Discipline: A Sourcebook of Fifty Failsafe Techniques for Parents

Windell is a psychotherapist who specializes in working with children and their parents on behavior and family problems, and his book is a rational, straightforward compilation of methods and approaches to child discipline that every parent should require at one time or another. Windell stresses the need for patience, empathy and, above all, diagnosis. He asks parents to look at the nature of their discipline problems, their own expectations (reasonable or not?), the personality of the child involved, the results they hope for from any disciplinary move. He outlines the depressingly familiar naggings, screechings and whinings most parents resort to at some stage, and tries to offer alternatives. For instance, role playing can teach children to empathize with others; a contract between parent and child can set guidelines for mode of dress or other areas of conflict. Windell crisply illustrates his points with anecdotes--some of which sound too good to be true--and usefully sums up his positions at the end of each chapter. Much of the book is plain commonsense, but in an area so fraught with anguish, that commodity is not always easily come by, and as a quick reference to the best disciplinary moves in most situations, the book is helpful and well organized. (Aug.)