The Happiest Toddler on the Block: How to Eliminate Tantrums and Raise a Patient, Respectful and Cooperative One- to Four-Year-Old: Revised Edition

Harvey Karp, M.D.

Aug 2008 · Sold by Bantam

About this ebook

Perfect for expecting parents who want to prepare themselves for the challenging toddler years (which starts around eight months of age), this essential guide, a national bestseller by respected pediatrician and child development expert Dr. Harvey Karp, not only helps reduce tantrums but makes happy kids even happier by boosting patience, cooperation, and self-confidence.

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.

Ratings and reviews

I think The Happiest Toddler on the Block is a great book and has lots of great advice. I started this method when my daughter was 18 months old and the 1st time I used the Fast Food Rule (in "toddlerise") - she looked at me like "You get it! You finally get what I'm fussing about". It was a great parenting moment and these principles worked great. Then we moved into my parents' when my husband & I split up and discipline / child rearing techniques changed (had several people doing the disciplining in a home that is also a home daycare). On top of that was the issue my daughter had with the change...the reason I'm mentioning this is because when I've tried to start using this technique again, it has not worked as well. I think a good bit of this is she is older (almost 3) and also because of the inconsistencies with disciplining - 2 sets of grandparents (as disciplining as opposite as possible) and both parents disciplining separately. I think Harvey Karp has WONDERFUL suggestions in both The Happiest Toddler and The Happiest Baby (a pure life-saver). The advice in this book is great to help deal with any upset person. He is rather long-winded and often goes into too much detail

It may be a good book, but not helpful for my situation. I don't even finished reading as the methods didn't work for my family (i managed to read more than half, then feel very discouraged). This book is suitable for compliant kids only. If you have strong-willed kids, better search for other books that provide more effective methods. I'm writing this comment so that other parents with strong-willed kids don't feel discouraged/hopeless/giving up like i used to feel sometimes. Also i don't want those parents to think that their strong-willed kids are not normal. It's just that most parenting books and methods rarely effective for strong-willed kids.

Sample makes U think its really for toddlers of 1,2 or 3 years old who still can't talk. Once bought it heads to older kids where the tips include conversations between kid and parents

About the author

Harvey Karp, M.D., is a nationally renowned pediatrician, child development specialist, and a leading advocate in the field of children’s environmental health. He is on the faculty of USC School of Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Karp’s books and DVDs, The Happiest Baby on the Block, The Happiest Toddler on the Block, and The Happiest Baby Guide to Great Sleep, teach parents his groundbreaking techniques to reduce infant crying, boost sleep, build toddler patience, and stop tantrums. Millions of parents have benefited from his advice, including celebrities such as Madonna, Michelle Pfeiffer, Larry David, Jewel, and Pierce Brosnan. Thousands of specially trained educators teach Happiest Baby classes across America. Dr. Karp’s works are translated into more than twenty languages, and their popularity have made him among America’s most read and trusted pediatricians.
 
For further information, please visit www.happiestbaby.com