Toddler Taming: A Survival Guide for Parents [Paperback]

Dr. Christopher Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 1985

At last here is practical advice--mixed with humor--for how to cope with those difficulties that turn your sweet baby into a holy terror, including: toilet training, tantrums and other tricks, sleep problems, fidgets, and more. Featuring special advice for working mothers and single parents, TODDLER TAMING strives to calm your fears, with advice that really works!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

At last here is practical advice--mixed with humor--for how to cope with those difficulties that turn your sweet baby into a holy terror, including: toilet training, tantrums and other tricks, sleep problems, fidgets, and more. Featuring special advice for working mothers and single parents, TODDLER TAMING strives to calm your fears, with advice that really works!

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449901556
• ISBN-13: 978-0449901557
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.5 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Pernicious, dangerous book, March 14, 2001

By 

R. Griffiths "bookchoice" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Toddler Taming: A Survival Guide for Parents (Paperback)

How I hate to give a bad review - but here goes...

This book is pernicious and dangerous, but sadly because it tells parents what they may want to hear, some of them will buy it.

Why is my response to this book so strong? I am biased. I believe hitting children when they are naughty is abusive and counter-productive. This book does nothing to cure me of my view on this matter - in fact I find the discussion on punishment here to be yet another example of a circular argument. Instead, think of it this way: if I smack you I am inescapably conveying the message that it's OK to be violent. I am also telling you that it's OK for big powerful people to push smaller people around. With the best will in the world, these are the opposite of the messages I actually want to convey, but children pick up on what adults do more than on what they say. People might say 'what happens when there's no alternative?' but there are always alternatives. Smacking is the resort of parents at the end of their tether. It is an admission of failure, which may 'work' in the short term but will only cause more problems in the long term. It represents a lack of imagination on the part of the parent, and there is always a better way.

How can I say this? Only because I am the parent of a toddler (and a three-month old baby), and I know at first hand how hard it can be. My toddler is a delightful little girl, as well as a frequent menace to society. If I want her to be even more of a delight and less of a menace she doesn't need 'taming' - she needs loving, and there's a world of difference.

Obviously this is lost on Christopher Green, who seems to be of the 'I was thrashed to within an inch of my life and it never did me any harm' school of thought. Even if you wanted to read something that backs up your existing views on how great smacking is, I couldn't really recommend this, because Green doesn't give a coherent argument in defense of corporal punishment.

Do yourself a favour: skip 'Toddler Taming' and read instead Adele Faber et al.'s 'How to Talk so Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk'. This is the best book available on bringing up emotionally healthy, happy children.

54 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible advice, October 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Toddler Taming: A Survival Guide for Parents (Paperback)

After reading the reviews posted by other parents, I bought this book hoping for some sound advice on discipline techniques for my 22 month old. I was astounded by the methods that Dr. Green suggests. His advice for the majority of situations is to "smack" the child. This is exactly what I am trying to avoid in disciplining my child. And his advice for keeping your child in his/her room when put to bed or sent to time-out is to tie one end of a rope around the door handle and tie the other end to something else so the door will only open slightly. Is that supposed to be professional advice?? That sounds almost abusive to me.

In addition to what I consider poor advice, the book was written in the 1980's and seems a little out of date in several instances.

If you are considering this book and are looking for alternatives to smacking your child or tying them in their rooms, I suggest you look for another book.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a refreshing look at childrearing, July 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Toddler Taming: A Survival Guide for Parents (Paperback)

Thank goodness for Dr. Green's approach to raising toddlers. He uses common sense, humor and a comfortable knowledge about what makes our children tick at this age. As a parent, he recognizes the difficulties our dear ones can create, and as a professional (pediatrician and counselor for parents) he gives us nonthreatening advice on such issues as bedtime, sibling rivalry, tantrums, and general behavioral characteristics of children at this stage. By telling us parents what is reasonable to expect, he gives us room to raise or lower our expectations as need be. I cannot recommend this book too highly. It is clearly the BEST book on this topic that I have found, and I have read several.