Description
Book SynopsisHandling Children's Aggression Constructively: Toward Taming Human Destructiveness shows how to prevent the development of disturbed aggressive behaviors in children, giving caregivers and educators the tools they need to handle problems in the making so they won't become more difficult and costly problems to deal with later on.
Trade ReviewHenri Parens is a wise and caring teacher and clinician. This thoughtful, comprehensive, and practically helpful guide will support parents and teachers understand and manage a daunting task: children’s anger and aggression. -- Jonathan Cohen Ph.D., Co-President, International Observatory for School Climate and Violent Prevention, adjunct professor, Teachers College, Columbia University; president emeritus, National School Climate Center, Educating Hearts and Minds Because the Three R’s Aren’t Enough
Over three decades of painstaking child observation and clinical work with children, adolescents, and adults has elevated Henri Parens to the authoritative position to comment upon the causes, manifestations, and amelioration of destructiveness in children. Deftly combining scholarly insight, commonsense pragmatism, and humane concern for all involved parties, Parens deals with limit-setting, punishment , and management of temper tantrums. His approach is anchored in psychoanalytic theory, social anthropology, and contemporary neurobiology and his goal is to help parents and mental health professionals deal with children's aggression. However, his eyes are also set on the farther horizons of taming human destructiveness at-large. Parens' book is simultaneously a clinical gem and a serious civic-minded document! -- Salman Akhtar, MD, is professor of psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Henri Parens has written a true psychological gem. Extending his lifelong wisdom with child care, rearing and research, his book distills into easily grasped language not only the vicissitudes of aggression and hostility and how to prevent troublesome outcomes in child rearing, but also he considers a wide range of questions commonly asked by caregivers, giving them realistic, sympathetic, and creative responses. Dr. Parens is a tireless proponent of applying psychoanalytic work for the good of our communities and for those less fortunate than many of us. This gifted and altruistic man is a rare event on this planet. -- Stuart W. Twemlow, MD, Menninger dept. Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine and Houston Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute
For mental health providers who treat children, this book provides a refreshing, comprehensive guide to understanding aggression in children from a developmental perspective. * PSYCHIATRIST.COM *
Table of Contents1 Preface 2 Acknowledgments Part 3 I. Can We Tame Human Destructiveness? Chapter 4 1. The EPPI/MCP Study of Aggression Chapter 5 2. The Critical Interaction between Human Attachment and Aggression Chapter 6 3. The Impact on the Child of Internally Accumulated High Levels of Hostile Destructiveness Part 7 II. Handling Aggression in Our Children Chapter 8 4. What Is Aggression? Chapter 9 5. Dealing Constructively with Excessive Unpleasure Experiences Chapter 10 6. Recognizing the Child's Need for Sufficient and Reasonable Autonomy Chapter 11 7. Compliance Chapter 12 8. Achieving Compliance: Discipline, Limit Setting and Punishment Chapter 13 9. Teaching the Child to Express Hostility in Reasonable and Acceptable Ways Chapter 14 10. Handling Temper Tantrums and Rage Reactions in Growth-Promoting Ways Chapter 15 11. Helping the Child Cope with Painful Emotional Feelings Chapter 16 12. Optimizing the Parent-Child Relationship 17 Index 18 About the Author
