The Explosive Child

A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children

By: Dr. Ross W. Greene

Narrated by: Dr. Ross W. Greene

Length: 2 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dr. Ross Greene, a distinguished clinician and pioneer in the treatment of kids with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges, has worked with thousands of explosive children, and he has good news: these kids aren't attentionseeking, manipulative, or unmotivated, and their parents aren't passive, permissive disciplinarians. Rather, explosive kids are lacking some crucial skills in the domains of flexibility/adaptability, frustration tolerance, and problem solving, and they require a different approach to parenting.

The Explosive Child is the highly acclaimed, lifechanging parenting guide in which Dr. Greene first delineated the Collaborative Problem Solving approach.  Dr. Greene explains why kids exhibit challenging behaviors, why traditional behavior management strategies may not be effective for many kids, and how to use Plan B to solve problems collaboratively and teach your child the skills he or she is lacking.  

As the model has evolved over the years, so has The Explosive Child, and it is available here in an abridged and updated fourth edition narrated by Dr. Greene.

Throughout this compassionate, insightful, and practical book, Dr. Greene provides a new conceptual framework for understanding their difficulties.  He explains why traditional parenting and treatment often don't work with these children, and he describes what to do instead. Instead of relying on rewarding and punishing, Dr. Greene's Collaborative Problem Solving model promotes working with explosive children to solve the problems that precipitate explosive episodes, and teaching these kids the skills they lack.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2011 Dr. Ross Greene (P)2011 Dr. Ross Greene

Short but effective

I was worried that it would be to short to be useful. But it makes sense. Is to the point, and has practical examples... Now I need to apply it ;)

But I am very satisfied with my choice so far.

I started to cry....and this Dad doesn't do that

What made the experience of listening to The Explosive Child the most enjoyable?

It spoke of a child that few experience and even fewer understand. It spoke of my daughter. I would not trade my daughter for the world, and I certainly wouldn't change the beautiful particularity that makes her who she is.... with that said she can drain the life out of me at times. If you have an explosive child you will understand what I mean. If you have other people try to tell you what to do (and you wish they wouldn't), you feel incompetent, or worse as a parent, even though you do EVERYTHING in EVERY parenting book you could get your hands on to a T, this book is for you. I started to cry when he started to describe just who my daughter is, and was relived I wasn't getting it all wrong. This book helped My wife and I tremendously and i recommend it to all fellow Explosive Child Parents

What does Ross W. Greene bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love how he reads it, he has a compassion in his voice, I always like when the narrator is the author

What did you learn from The Explosive Child that you would use in your daily life?

How to see things the way my child see them and work with that to accomplish what we both really want.

Any additional comments?

GET THIS BOOK, if you have a child that is explosive, work with one, care for one, or know someone who does

Wonderful and Useful

Would you listen to The Explosive Child again? Why?

Absolutely, to review the wonderful advice and refresh my understanding

What other book might you compare The Explosive Child to and why?

Superparenting in ADHD

Which character – as performed by Ross W. Greene – was your favorite?

N/a

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

If a child has the skills and ability to be and act better they would

Skip the Full version Audio. Buy the book.

So I started off with the Full version audio book. Do yourself a favor and skip that version entirely and buy the book. The content is absolutely amazing and describes what my wife and I deal with in our oldest every day, but when it came to finishing the audio I just couldn't make it work. It was halting, broken up, lacked proper punctuation vocalization and made me have to stop frequently and relisten just to understand what was said. It literally sounded like the reader was a computer.

This version though abridged, is far superior in audio listening and relistening value, the author is a much better reader. The accompanying pdf is invaluable! The full book is worth the extra information but skip the audio version and just buy the book. The abridged version, which this is, covers most of the points and so allows you to skip the full audio version and then you can buy the full version book to keep on your bookshelf for a reference.

I recommend this audio version highly for those who need a quick listen to help them get going on the content right away, then buy the book to refer to for the higher detail points you need on the extra content on as a regular reference tool. Then play and replay this abridged version to solidify and train your mind to make the content present in your responses all the time.

This book saved my family

I couldn't stop crying. After countless counselors, therapists, evaluations and doctors finally I've got an answer. The author describes my son my struggles even my inner conflicts to a t. Just before I completely gave up you gave me the tools to save our family.

PARENTING SKILLS FOR ALL

While this book describes an extreme problem, all kids will explode at some point and these problem solving skills are great for resolving an unpleasant situation.

Almost an A+

This book really helped me see our explosive child in a new light and started to help from the beginning when I only had a rough idea of how this all worked. It comes with a PDF to help you work through the process, which is invaluable. It really outlines a great approach for helping explosive kids—and even those who aren't. If you want to have a kid who comes to you with their problems when they're a tween or teen, this seems like the way to go!

My only complaint is that it doesn't talk about what emergency plan B really looks like. It can take a long time to never for a kid to become explosion free. This book does not talk about how to weather the storm while you're in it. It is great for trying to work out how to prevent 1 kind of explosion at a time and give your kid some great skills. But, I need to know how to get through it in real time as well. Information on how to get through it real time while also parenting a sibling would also be helpful.

excellent

Useful book for those of us who've tried everything else and are sick of professionals telling us that sticker charts will help!
Only wish there was an unabridged version.

VERY enlightening

This gave me the tools that I need to understand why my child is explosive and how to help him with through those emotions.

A solution...

A solution offered to parents by a professional who actually realizes that the typical parenting approach doesn't work, not because you're a bad or lazy parent, but because it simply doesn't work for your child. This book is concise, helps you understand your child better, and teaches you to stop doing what doesn't work, and replace it with it's an approach that will likely be more effective.

Really helpful!

This book explains a lot and I honestly believe it should be in every new parent's "kit" and, most definitely part of every future teacher's learning. I hope I can help spread it more 😊

Gods gift! The relief it provides is astounding

For me, this was a rollercoaster of emotions because I have a child who the audio describes to a T and I'm also the parent with the typical replies as described, the feeling of guilt I felt to the relief to find a very functional plan which could help my family a LOT was overwhelming but I cannot wait to put my plan (or 3) into action!!!

Unhelpful and unrealistic

Waffles on about the problems for an hour before going into any help guide. Then the help is unrealistic. Children who show these behaviors aren't going to tell you what's wrong and change their behaviour by just asking what the matter is

Great book for everyone to read

Please don’t just recommend this book to parents of neurodiverse children
It should be a staple read for everyone 🥰

One of the worst books I read/listened

Unfortunately, the book does not provide a guide how to manage explosive child. Waste of time.

awesome

so pleased to have been recommended this book. it's steps are almost idiot proof lol

A refreshing practical approach to dealing with a challenging child

The repetition helped to cement the approach in my mind. It seems such common sense you can’t believe you ever took any other....

fab

helps you understand why your way of dealing with your childs behaviour isnt working .aswell as giving you a step by step guide to help , with practice you can solve

The explosive child

Wow an amazing look at bring up kids in a different way much more collaborative way

If you have tried everything and don't know what else to try...... Read this book

Improves communication and support with kids whom are hard work
Good luck this book and the method it teaches you will improve your families life

Great book

I found this book so helpful as a parent who struggles with an emotional and challenging child. If you have been at a point where you don't know what else to try to help, try this!!