Parenting Pandora

"You opened your arms and accepted the puzzle that is your child. It's a puzzle made of up of 1000 pieces. The picture on the box does not match what is inside. There are missing pieces, but also the pieces of a dozen other puzzles mixed in. It is impossible to put the whole puzzle together as it was new. Some pieces will never be found".
Quote from Parenting Pandora, chapter titled "It's Not Your  Fault".

Now available on Amazon.com



Paperback or Kindle!



Like most parents, when I realized things were not okay with Genea I sought answers. Desperate for anything that might help her,  I searched online for books and current research. I probably have 40 books at this point and certainly have read over 1000 studies. Of the little I could find, some was helpful but often did not work for us. It was frustrating to read book after book that spoke of vague, abstract concepts that might help in the long term.  Real suggestions and usable techniques were rare. What I needed was something to DO, in the moment, mid meltdown, and ASAP.

SO MUCH did not make sense and I became obsessed with figuring out the "why" behind the unrelenting chaos.

Epic failure after epic failure, a few things did help and that's what I've written into this mini-book. Quick and to the point, parents of children with RAD don't have the luxury of a lengthy read! I've tried to address why our kids act as they do, why typical parenting does not work, what to do in the long term and ways to immediately handle common issues.

 My main premise is that kids with Reactive Attachment Disorder (or whichever psychiatric diagnosis the child has) compulsively control their anxiety by forcing the people around them to act predictably.

"Child, you sucked the nothing out of me six months ago!"

I cover relentless attention seeking, and why negative attention is not negative to the child with Reactive Attachment Disorder. Why that fake charming behavior in public is actually a good thing. I suggest using inconsistency to change unwanted behavior and talk about why standard parenting techniques do not work when your child has RAD. Here is an example:

Love and Logic does not work because "a child with RAD has not developed a system of logic that responds to loving guidance. Her logic developed in response to trauma".

(consider the booklet as a gift for teachers, therapists, family or friends!)

Parenting Pandora is self published. Reading through it again, that fact stands out even more than it did originally. Admittedly it is a little janky. I tried to be clear and not wander off on tangents and such, but some of it reads very 'amateur'. 

The beauty of self publishing is there was no editor to filter my *ahem* sense of humor. Here's my favorite "The child is told to wipe down the kitchen table after lunch. She does, and it's an excellent job on all but one conspicuous corner. I call that the "F-you spot". Heh heh, still makes me laugh.

The unfortunate side is there was no editor to say, this is stupid and makes no sense!
(I did recruit a lovely friend to give it a look. Hi Tia! She's why it's not super awful).

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