Taming the Dragon in Your Child: Solutions for Breaking the Cycle of Family Anger

This book was useful to address problems of anger in my family. Eastman begins by helping readers understand the pattern of anger in the household, and then offers strategies to control it. Although we did not implement all of her advice, there were many useful suggestions we integrated into our parenting, with a resulting decrease in anger and tantrums. So it was certainly worth the time and money. My major complaint is that I found the organization of the book distracting. Chapters were short, averaging 7 pages with lots of bullets and ideas that were not completely developed. Typically the reader was pointed to later chapters where these themes would be more fully addressed. The book seemed, at times, as if it were a compendium of 28 oral presentations strung together. A more linear form would have made the book shorter, and more efficient. However, the author's goal was not a complete analysis of family anger, but rather a practical guide to help families. At least this structure did help to make clear what chapters could be skipped over as not relevant to our situation. Overall, a useful book.