The Pocket Parent Coach: Your Two-Week Guide to a Dramatically Improved Life with Your Intense Child

Tina Feigal

Published By: Beaver's Pond Press

Book Category: Non-Fiction, Family & Relationships

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Reviewed by Steven King, MBA

Maybe your experience becoming a parent was like mine – a festive occasion where you contemplated the joyful experiences that were sure to come. Not too long into your development as a parent, perhaps, like me, you wished that children came with an instruction manual. As our children grow and develop, sometimes we feel as if we are losing our minds trying to make children comply with our desire for peace and obedience in the home.
Tina Feigal, a licensed School Psychologist, has written an intriguing work in The Pocket Parent Coach that addresses dealing with intense children. At first, I believed this was exclusively aimed at children with certain maladies, such as: ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and the like. It turns out that “present moment parenting” is ideal for children of all types between 3-18 years of age.

Apparently, children with intense behaviors have overly active brains that seek to match energy levels with what they’re experiencing internally. So much of this quest causes children to “act out” in inappropriate ways. The informed parent will militate against negative energy matching and will instead seek to “download” positive energy into the children to validate their self-worth while simultaneously diffusing negativity. The method: revise current parenting strategies by attempting to “parent in the present.”

This brilliant book presents a two-week program to help parents deal with an intense child by actually eliminating power struggles or even directly focusing on maladaptive behavior. Instead of punishing the wrongdoing, you have had a family meeting beforehand where you inform the child that all you’ll say in the future is, “Broke a rule. Take a break.” The child has rehearsed this method previously and is empowered to partner with you as you attempt to redirect them toward more positive behavior.

Highly recommended for parents struggling with intense children. The examples/cases seem to lend the book more readily to parents of younger intense children. All parents can benefit from the ample resource section filled with log sheets to personalize; daily reminder slips for around the home to encourage “present moment parenting”; and even a 60-minute audio CD where the author presents a fitting summary as a Q&A for parents.

Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended.

Author’s Web site: http://www.NurturedHeart.com