Why Can't I get My Kids to Behave? by Parenting Made Practical/ TOS Review

How many times have you asked yourself  WHY your kids just won't behave??  I know that I have asked myself this question many times, probably have even asked my kids this question! 
When Parenting Made Practical sent me a copy of Why Can't I get My Kids to Behave? I was excited and ready to read it. 
I love to read parenting, marriage, homeschooling books, etc. I have read many other parenting books, so I wasn't sure if this book would just be more of the same sort of things I have already read.  I read this book cover to cover in about 3 days. The only time I have to read is usually in the bath tub, ( I know you can relate), so my copy is worn already. 

I could tell right away that this book was going to be good. First off I like the font size, which may or may not be important to you, but it is to me. I like a fairly large font, but not too large. I really don't like a font that is too small either. The perfect font size makes a book easy to read. 

Second of all it wasn't too far into the book that they were giving me ideas for practical things to do at home that would really help me.
 I will be reading through this again. I have already started reading it for a second time, actually, because you know how it goes when you are reading something for the first time, everything doesn't sink in. 
I really want you to know that this is not one of those books that, when the review is over, gets put up or forgotten about. Once this review is posted, I will still be reading this book and implementing it's ideas in our home. 
The first thing that stood out to me as a great idea was teaching your children to come to you when you call their name and to say "yes mom, I am coming", or something similar to that, and with a good attitude. It immediately made me think of how many times I have to call my 3 year olds name to get him to come to me, if he even comes! 
The second thing that stood out to me has more to do with my older son. I learned that if a child isn't doing what you ask, even if they are being polite or nice, still means that they are not being obedient. 
One example from the book was when the mom called her two children to the kitchen to eat their lunch. The boy came in and made a mess so while the mom was cleaning up the mess the daughter took her lunch to another room. Now most of us wouldn't think too much about this, and neither did the mom in the book, however, the children were called to the kitchen to eat. The child took her food to another room, which is not what the mom told them to do. 
I see SO much of this in my home with  my son. This really resonated with me, and I am seeing it even more after reading this book.   I can see how letting them get away with these little things leads them to think that they don't really have to obey. They've been getting away with it their whole lives!
Partial and delayed obedience are not obedience...
SO, your probably like me and saying OK, well that sounds good, but HOW do you make your children obey... For me, trying to get them to obey usually ends up in more of a fight than it's worth. 
Some of the advice the book gives is to take away what they are misusing, and DO NOT put a time limit on it. So, don't say you are grounded from your PlayStation for two weeks. Instead you tell them they will get it back when they have EARNED it back. They have to actually have an attitude change and start doing whatever it is that they weren't doing to get it taken away.  This could be shorter or longer than two weeks. But this way they are not just "riding out their sentence". 
Oh, something else that really hit home for me was not to front load our directions. So don't tell them...IF you don't do (whatever the case may be), you will be grounded, or don't say IF you do that again (so and so) will happen. Basically don't make idle threats. I feel that this is very important. I know I do this all of the time. 
Just yesterday I told my son something and he kept on as usual, and I said "No, I mean what I say and I won't go back on it". His response was "Not always". Boy did that hit home. 
So I will be working very hard on only saying what I mean, and making sure that I am willing to follow through with what I say, and that I don't go back on things, so that my children will know that I mean what I say and I expect them to listen. 
With my 3 year old I am going to start working on getting him to come to me the first time when I call his name. 
I highly suggest that you read this book. It is super practical and gives you some concrete things to start working on that I really feel will help you and your family. 
You can find this book HERE. It is only $9.95.  It is well worth the ten bucks. The price actually seems too low for the advice given. 
Parenting Made Practical has many other resources that you may be interested in as well.  After I read this book again and am confident in implementing the ideas given, I want to check out one of their other resources called Taming the Lecture Bug book and DVD set.

My fellow Crew Mates reviewed this book and several other products from Parenting Made Practical, such as Navigating the Rapids of Parenting DVD, Taming the Lecture Bug and Getting Your Kids to Think BOOK and DVD,  Dating, Courting and Choosing a Mate...What Works? DVD and Workbooks, and What Every Child Should Know Along the Way. 




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