Hi, one of our fellow forum members suggested I get Happiest Toddler on the Block to help in reducing the amount and / or intensity of my daughter ( twenty-one months ) outbursts. I would love to hear from any other members who have used this or similar programs. Please let me know what your results have been and whether you feel they were beneficial to your family.
Thank you all for your comments in advance!
i dont know about the book yet but i have just been looking in to it and here is a synopsis i found on it!
"Toddlers can drive you bonkers…so adorable and fun one minute…so stubborn and demanding the next! Yet, as unbelievable as it sounds, there is a way to turn the daily stream of “nos†and “don’ts†into “yeses†and hugs…if you know how to speak your toddler’s language. In one of the most useful advances in parenting techniques of the past twenty-five years, Dr. Karp reveals that toddlers, with their immature brains and stormy outbursts, should be thought of not as pint-size people but as pintsize…cavemen.
Having noticed that the usual techniques often failed to calm crying toddlers, Dr. Karp discovered that the key to effective communication was to speak to them in their own primitive language. When he did, suddenly he was able to soothe their outbursts almost every time! This amazing success led him to the realization that children between the ages of one and four go through four stages of “evolutionary†growth, each linked to the development of the brain, and each echoing a step in prehistoric humankind’s journey to civilization:
• The “Charming Chimp-Child†(12 to 18 months): Wobbles around on two legs, grabs everything in reach, plays a nonstop game of “monkey see monkey do.â€
• The “Knee-High Neanderthal†(18 to 24 months): Strong-willed, fun-loving, messy, with a vocabulary of about thirty words, the favorites being “no†and “mine.â€
• The “Clever Caveman†(24 to 36 months):
Just beginning to learn how to share, make friends, take turns, and use the potty.
• The“Versatile Villager†(36 to 48 months): Loves to tell stories, sing songs and dance, while trying hard to behave.
To speak to these children, Dr. Karp has developed two extraordinarily effective techniques:
- The “fast food†rule—restating what your child has said to make sure you got it right;
- The four-step rule—using gesture, repetition, simplicity, and tone to help your
irate Stone-Ager be happy again.
Once you’ve mastered “toddler-ese,†you will be ready to apply behavioral techniques specific to each stage of your child’s development, such as teaching patience and calm, doing time-outs (and time-ins), praise through “gossiping,†and many other strategies. Then all the major challenges of the toddler years—including separation anxiety, sibling rivalry, toilet training, night fears, sleep problems, picky eating, biting and hitting, medicine taking — can be handled in a way that will make your toddler feel understood. The result: fewer tantrums, less yelling, and, best of all, more happy, loving time for you and your child. "
I have bought this book and the DVD as well, actually I am just planning to us his method to handle my gal’s emotion problem if any when she turns into her terrible 2 stage. The method stated by this author is quite different from the usual thought I have so far heard and thought I got no experience in using his method but I got used his method in how to handling the baby in his happiest baby on the block and it comes out to be amazing sucess. Thus I believe that it will be better to get prepare to read his happiest toddler on the block in my case.
Thank you both for the responses. I am hopeful that it will prove a valuable help in diffusing tantrums!
I read the Happiest Baby on the Block and found it be very gentle yet effective. The author had many great suggestions, and provided details on how to implement the suggestions. If/when I reach the terrible 2 stage I would buy the Happiest Toddler on the block. I have confidence in the author.