The 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for 2 – 12 year olds book is a highly successful parenting book that has been written by Thomas W. Phelan, a clinical psychologist. The book is easy to read, short and to the point with less than 200 pages which is great for parents who don’t get a lot of free time to read between juggling the kids, work and household duties.
This book has been around for a number of years but is still available from many book shops and online as it is a popular resource for many parents. Phelan has provided a very concise way of parenting which has been backed up by the many testimonies of people from teachers and counsellors to mums who have all had success by using the techniques in this book.
The 1-2-3 Magic book is centred around discipline which is used to either stop a bad behaviour or to start a good behaviour with the child. Bad behaviours include things such as throwing tantrums, whinging and pouting while good behaviours are positive things that a child can do in a short amount of time such as packing up toys, cleaning their teeth and hanging up clothing.
The basic skills that are learnt to deal with children include counting, consistency, rest period and no talking / no emotion. These skills form the basis of the discipline and are important for everyone in the house hold to learn. The counting rule involves the use of 1,2 and 3 and then 5 for a rest period. The book explains that these basic rules are to create a calmer house and will leave you with less frustration.
The rest period that is mentioned is also an important part of the program. This interruption in the activities of the child is important and should be taken in a place other than where the child misbehaved. From this rule the no talking and no emotion part of the book is important as the author stresses that too much emotion can easily escalate the situation.
The 1-2-3- Magic book also has chapters on testing and manipulation which covers some of the things that parents should be prepared for when implementing some or all of the rules listed in this book. There is also a chapter on building self esteem in your child which demonstrates how praise and showing approval can have a great influence on children and their behaviour.
The 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for 2 – 12 year olds has been written with easy to understand examples and also explains each of the discipline techniques very clearly. Many positive reviews of families that have read and implemented the rules mentioned make this book a must for families looking to try another approach with their children.
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