Tricky Kids Transforming conflict and freeing their potential

It may be every parent and teacher's secret fear to be raising or teaching a Bart Simpson. Why is it that some children are able to virtually always get their way with parents and teachers, and threaten mayhem if they don't?

Psychologist Andrew Fuller has spent the best part of 25 years studying this particular species of child, and claims that the secret to their success is simple: they've found one particular way to get what they want in the world, and they've kept using that approach over and over again.

He has labelled them 'tricky' kids - as most parents and teachers find it very difficult to work out a way of dealing with them. He says, "They are not 'bad', but they can make their parents and teachers feel like doing some very bad things. Why? Because they are used to getting their own way, and they are not the type of people to give up an advantage easily."

In this new book 'Tricky Kids' Andrew has identified six distinct types of 'tricky' kids:
* The Negotiator (think Bart Simpson)
* The Competitor (shades of Lance Armstrong)
* The Dare Devil (as embodied by the late Steve Irwin)
* The Manipulator (as sweet as Angelica Pickles from Rugrats)
* The (hard-to-beat) Debater (echoes of Margaret Thatcher
* The Passive Resister (as represented by Mahatma Gandhi)

The scary part is that each one needs different approaches.

In 'Tricky Kids' Andrew Fuller (once a very tricky kid himself) shows parents and teachers firstly how to understand the characteristics and behaviour of their sweet little darlings, then the best ways to approach their moods.

"We know", he says, "that these kids have great talents. Our ultimate aim should be to help them develop positive life habits."

"One of the main messages I give parents and teachers is to create change. We need to stop being as predictable as a washing-machine cycle."

"The truth is that tricky kids know what we're going to do before we've even thought of doing it. So I share some unusual techniques that, step by step, help break old, unsuccessful family habits and implement new, more effective ones."

Andrew Fuller, a Melbourne-based clinical psychologist and family therapist, works to create resilience in families, communities and schools. He specialises in how children learn and how their concentration and educational outcomes can be improved. He is the author of 'Help Your Child Succeed At School', 'Raising Real People' and 'Beating Bullies', and has co-authored 'The Heart Masters', a series of programs for the promotion of resilience and emotional intelligence used in over 2000 schools in Britain and Australia.

Review: This book is for every parent & child to help them understand themselves and others around them. Are/were you a tricky kid? Or do you know one? How do you deal with tricky friends? Insightful, encouraging and solution driven, Tricky Kids gives you the ability to know the boundries and how to find a level playing field with Tricky Kids.

Finch Publishing
Author: Andrew Fuller
ISBN: 9781876451769
RRP: $24.95


www.andrewfuller.com.au