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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

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

List Price: $22.99
Your Price: $15.63
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It could've been much shorter
Review: I've got to agree with the other reviewer who said the book could've/should've been a bit shorter. That being said, I don't think it's too terribly long. There's a lot of interesting tidbits to be picked up all along the way. The mindset Dr. Karp asks of you (to be an "ambassador") and the suggestions in Part III have all been incredibly useful. I find myself going back to the book time and again.

I am a bit surprised and disheartened that so many reviewers have tried to bring in the evolution/creation debate (if you can even call it a debate - most educated people (at least the many I've known), including me, conclude the arguments for evolution are much stronger than the arguments for creation (though, let me say, there are some interesting arguments and problems to be found on both sides!)) But, if you're offended by the theory of evolution, keep telling yourself Dr. Karp is using it as an incredibly useful analogy.

As for "toddler-ese", sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn't. Generally, it seems to work more often when she's (my precious little 14month old daughter - charming chimp/maniacal caveperson) having a genuine tantrum and less when she's having a tantrum along w/ teething pain. But, boy, when it does work, there's not much in life more valuable than when she gives you that look that says, "Hey, you understand what I'm saying!" Communication, true communication, between adults is oftentimes incredibly difficult; communication between adult and child even moreso. As a parent, I'm incredibly thankful for any technique that enables me to communicate w/ my child.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great concept but could have been reduced to a booklet
Review: Let me first say that I'm a big fan of Dr. Karp's Happiest Baby on the Block book. He had a theory (recreating the womb) and explained several ways to carry it out.

In this book, he has a theory that your child needs to feel understood and you should let them know you understand them by repeating back to them what they just told you, then empathizing. In their words, at their level. ("The Fast Food Rule") That's ALL. The book is full of examples and uses a caveman analogy to get its point across, but basically the message reiterated is the same or a variation on the Fast Food Rule. The video that accompanies this book is only 37 minutes long!

The "Happiest Baby, INC." trademark on the back says it all, I suppose. The main goal here seems to have been to turn out a sequel and fluff it up as much as possible to generate maximum profit.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Whoa, It Actually Works!
Review: My son is 23 months old and definitely in the Terrible Two's stage. I felt helpless, lost and had no control of the situation whenever my son would snap into his "I want it my way" mode, sprawling on the floor. I truly had no idea how to calm my boy down. It was very frustrating. I can be very snap-y at times, but I did not want to be that way with my son. After all, he is just a toddler.

I happened to read a snippet about Dr. Karp's book in The New York Times' Science Times section. When I read about his concept that toddlers are basically Neanderthals, I thought he was definitely onto something (I always referred to my son as Bam-Bam from The Flintstones!). With my interest piqued enough, I ordered the book from Amazon.

After a couple of days, I tried Dr. Karp's Prehistoric Parenting method. I was shocked when after a couple of times repeating "You want mommy. You REAALLLY WANT MOMMY!!", my son stopped his tantrum; looked at me; and simply said, "Sorry!" It was like a revelation.

I love that you don't need to read every chapter in its entirety. When stuff about kids older than 3 years old came up, I went straight to the next chapter, since my son is almost 2.

My only criticism is that a lot of ideas are repeated over to a fault. But I could live with that. Dr. Karp is just trying to reiterate his messages.

Overall, I give this a 5 star rating for the sheer fact that the Dr. Karp's method of Prehistoric Parenting and speaking Toddler-ese really does work!

Do yourself a favor and buy this book. You won't be sorry. In fact, you'll be relieved!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Educating the kids of evolutionists
Review: Teaching the theory of evolution to children, in spite of the total absence of factual evidence thereof is bad enough. However, applying a groundless evolutionary psychology to the rearing of children is total nonsense.

If one was to judge Dr. Karp by his own standards one would have to conclude that Dr. Harvey Karp himself got lost in some past evolutionary level, not being able to discern that there is not a factual basis for his whole approach, besides naturalistic evolutionistic speculation. Something surely seems to have gone terribly wrong with his own evolutionary process. But we will refrain to apply Dr. Karp's assumptions to his own thought, because those assumptions are simply wrong. Karps problem has to do not with his own evolution, but with the evolution of his ideas.

However, gullible evolutionists will surely like to raise their kids thinking that they are going through some ape-like-cave-man fases. Good luck to them.

By contrast, a criationist approach should start from the assumption that human beings were created as such by a personal and loving God, in His image, and should thus be treated in a personal, loving and respectful way from the moment of their conception.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ridiculous
Review: This is the least useful parenting book I have ever read. I am amazed to see so many positive reviews. I would recommend that you go to a bookstore and actually read a chapter before purchasing it. Indeed, it encourages parents to behave as the toddlers they are trying to parent. Don't waste your money on this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dr. Karp does it again!!
Review: Unlike his "The Happiest Baby on the Block" book, there is no "short cut" page to turn to in this book - because dealing with toddlers is not the same as turning on a calming reflex in an infant...
So this is a book you actually have to read all the way through.

Dr. Karp saved our sanity and kept our daughter from "colic" with his first book - and this one came out JUST in time for us to start learning how to deal with her toddler behavior. At one and a half - we don't have the screaming tantrums or battles all of my mommy-friends keep complaining about.

My daughter and I "communicate" thanks to Dr. K's wonderful book...
Definitely worth the read!!!


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