Tantrum Survival Kit

The Definitive Guide to Tantrum Management

By: Douglas H. Ruben PhD

Narrated by: Maxwell Zener

Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Tantrum Survival Kit is a compendium of the latest empirically based techniques documented for disruptive (tantrum, other) children, ages preteen to teenage years. This simple-to-use manual provides rapid solutions for professionals and parents. User-friendly steps conveniently describe the logical way to control tantrums, especially for nontraditional parents (e.g., grandparents, foster parents, stepparents, and adoptive parents).

Category one is comprised of garden-variety verbal escalations that are universally present in most preteen to teenage households. Category two deals with more seriously aggressive tantrums in preteen children, from self-injurious to malicious property destruction. Category three spells out a remedy for explosively violent tantrums in teenagers without parents falling into traps.

Listeners also get a privileged look at the reasons why commercially and research-favored methods do not work and have nasty side effects. The chapter on impulsiveness and attention spans provides succinct explanations for behavior problems and how to cure them. Steps show how to bypass labels of ADD and ADHD and deal directly with the child's behavior. The chapter on tantrums in school informs parents and therapists on why programs fail, and how to liaison with teachers and personnel in repairing school behavior problems.

No other book on the trade market comprehensively covers the inner workings of schools and how to navigate the maze. Unlike other tantrum manuals, this book is encyclopedic in its detailed review of tantrums, tantrum-related problems, and solutions to obstacles encountered during interventions.

©2014 Douglas H. Ruben PhD (P)2015 Douglas H. Ruben PhD

A detailed look at the basics

Would you consider the audio edition of Tantrum Survival Kit to be better than the print version?

Yes. Max Zener does a great job making a dry subject seem terribly interesting.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

No special reaction

Have you listened to any of Maxwell Zener’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, this is the first audio book of his that I have listened to.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Stop the Madness!

Any additional comments?

The book itself covered some basics of child rearing in a tremendous amount of detail. It goes into situations and contingencies of these basic ideas that few people will ever encounter but are still interesting. Max Zener does a great job. He makes even the driest portions of the text sound like the most interesting thing that has ever been said.