Christopher Green - Toddler Taming: A Parents Guide to the First Four Years

Thanks to:

My wife, Dr Hilary Green, who had a natural instinct for toddler taming and whose clever ideas, found throughout this book, make parents feel valued and understood.

My boys, James and Tim, who in their toddlerdom taught me to expect the unexpected. Without their inventiveness this book would have contained much less practical wisdom. Now grown up and always much loved.

Jon Attenborough, a publisher who believed in Toddler Taming from the very beginning and whose vision and encouragement gave me the opportunity to change parents lives.

Michael Morton-Evans, who gave me the confidence to write in my own style and shaped my original manuscript into a bestseller.

Dr John Yu, Prof. Kim Oates and Dr Peter Procopis, my bosses at the Childrens Hospital, Westmead, for their support of my work which gave me the freedom to talk to parents all over Australia and around the world.

My team at the Childrens Development Unit, who taught me so much in my day-to-day work: Neralie Cocks, Kate Watson, Janis Mendoza, Dr Paul Hutchins, Dr Natalie Silove, Pam Joy, Polly Pickles and the late Joye Downes.

The children and their parents at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, and the Royal Alexandra Childrens Hospital, Sydney (Westmead), for being the test subjects of my techniques and ideas over many years. They provided me with a unique education and this book would have been impossible without them.

Dr Henry Kilham, John Coveney, Jayne Hyde, Lorraine Partington, Dr Michael Green and Vanessa Hill for their kind assistance with various chapters of this book.

And finally Leonie Waks, my gifted editor, who encouraged me to start writing again after my wife died and I felt like giving up. Her belief in my work and heartfelt desire to make this a better book spurred me on. By persistently asking me the questions What are you trying to say? and What is the solution? she patiently helped me to reinvigorate the Toddler Taming message.

There was a time when I was as confused as any parent when confronted with typical toddler behaviour. Twenty-five years ago, training as a paediatrician, I had no interest in childrens behaviour and I certainly had no earth-shattering ideas about how to manage their more challenging moments. Like all trainees, I had been put into psychiatric rotation for half a year. Not only did I not want to do this, I thought that psychiatry was a pretty lame area to be working in. I was a real doctor, interested in serious, life-threatening problems and could think of better ways to spend my time.

In those six months I learnt many things from how to interpret Oedipus complex to all about castration anxiety, repression and projection. My supervisor was one of Australias top academics, an internationally renowned child psychiatrist. Most of my time was spent observing other psychiatrists and psychologists but I was given a few cases to cut my teeth on. Every week, the professor would go over these cases with me and give me his learned opinion, but I was still far from becoming the Toddler Tamer. Then everything changed with one problem toddler and two exhausted and confused parents

The child was 2 years old and having major tantrums. His father was a long-haul Qantas steward who, together with his wife, consulted me in the hope of putting an end to these embarrassing outbursts. Every time the father returned from a few days in London, the tantrums would make him wish he was 30,000 kilometres away again.