1-2-3 Magic for Kids: Helping Your Kids Understand the New Rules

by Thomas Phelan

Overview

Based on the bestselling parenting book 1-2-3 Magic, and adapted especially for kids!

"1-2-3 Magic made parenting fun again."

"I highly recommend this book to any parent who is spending more time yelling at or nagging their children than smiling at and laughing with them."

"All I have to say is that the ideas in this book really WORK! It really is like magic!"

"It's such a relief to not feel like I'm constantly yelling at someone! If you want to see a fast improvement in your child's behavior, check out 1-2-3 Magic."

The popular 1-2-3 Magic parenting program has been adapted to be introduced from a child's point of view! This innovative guide explains the child discipline system—from counting and time-out methods to how better behavior benefits the entire family and leaves more time for play—with clear, easy-to-understand language and lots of illustrations.

1-2-3 Magic for Kids describes the basics of the 1-2-3 Magic program, including:

• Positive reinforcement
• Charting
• The docking system

A question-and-answer section outlines common family situations and questions from kids, including:

• What if I don't go to my room?
• Will I still be counted if I have a friend over?
• What kinds of things can we do for one-on-one fun?

Crossword puzzles, word searches, and journal suggestions further encourage children to apply what they've learned about the methods, and make 1-2-3 Magic for Kids a fun way to get kids on board with the new rules at home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492647867
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	06/06/2017
Edition description:	New
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	152,110
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Dr. Thomas W. Phelan is an internationally renowned expert, author, and lecturer on child discipline and Attention Deficit Disorder. A registered Ph.D. clinical psychologist, he appears frequently on radio and TV. Dr. Phelan practices and works in the western suburbs of Chicago.

Read an Excerpt

1-2-3 Magic for Kids

Helping Your Children Understand the New Rules

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By Thomas W. Phelan, Tracy M. Lewis, Ron Villani

ParentMagic, Inc.

Copyright © 2008 ParentMagic, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-889140-41-4

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CHAPTER 1

What is 1-2-3 Magic?

Rachel was in her backyard, sliding down the sliding board on her swing set. She loved to slide! Her best friend, Maddie, who lived right next door, loved to slide, too. The girls liked it when their mothers took them to the park around the corner because there was the longest, most slippery sliding board in the world right in their own neighborhood.

Rachel and Maddie had lived next door to each other since they were little babies. In fact, Rachel couldn't remember a time when Maddie's family wasn't right on the other side of her backyard fence! They were in second grade together. They both loved their teacher and were so happy to be in the same class!

Even when they weren't in school, the two girls were always together. They loved to ride their bikes, play games, and have sleepovers. Sleepovers were their favorite! They usually stayed at Rachel's house when they spent the night together because Maddie's Mom and Dad yelled an awful lot. It made Rachel's tummy hurt when that happened. Maddie's parents were nice people, but she didn't like screaming at all. It reminded her of her own mom before she started using 1-2-3 Magic.

One day, as Rachel was sliding down her sliding board in her backyard, she could hear yelling through the open windows at Maddie's house. She didn't know what was going on.

First, she heard Maddie yelling and then her Mom yelling. Then Maddie was yelling LOUDER and then her Mom was yelling even LOUDER THAN THAT! Suddenly, their back door flew open and Maddie came running out into her backyard. She was crying really, really hard. Rachel wondered why Maddie was so upset! She jumped the fence between their houses very quickly to get to her friend.

"What's wrong, Maddie?" asked Rachel.

"My Mom is so mean!" wailed Maddie.

"What did she do?" Rachel asked.

Maddie said, "She told me that I had to clean my room before we could go to my grandma's this afternoon. It's Saturday morning! I don't WANT to clean my room! She said that our weekend was going to be busy, so I had to do it right now!

I yelled that I was NOT going to do it and went in my room and slammed the door. Then, Mommy came in and started screaming at me that I had better clean my room or I'd be in really big trouble."

"Telling you to clean up your room isn't that mean," Rachel said.

"No, I guess that wasn't so mean. The mean part was when she yelled at me," said Maddie. Her face looked so sad.

"Didn't you yell at her first?" Rachel asked.

"I don't care. She's still MEAN!" Maddie argued.

"Yeah, I don't like to be yelled at, either. My Mom used to yell all the time before we started 1-2-3 Magic," said Rachel.

"1-2-3 Magic? What's that?" Maddie asked.

"1-2-3 Magic is a nice way for parents to get kids to behave. We've been doing it at our house for a long time. I really like it. I didn't at first, but now everyone in my family is a whole lot nicer. I'm really glad that my Mom and Dad both use it!" Rachel said.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from 1-2-3 Magic for Kids by Thomas W. Phelan, Tracy M. Lewis, Ron Villani. Copyright © 2008 ParentMagic, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of ParentMagic, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Part I The Story of Rachel and Maddie

Chapter 1 What Is 1-2-3 Magic? 3

Chapter 2 What Is Counting? 13

Chapter 3 How Will They Get Me to Clean My Room? 23

Chapter 4 Is It Really That Easy? 35

Chapter 5 The Fun Stuff! 45

Part II Important Things about 1-2-3 Magic

Chapter 6 The 1-2-3 Magic Tool Kit 59

Chapter 7 Kids' Questions about 1-2-3 Magic 73

Part III Things to Do and Things to Think About

Chapter 8 Fun Activities and Puzzles 85

Chapter 9 What Will Our Family Be Like Afterward? 95

Editorial Reviews

03/15/2017
Psychologist Phelan's "1–2–3 Magic" series is an esteemed and effective approach to discipline for kids of all ages. However, this second edition offering, written with educator Lee and aimed at kids themselves, is quite awful. Designed to give children the heads-up that new rules are being implemented at home, it takes a beginning chapter book approach to the program with illustrations and readable text meant to inspire and explain (e.g., "If you refuse to go to your room, your parents may decide to use what we call a 'time-out' alternative…. The interesting thing about time-out alternatives is that they're almost always worse than spending a couple of minutes in your room"). Although the book's characters describe 1–2–3 as "a nice way for parents to get kids to behave," young people are likely to smell the rat. This is pedantic and completely unnecessary. Kids don't need the background to every maneuver parents make. Verdict Feel free to apply the 1–2–3 program, but skip this edition at risk of your kids laughing you out of town.

Library Journal