When the Labels Don't Fit

Book excerpt: “One of the finest and most helpful books we have ever read . . . should be the first stop for any parent trying to help a struggling child.” —Brock Eide and Fernette Eide, authors of The Mislabeled Child Finally, a positive approach designed around your child’s traits and needs Many children do things that seem odd, troubling, or excessive at some point in their development, and our culture is quick to attach a label to every child who’s “outside the box” or hard to raise. Again and again, studies document the explosion in the number of children receiving psychiatric diagnoses for being intense, moody, or offbeat. In this groundbreaking book, childhood development expert Barbara Probst provides a new framework for identifying the specific traits—like rigidity, curiosity, perfectionism, intensity, slow tempo, a need for novelty, or a need for control—that lie at the root of your child’s challenging behavior. When the Labels Don’t Fit features a questionnaire for profiling your child’s temperament and more than sixty strategies for dealing with specific kinds of behavior. It’s the first comprehensive system that’s not based on figuring out what’s “wrong” with your child, but on helping you tap into your child’s strengths so you can manage, nurture, and enjoy his or her essential nature.