Jeffrey Bernstein - 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child: The Breakthrough Program for Overcoming Your Childs Difficult Behavior

Table of Contents

Dr. Bernstein has written a truly impressive book about dealing with angry, defiant children and adolescents. His astute, empathic insights about these youngsters and his practical, sensible suggestions for lessening their defiance and increasing their cooperation will be of assistance not only to parents but to teachers and mental health professionals as well. This book will serve as an invaluable resource for adults raising or working with defiant children and adolescents.

ROBERT BROOKS, PhD, Faculty, Harvard Medical School
and co-author, Raising Resilient Children

Heres a unique, straightforward approach for resolving difficult behavior THAT MAKES SENSE! Dr. Bernstein shows the reader how to achieve what all parents and children really wanta quality, loving relationship.

JAMES D. SUTTON, EdD, psychologist and author of If My Kids So Nice,
Whys He Driving ME Crazy? and 101 Ways to Make Your Classroom Special

This readable book helps empower parents to raise cooperative and happy children. Dr. Bernstein tells parents what to do, not just what not to do. By using calm firmness and dependable discipline, parents can break the cycle that allows (or reinforces) defiance in children. Dr. Bernstein understands families and helps parents get their children moving in the right direction.

SAMUEL KNAPP, Director of Professional Affairs,
Pennsylvania Psychological Association

10 Days to a Less Defiant Child is a must read for parents and educators alike! In short order, Dr. Bernstein has masterfully created a program which allows parents to improve family and school relationships by giving them the user friendly tools necessary to address long-term child defiance. Familial support, positive reinforcement and a team approach that includes working with school staff are the cornerstones that make this work rise to the top. Every school psychologist and every educator who deals with defiant children should have a copy of this book in their libraries!

IVAN J. KATZ, EdD, Superintendent of Schools,
Eldred Central School District, Eldred, New York

What a much needed resource for parents experiencing the frustration of raising a defiant child! This book provides insights into why some children and teens reject rules and resist authority, but more importantly, provides an easy-to-implement plan to manage these negative behaviors. The information on ADHD and other disorders is particularly valuable. The sooner you get started with Dr. Bernsteins plan, the sooner you will have a more peaceful home.

MARIE PAXSON, coordinator of a support group
for parents of children and teens with ADHD

Parents need to go no further; this book is THE resource book for parents of defiant and challenging children. 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child empathizes and actively supports parents like myselfwho have looked fruitlessly for helpin making changes in ourselves in order to help our children live more comfortably in the world. This book should be on the shelf of every parent, mental health professional and educator. A unique approach that should become a classic!

JUDITH ROTH, MSW, LISW

Defiance seems to be on the rise, but now parents have one more great resource to bring peace to their home and to their childrens lives. In 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child, Dr. Bernstein offers practical, straightforward advice that is solidly grounded in psychological theory and practice. Parents will find something useful on every page.

ARI TUCKMAN, PsyD, MBA, clinical psychologist
and co-chair of ADHDbalance.net

Dr. Bernstein has accomplished the difficult task of writing a practical and readable book that will be a very valuable tool for parents. It is a potpourri of good ideas for intervening with a difficult child in an enthusiastic and positive way. I highly recommend this book!

CLARE B. JONES, PhD, Diagnostic Specialist in ADHD,
Member of National CHADD Professional Advisory Board,
and author of Practical Suggestions for ADHD

JEFFREY BERNSTEIN, PHD, is a licensed psychologist specializing in child and family therapy in the Philadelphia area. He has helped over a thousand defiant children and their families restore their relationships. A well-known relationship expert and the author of Why Cant You Read My Mind?, Bernstein lives outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

You knew that parenting wouldnt be easy, but never in your wildest dreams did you think it would be this hard! You are probably reading this book because you feel exhausted and at your wits end. Your child is defiant and he is driving you up a wall. He is colossally resistant to following even the simplest requests. He is moody, seriously stubborn, overly dramatic, rude, and disrespectfulnot every once in a while, but quite often. He doesnt just question your authority, he actually thinks he has just as much authority as you do. Lets be clear: all parents deal with children who challenge them by occasionally being difficult. Defiant children, however, take the challenges to a whole new level. Youve probably spent a lot of time trying to figure what makes your child tick. Where does this intense anger come from? What caused her short fuse and vindictive attitude and behaviors? Youve probably had to watch these defiant behaviors interfere with your childs learning, school adjustment, outside interests, and relationships with others. At times you may even marvel at the extent to which your child is in denial about the situation. Does he really believe that you, his teachers, and even his friends are so unfair? Ill bet youve tried countless strategies, but still the situation isnt getting better. Youre burned out and youre desperate for a solution and a normal family life.

If this sounds familiar, youve come to the right place. Over the past twenty years, I have been privileged to work with more than a thousand families struggling with defiant children. In that time, I have gotten many important and valuable insights about how to help defiant children, and the distressed parents and families who walk on eggshells around them. On a personal level, I have also learned a great deal about parenting as the father of three children, ages ten, twelve, and fourteen.

I applaud you for taking the initiative to read 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child. You will find that this book is loaded with powerful strategies and techniques that will help you significantly reduce your childs level of defiance. You will learn why defiant kids act the way they do and why defiance is so destructive to the family, and you will discover step-by-step how to reduce the defiant behavior and improve your relationship with your child. I will give you tips and exercises to help you evaluate your own behaviors and respond to your defiant child in a more constructive manner. Many of my counseling clients have accomplished these goals, and I know you can, too. Please note: My ten-day program is designed for children from ages four to eighteen. For the purposes of this text, I use the term child to represent this entire age group. Many examples from my psychology private practice appear in this book. All names and identifying information were changed to protect confidentiality.