Parenting a severely disruptive child can be exhausting and demoralizing to the point where breaking the cycle of bad behaviour seems an impossible task. Happy Families offers a realistic, step-by-step, practical approach to tackling destructive behaviour that helps parents regain control and establish harmony within the family. Using hands-on techniques based on the principles of non-violent resistance, each chapter deals with a different stage of the process - from communicating to the child an unwavering determination that the situation will change and enlisting the support of family and friends, to taking positive action in a way that avoids escalation. General advice such as how to respond constructively and consistently to provocation is included throughout, and morale-boosting tips encourage flagging parents to persevere with the approach. Happy Families will empower despairing parents and caregivers who seek to contain, counter and positively re-direct the aggression they face from children in distress, resulting in deep-felt and lasting change.

Parents, teachers and other professionals often struggle to know how to deal with disruptive, abusive or aggressive behaviour. This book addresses the urgent need for a realistic, practical and effective approach to dealing with severe disruptive behaviour in children and adolescents. Adapting the principles of non-violent resistance originally advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, the book provides de-escalation techniques which empower the adult and unburden the distressed child. The authors outline the theoretical basis upon which the approach was developed, and explain how and why it can be so effective. Case studies demonstrate how the approach can be used to reach more successful places with unhappy and disruptive children of different ages. A separate section for parents provides useful advice on how to take the theoretical material and use it to deal with problematic behaviour in everyday life. As effective as it is original, this approach will empower desperate parents and despairing caregivers by equipping them with hands-on tools to contain, counter and positively direct the aggression and opposition which they face from children in distress.