Grinity had a good point that making parents crazy can often be reward for kids...much like the way teasing a big sister is fun despite the fact the teasing is usually followed by a hard punch. I know Transforming the Difficult Child has been mentioned on these boards before. I like to combine the concepts of Dr. Phelan's no-talking, no-emotion approach (123 Magic series) and the ideas from Howard Glasser about a "difficult" child's motivation for misbehavior.
Yup - we started with 123 Magic, with was better, in our hands, at halting unwanted behavior than creating wanted behavior, and then moved on to Transforming with Glasser. I found that much better at working with the 'insides' to grow the child so that he could start that 'virtuous cycle' that good bahavior brings.
Smiles,
Grinity
