem you're likely to encounter with your child.

Rather than giving you a complete parenting philosophy and then expecting you to interpret each behavioral issue though the lens of that philosophy (which is how most parenting books are organized), this book is organized by problem, almost like a dictionary of bad child behavior. For example, let's say you're having issues with your child stealing. Instead of flipping through the book and wondering just how to apply what you've learned from it to that individual problem, you just look up "stealing." Under that entry, you get a definition of what the problem is, which transcends a mere dictionary definition to explain why children can have a problem with stealing (or lying, or sibling rivalry, or whatever the problem may be).

From there, you get ideas on how to prevent the behavior as well as ideas for how to solve the problem. But the book even goes beyond that and gives you some advice about what NOT to do, for example, don't call your child a "thief" because she may start self-identifying that way. And don't ask her if she stole something, because asking only encourages lying.

Finally, you get a case history in which the author recounts an incident of a child who exhibited the behavior, what the parents did at first to cope with the issue and what finally solved the problem.

As far as parenting guides go, this is probably the most useful one I own. It's very easy to find the specific information you need and it is full of practical advice that should help give you good strategies to solve almost any behavioral problem you're likely to encounter.

Note that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review as a part of the LibraryThing early reviewer's program.… (meer)

Overall, a useful and informative book for parents who may be tearing their hair out over a given issue. Geared towards parents of children in the 4-5 year old range with the first 4 chapters are short introductions to the Love and Limits methodology and terminology. The majority of this book is basically a reference guide for each of 43 "most common childhood behavior problems". Problems are defined, advice is given on how to prevent the problem, do's and don'ts are given on how to deal with the problem when it happens, and a case study is described. I received this book in a Librarythings giveaway.… (meer)