Children: the Challenge Paperback – January 1, 1990

Back in the late 60s/early 70s we lived in a small house and I was raising eight kids. I was at my wit's end when the Mother Superior at the Catholic School where my kids were enrolled invited me to participate in a group discussion of this amazing book. A group of mothers met once a week and our homework was to go home and implement the parenting responses in the chapter we had studied that week. This was tough. I had to set aside everything I'd been doing with my kids and start over with an entirely new approach. The amazing thing was is that it worked and it didn't take a lifetime of sessions with a family therapist. I went on to facilitate additional groups and participated in an in-depth study of the Dreikurs techniques at the St. Louis Archiocese. Sister Elizabeth Beyer was my mentor and I'll never forget her common sense approach to teaching these techniques. I am now buying Children the Challenge (which is a non-religious book) for my granddaughters for use with my great-grandchildren. It's interesting that so many "NEW" methods are being written and touted but they are all preceded by this study in family cooperation. I highly recommend the book and if you can gather a group and study it seriously together I feel sure that you'll achieve success within a happier more organized household. Good luck.

I ordered this book for a second time in my life, as I had given the fist one away. Rudolf Dreikurs may have been gone from our world for a long time, but his guidance, advice, and wisdom in raising children, who present challenges to a frazzled parent, is very valuable. Our pediatrician recommended this book to me when our now 29 year old son was just 3 or 4. He is high energy, extremely intelligent, considered by some as "ADHD/Gifted"! Titles! He is a wonderful child/man, I just lacked effective discipline tools to help guide his energy! This book was a sanity saver for me, and has been to other I had loaned it to, and then given away. I wanted to keep a copy in my library as we now have 3 grandchildren......

It was a good book. It came highly recommended by a close friend. However, I did not find that it helped me all that much. My children are not that problematic. The few issues they we have are not really addressed in the book.

Awesome book! A bit outdated (the examples can be a little silly in today's world), but it is the foundation of parenting techniques. It gives wonderful advice and some great tools to help raise thoughtful, independent children. If you can't tell, I highly recommend this book! :)

Have to overlook the 1962 examples but the information is valuable even today.

best book ever written on raising children

I’ve been a psychotherapist for 44 years. A colleague gave me this book my first year of doing private practice. I can without hesitation state this is the finest book on parenting that was ever written. It guided me in doing family therapy and rewards and consequences for children. I don’t care if it’s 58 years old. This book is timeless. I bet I’ve recommended 100+ copies to clients and colleagues over the years. One actually refused to buy it saying it was too old. Then they read reviews :-)

This book is still the best resource available after reading dozens of books in my first pregnancy - in spite of the year of publication. It gives you insight into what your children are thinking, how they respond to what you say in verbal and body language. It helps you understand their struggle so that you don't need to guess on how to make a better parental decision. The examples are brilliant - but read the book, don't skip to a problem you are dealing with. It gives insight into human needs and reactions. I raised three children without any physical discipline. When you understand what your child is going through, you work on the problem - together. Actions have consequences, but the consequences need to be logical to be understood and incorporated into learning. Our children are not inconveniences but true extensions of ourselves worthy of all the love and empathy we have to help them face the challenges life gives us all. This book is still recommended by child psychologists today.