How to Talk When Kids Won't Listen: Whining, Fighting, Meltdowns, Defiance, and Other Challenges of Childhood

A respectful parenting guidebook from the mega-bestselling How To Talk series that applies trusted and effective communication strategies, positive discipline tools, and parent-child communication skills to the toughest challenges of raising children.

For forty years, readers have turned to Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish’s How To Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, the book The Boston Globe called, “the parenting Bible,” for a respectful and practical approach to communication with children and mindful parenting. Expanding upon this work, Adele’s daughter, Joanna Faber, along with Julie King, coauthored the bestselling book, How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen. Now, Faber and King have tailored How to Talk’s tried and trusted communication strategies to some of the most challenging childhood moments.

From tantrums, whining, meltdowns, and defiance to technology, screen time limits, and digital dilemmas to talking to kids about tough topics, How to Talk When Kids Won’t Listen offers concrete strategies for these and many more difficult situations.

Part One introduces readers to the How to Talk “toolbox,” with whimsical cartoons demonstrating the basic communication skills and family communication strategies that will transform readers’ relationships with children in their lives. In Part Two, Joanna and Julie answer specific questions and share relatable stories, offering practical parenting tools for addressing issues such as homework hassles, sibling battles and sibling rivalry, power struggles, alternatives to punishment, and more through collaborative problem-solving and conflict resolution. Readers can turn directly to any topic of interest and find the help they need, with handy “reminder pages.”

Through the combination of lively stories from real parents and teachers, humorous illustrations, and entertaining exercises, How to Talk When Kids Won’t Listen offers real, positive parenting solutions to struggles familiar to every parent, grandparent, teacher, and anyone else who lives or works with children and wants to strengthen family relationships, build kids’ listening skills, and support emotional regulation.