Getting to Calm, The Early Years: Cool-headed Strategies for Raising Caring, Happy, and Independent 3-7 Year Olds

I enjoyed this book. I wasn’t even through with it before I started implementing some of the advice they give. Hoping to have my husband read it next.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is around small children- not only parents but caregivers, teachers, and grandparents. The world would be a better place if we all used these recommendations.

This book is chock-full of practical advice on getting your kids to do what you want by changing what you do and say and how you say it. It reminds me of people who write to advice columnists asking "How can I get my partner/boss/colleague/relative to change x, y or z?" Answer: You change what YOU do and watch what happens. A great place to start in this book is page 172, the Parent Stress Check-up. It's very eye-opening and well worth completing and addressing if you want to have the mind space to absorb and implement all the excellent strategies in this book.

Easy to read, so much to learn. Great examples

Very insightful!

As a first-time mother, I read many parenting books to try to prepare for my son’s toddlerhood. Unfortunately, as he rounds the corner on two years old, I have realized that the rigid, one-size-fits-all solutions many of these books outline just don’t fit my parenting style or my little boy’s needs. Dr. Kastner’s book was unlike any I had read, and I could tell right away that it was written with all types of parents and children in mind. Rather than trying to control your child’s emotions (which of course I can’t do, no matter how hard I try!), Dr. Kastner gives advice on how to control your own, so that you can make decisions from a calmer,“wise mind” that is balanced between rational and emotional states. She then suggests the best solutions for different personality types, whether your child is social or shy, impulsive or fearful, allowing you to think carefully about what might be causing your child’s behavior, the types of approaches that work for his/her personality and temperament, and which of these approaches to use in each situation. I loved her advice, and several of her simple suggestions have already helped me deal with common parenting struggles like picky eating and wakeful nights. Instead of giving me a single cookie-cutter solution, this book has helped me to understand how my son’s little brain is working at this stage, and has provided me with a practical, age-appropriate set of tools that I can use in any difficult situation. Thanks to her training in child psychology and her experience as a mother of two, she writes with empathy for both children and parents, proposing solutions that promote better communication and understanding, instead of punishment and rigidity. And best of all (for a scientist mom like me who wants to know that these theories have been tested!), her suggestions are backed up with the latest child behavior and psychological research, making me confident that these ideas are founded on strong scientific conclusions and reflect the experience of many hundreds of parents and children. For anyone who is frustrated with parenting gimmicks and oversimplified solutions, I highly recommend you give this book a try. I’m already giving it out to friends with new babies and babies reaching their toddler years!

This book had some very good tips and suggestions for parenting children although many of the ideas did not seem revolutionary or new. Rather, this book provided a good summary of some practical approaches to typical parenting challenges based on existing child development research.

I really like how the book is written addressing issues from everyday life. Easy to understand and good tips to follow on.This book has good guidelines to follow to raise emotionally strong kids and to get some sainity in our lives.