Parent in Control: Restore Order in Your Home and Create a Loving Relationship with Your Adolescent [Paperback]

Gregory Bodenhamer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1995

Using common scenarios to demonstrate specific parenting techniques, a onetime probation officer offers a straightforward, tested program for maintaining control over adolescents without harsh discipline. 50,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bodenhamer, a former probation officer who is director of the Back in Control Center in Portland, Ore., believes we are confronting "the worst behaved generation of children in American history." For parents who need to retake charge of their children, he suggests a three-point focus based on "rule-based discipline, supervision and emotional attachment." Offering sound, practical advice on dealing with provocative and manipulative verbal challenges raised by teenagers and early adolescents, he presents a convincing case for giving highly detailed "job descriptions" to teens (if McDonald's has a 600-page operations manual for its employees, parents shouldn't shy from explaining precisely how to take out the garbage). Bodenhamer directly faces such incendiary issues as sex, substance abuse and peer pressure (including that from gangs). Frequently, however, he sounds a reactionary note, as when he rails against the American Civil Liberties Union as the nation's "most persistent enemy of adult authority" and cites "an inherited link between impulsive and immature unwed teenager parents and the impulsive and immature children to whom they give birth." While there is valuable help here, much of it sounds like the stuff of talk radio.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (October 6, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684807777
• ISBN-13: 978-0684807775
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #204,998 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Mother's Heart Who Knows!, October 2, 2000

By 

Pamela Fox (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parent in Control: Restore Order in Your Home and Create a Loving Relationship with Your Adolescent (Paperback)

EXCELLENT! Until my husband & I were given this wonderful book, along with his other book, "BACK IN CONTROL," we had exhausted countless hours in counseling, along with parenting book after book over the years, that didn't help, until Gregory Bodenhamers. I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! I have given so MANY copies to other struggling parents of teens, like our son, along with "preaching" his techniques & words of wisdom on a daily basis with other parents I have spoken too. I call them, My Parent Bibles! Personally meeting Mr. Bodenhamer in his "Back In Control" workshops, he has a delightful, unique, & very funny way of bringing his words/skills to other parents, professionals, or anyone who works with troubled/struggling teens. His dedication shows thru & his heart is in the right place! I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND his books! They have given us the first sense of HOPE we had desperately needed. My Son has had control of our house for years, but UNTIL I READ THIS BOOK, I NEVER realized, even being a Nurse, HOW CRUCIAL it was to have a set "STRUCTURE," "CLEARLY DEFINED Rules," "CONSISTENT FOLLOW-THRU," & understanding what "MONITORING at the LEVEL OF NEED," means! Nursing school never taught me anything like these insightful books, when it comes to dealing with difficult kids! HOORAY! For Gregory, saving the day, to help us parents find a BETTER way!

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My child was at rock bottom..., July 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Parent in Control: Restore Order in Your Home and Create a Loving Relationship with Your Adolescent (Paperback)

We thought we had done everything we could do to help steer our 14 year old son on track from his social as well as criminal behavior. We attended a court-ordered parenting class, and "Parent In Control" was one of the recommended readings. Thank goodness!!

This book really sees it from the parent's perspective...no glossing it over from a psychiatric point of view, just plain living with a child who refuses to abide by society's rules...household rules...or legal rules.

I only wish I had encountered a book like this when my child was 6.

This book tackles your child's behavior from a no-nonsense approach in all areas: school, legal system, home, society. Don't miss it!!

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a Great Book!, December 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Parent in Control: Restore Order in Your Home and Create a Loving Relationship with Your Adolescent (Paperback)

I have read over a dozen parenting books and this is by far the best. In fact, I was so engrossed in this book that I read it straight through in one sitting. The book is very straight forward, the message and method is easy to follow and, best of all, it works and is applicable to boys and girls. When I finished reading the book I sat down and talked with my teens about the main concepts of the Back in Control program. They expressed relief that "I" (as the parent) was back in control. Again, great book!