What to Do When Your Temper Flares: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems With Anger (What-to-Do Guides for Kids Series) Paperback – October 15, 2007

I've never bothered to write a book review before, but this book promises to be a life changer. I hope others will find it as useful as my daughter and I already have. Dawn Huebner and Bonnie Matthews are spot-on with their examples and illustrations depicting our personal situation. It's almost as if they've been peeking through our windows. Like some of the other reviewers, my daughter pitched the book across the room as soon as I showed it to her, but when I called her bluff and made a move to trash it, she quickly back-pedaled and assured me that she wanted to get better. Once we started working through it, she would take a mocking tone and say something to imply that the author didn't know HER and the very next sentence would speak to her grumble. Dawn nailed it every time and the illustrations were strikingly familiar as well. The book's credibility has risen to a surprising level, though she will never acknowledge it.The workbook style with humor sprinkled throughout has made the book much more fun for both of us. She likes writing in the book since that is usually considered "bad" behavior. I have two favorite parts. The first is a list in Ch. 3 of "why bothers" that include such gems as "Has anyone ever said, 'I want to be your friend because you are so good at losing your temper'" and "Have you ever fallen asleep with a smile on your face, thinking about all the times you got mad that day?". The second is a caution to parents not to provide the "cool thoughts" for the child as that will only infuriate her more. I've experienced that response many times in the past and now know that it is typical and not unexpected. I do suggest following the method outlined by the author for best results. My daughter and I are simultaneously working on the Dreading Your Bed book to undo 5 months of problems after she saw part of zombie movie at a neighbor's house. It has been equally good, but different enough to keep it fun. We will start the Grumbling book next. If you have a child with a short fuse, get this book - you won't regret it.

This book is amazing! I am admittedly dubious of self help books in general but bought this when other methods of improving the anger response of two my children continued to fail. We have been using this book as a family with all of our children because let's be honest, we all can use improvement in how we cope with our anger.The language of this book is humorous and easy to understand. We are using it with children that range in age from 6-11 and all are enjoying it. I love that the book helps children to not feel bad for feeling angry, there is no shaming. Instead it focuses on how we manage and respond to our anger rather than teaching that we should not feel anger. The explanations of anger that begin the book lay an excellent foundation for kids to be able to identify their emotion in preparation to begin implementing the specific strategies discussed later in the book.The strategies are easy for kids to use and effective! I would recommend working through the strategies slowly. After reading a chapter we focus on implementing the tool for several days or even a week or two until my kids have really gotten the hang of it and can use it on their own without prompting. Then we move on and learn and use another tool.This book has helped my entire family and our home life is much more peaceful. Not only are my children managing their anger better but their self confidence and pride has soared as they see that they can manage their emotions well.

My 7 year old has a very explosive temper, and she is very reluctant to talk about it or use any strategies that we've suggested to her. She flat-out refused to look at the book with me when it arrived, so I waited a few weeks and brought it out tonight, without showing her what it was. At storytime, I gave my kids markers and paper, and told them we were going to do some activities. The book starts out by making a comparison between driving a car and managing emotions, and presents drawing activities, such as "draw a picture of yourself driving your dream car," and "draw a picture of your favorite "fuel" (my daughter drew a glass of orange juice). The activities are interspersed between paragraphs of text. Those activities really engaged my kids and made them willing to sit and listen to what the book had to say. I was amazed to see how my older daughter actually participated and even opened up a little, truly expressing herself for the first time with regards to her very difficult-to-handle emotions. We took things a step further and did some whole-body movement activities, such as "driving" around the room as I shouted out "obstacles" --"Whoops, you hit a pothole!" "Watch out for that cat!" "Oh, no, a traffic jam!" We had some good laughs as the kids internalized the basic premise of the book--that we can't always help what happens to us, but we are responsible for how we handle our emotions and our actions. I will update my star rating once we get a bit further along in the book, but for now, it's been a great success.

My 8-year-old daughter who has a very quick temper loved this book right away. She usually doesn't go for books that I want her to read because it will "help" her with something. But this one was different. She really liked it because she could write in it and draw pictures. She isn't really a reader but went 3/4's of the way through it the first time.I think it has helped somewhat with her anger, but we are still working on it.It is a good step in the right direction.