The Explosive Child  Ross W. Greene, Ph.D. Second Edition, 2001. New York, HarperCollins, 2001.	The cover calls this “a new approach for understanding and parenting easily frustrated, chronically inflexible children”. It is. Dr. Greene is one of the quiet revolutionaries in our field, and a truly innovative thinker.   Put an ordinary kid in time out for pushing his sister, and he grimly sits through his ten minutes, and maybe remembers not to shove her for a while. Do that enough times, and he gets the message. Pushing becomes less of a problem. Send an easily frustrated, chronically inflexible child to the same time out, and parents face hours with a swearing, biting, spitting, out of control kid. Send him to time out again, get another meltdown. Nothing improves.   I spent 20 years of my career failing with those unhappy children, because the standard approaches are recipes for more meltdowns, more frustration and more discontent in the house. From Dr. Greene, I’ve learned a better way. There are no miracles, but there is hope.   Dr. Greene argues that these kids have problems in how they think, problems that get much worse when they are frustrated or angry. The parent’s task is not to control the child, but to keep them thinking. The primary tools are ways of talking about problems that relieve the kid’s frustration while engaging him in thinking instead of acting out. It’s hard work, but it can be very effective.
The Organized Student. Donna Goldbert (with Jenniefer Zwiebel), New York, Simon and Schuster, 2005	Here is practical advice for the parents of kids who forget their books, can’t find the assignment sheets, don’t remember what day the paper is due, or even worse, leave completed work crumpled in the backpack instead of turning it in. As the author points out, these problems often emerge as soon as the student starts traveling from class to class during the day, typically in middle school.   The first author is a professional organizer, and the style of the book is very much like any number of similar works about organization for adults. Her special focus is kids, and her specific and clear suggestions are usually spot on. She demonstrates a nice feel for the many students who struggle to get through a school day, because they don’t know how to organize their work space or their use of time. She makes it clear that these skills can be taught but that it takes a while. She shows parents how to do the teaching, and sets reasonable expectations for success along the way.   There is no research base for this book, and no way of knowing what portion of parents or kids might successfully implementing the approach. Still. I was impressed that the author had a realistic idea of what was possible. The book is well planned, and written at a high school reading level.
Nanny 911: Expert Advice for all Your Parenting Emergencies. Deborah Carroll and Stella Reid (With Karen Moline), New York, 10 ReaganBooks, 2005.	I had never watched the popular program, Nanny 911, until a friend of mine, a child psychiatrist, told me he thought it was terrific. So I tuned it in, and was very surprised by what I found – good, sound, basic parenting advice delivered in a way that demonstrates that real changes can be made.    Their new book follows suit. Be advised – there is nothing new in these pages, and it is not appropriate for the sort of child described above in the review for The Explosive Child. The advice given here is fairly standard, but it’s good advice, the kind good psychologists have been giving for 20 years. Make consistent rules and communicate them clearly. Follow through consistently, without yelling or hitting. Use time out. Talk to your kids, and listen. Put daily life on a predictable schedule, and make parenting a real priority, rather than the last thing you attend to. Teach your kids to take deep breaths when they’re angry, and tell them you love them every day.   What the Nannies do especially well is communicate in a clear style, with lots of examples and a pithy, no-nonsense style, e.g. “You’ve got to be firm, not angry. Don’t yell. Believe me, yelling never works.”   The book is well organized and highly readable, at about a high school reading level. It has lots of dialog, good pictures, and not a lot of filler such as parent forms and questionnaires.