Alan E. Kazdin with Carlo Rotella: The Kazdin Method for Parenting the Defiant Child: With no Pills, no Therapy, no Contest of Wills

Excerpt

Children with behavior problems present a unique set of challenges for parents, family members, teachers and mental health professionals. We all know children who seem out of control no matter what their parents do, and we can think of times when we have wished that parents would keep their children quiet, such as in restaurants, on the airplane, in movies, in supermarkets or malls. Unfortunately, teaching a child how to behave appropriately is sometimes easier said than done; often, parents resort to all kinds of tactics with little or no long term success. In the long run, many of these strategies tend to make their child’s behavior worse and, as a result, parents become angry, stressed out, and occasionally resort to physical means of discipline in an effort to maintain a sense of balance, harmony, and even sanity in their households and daily lives. …