The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old | 
 enlarge | Authors: Harvey Karp, Paula Spencer
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $4.98
You Save: $9.02 (64%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  126 reviews
Sales Rank: 21639
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0553381431
Dewey Decimal Number: 649.122
EAN: 9780553381436
ASIN: 0553381431
Publication Date: May 31, 2005
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Product Description
Toddlers can drive you bonkers…so adorable and fun one minute…so stubborn and demanding the next! Yet, as unbelievable as it sounds, there is a way to turn the daily stream of “nos” and “don’ts” into “yeses” and hugs…if you know how to speak your toddler’s language. In one of the most useful advances in parenting techniques of the past twenty-five years, Dr. Karp reveals that toddlers, with their immature brains and stormy outbursts, should be thought of not as pint-size people but as pintsize…cavemen.
Having noticed that the usual techniques often failed to calm crying toddlers, Dr. Karp discovered that the key to effective communication was to speak to them in their own primitive language. When he did, suddenly he was able to soothe their outbursts almost every time! This amazing success led him to the realization that children between the ages of one and four go through four stages of “evolutionary” growth, each linked to the development of the brain, and each echoing a step in prehistoric humankind’s journey to civilization:
• The “Charming Chimp-Child” (12 to 18 months): Wobbles around on two legs, grabs everything in reach, plays a nonstop game of “monkey see monkey do.”
• The “Knee-High Neanderthal” (18 to 24 months): Strong-willed, fun-loving, messy, with a vocabulary of about thirty words, the favorites being “no” and “mine.”
• The “Clever Caveman” (24 to 36 months):
Just beginning to learn how to share, make friends, take turns, and use the potty.
• The “Versatile Villager” (36 to 48 months): Loves to tell stories, sing songs and dance, while trying hard to behave.
To speak to these children, Dr. Karp has developed two extraordinarily effective techniques:
1) The “fast food” rule—restating what your child has said to make sure you got it right;
2) The four-step rule—using gesture, repetition, simplicity, and tone to help your
irate Stone-Ager be happy again.
Once you’ve mastered “toddler-ese,” you will be ready to apply behavioral techniques specific to each stage of your child’s development, such as teaching patience and calm, doing time-outs (and time-ins), praise through “gossiping,” and many other strategies. Then all the major challenges of the toddler years—including separation anxiety, sibling rivalry, toilet training, night fears, sleep problems, picky eating, biting and hitting, medicine taking — can be handled in a way that will make your toddler feel understood. The result: fewer tantrums, less yelling, and, best of all, more happy, loving time for you and your child.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 121 more reviews...
 Stupidest Book on the Block December 13, 2008
We really liked his Happiest Baby on the Block book so we bought this one very eagerly. What a waste of time and money. Comparing toddlers to cave men and talking to them like idiots just went against our grain. Save your money on this one and invest in other strategies that don't demean your children!
 informative December 8, 2008
Good book, puts things in a different light. Helped me communicate with my toddler better.
 A Suprisingly Good Book! But it requires discernment November 28, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was pleasantly surprised when picking up Dr. Karp's book. The first section of the book is amusing and written in a humorous tone. Some points may be excessively repeated. If you look at the title of the book it says the book has a co-writer. In other words, these are not Dr. Karp's words verbatim. And perhaps that is where the problems arise.
In the first part you learn about your cave man child, the second part, practical steps to dealing with them. The gem of the book is the simple message, LISTEN to your child, rather than try to thwart or punish them. The HOW to listen part of the book definitely needs improvement. When you can care for and honor your child, they will be happier. So, that's the good message.
I don't agree with ideas like time outs, and I think just practicing these techniques as they are stated could be shallow or superficial. The point which I think Dr. Karp was trying to get through is to BE YOURSELF as a parent. So apparently Dr. Karp likes talking to his children like a cave man. Other parents have different styles. If you are able to step back from the advice and read it objectively, and not feel like you have to do it all, then that is a way to get more out of the book.
What is missing from the book is BREASTFEEDING. Happy babies and toddlers are breastfed because the breastfeeding helps them surrender to life. There is also, as other reviewers pointed out, contradictions in the text, such as honoring and listening to your toddler, and then on the other hand trying to detour or steer your child's behavior.
For those parents who truly want to honor their children with attachment parenting from the heart, a very eye opening text which encourages the parents natural wisdom (which I wrote) is Healing Our Children: Because Your New Baby Matters! Sacred Wisdom for Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting (ages 0-6)
Review is by Ramiel Nagel also author of Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition (First Edition)
Very disappointing. October 22, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was so excited about the title of this book but I was terribly disappointed once I began reading. I really could not get past the repeated references to monkey-cave-whatever children. I know I am raising a human being! My child is not "evolving." She is growing and learning. I took this right back to the store.
Better books to read: "Positive Discipline in the First Years", "The First Three Years of Life", and "Raising a Happy, Unspoiled Child."
Great gift October 6, 2008
Gave this to my daughter who has a 2 year old. Seems to be working well. She read the happiest baby on the block which I love to give as a gift to new mothers.
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