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How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen

Written by: Joanna Faber,Julie King
Narrated by: Heather Alicia Simms,Michele Pawk,Candace Thaxton,January LaVoy,Rebekkah Ross,Gibson Frazier,Molly Pope
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Publisher's Summary

A must-have resource for anyone who lives or works with young kids, with an introduction by Adele Faber, coauthor of the international best-seller The Boston Globe dubbed "The Parenting Bible".

For over 35 years, parents have turned to How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk for its respectful and effective solutions to the unending challenges of raising children. Now, in response to growing demand, Adele's daughter, Joanna Faber, along with Julie King, tailor How to Talk's powerful communication skills to children ages two to seven.

Faber and King, each a parenting expert in her own right, share their wisdom accumulated over years of conducting How To Talk workshops with parents and a broad variety of professionals. With a lively combination of storytelling, cartoons, and fly-on-the-wall discussions from their workshops, they provide concrete tools and tips that will transform your relationship with the young kids in your life.

What do you do with a little kid who...won't brush her teeth...screams in his car seat...pinches the baby...refuses to eat vegetables...runs rampant in the supermarket? Organized according to common challenges and conflicts, this book is an essential emergency first-aid manual of communication strategies, including a chapter that addresses the special needs of children with sensory processing and autism spectrum disorders.

This user-friendly guide will empower parents and caregivers to forge rewarding, joyful relationships with terrible two-year-olds, truculent three-year-olds, ferocious four-year-olds, foolhardy five-year-olds, self-centered six-year-olds, and the occasional semi-civilized seven-year-old. And, it will help little kids grow into self-reliant big kids who are cooperative and connected to their parents, teachers, siblings, and peers.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2017 Joanna Faber and Julie King (P)2017 Simon & Schuster

What listeners love about How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen

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Loved it! Big thank you to the authors!

The tools in this book have worked wonders for my daughter and I. I feel more confident as a parent and it has brought us closer. We are both happier and life has been much easier now that I have the tools to calm her down before a meltdown ensues. The book was funny and full of super relatable stories of the problems parents face while raising kids. The narration was great! I liked how they had different people narrating for the different parents telling the stories. Will recommend this book to all my friends with little kids!

5 people found this helpful

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A repeat-listen over and over and over and over..

It takes a lot of patience and practice doing the suggestions from this book, after all that's how habits are formed so that's no problem at all. Be prepared to do your homework! When I forget, I just go back and get reminded again and again til it sticks. And when a habit does stick, you'd wish you have learned the skill sooner. An excellent resource for a parent running out of ideas on how to get along with their kid/s while keeping boundaries and everyone's sanity in check. This book is as human as it could get.

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Extremely helpful!

I started using many of these strategies while listening to the book. I immediately started noticing a difference in not only my children's behaviors, but the relationship I had with them. My children are almost 2, and 3 years old. A lot of the time I listen to the book while they were in the car with me. My older son would laugh at some of the stories. Sometimes, he would remind me of strategies I should be using when his little brother was acting up. I highly recommend this book.

4 people found this helpful

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Yes!

I really enjoyed this book! It connected with the way I want to parent 100% I am going to listen again soon and may need to a few more times but each time I apply the teachings - it works - and I will listen as many times as needed to get them down pat

3 people found this helpful

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I couldn't finish it.

I think it was due to a combination of the narrators and the content itself. It was alot more examples of behaviors than explaining the how to deal with it and why...I will attempt to listen to it again in the future, or perhaps I'll just read it for myself.

2 people found this helpful

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Excellent set of tools for parents.

In less than two weeks of implementing some of the tools given in this book, our household stress level has been greatly reduced. Great advice and plenty of real life stories to back it up. Absolutely recommend to any parent, especially first time parents.

2 people found this helpful

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GREAT BOOK! This is a MUST read for all parents!

Tons of tools! I love how the book recaps all the tools at the end of the chapter so that you can just listen to the beginning and write down all the tools at the end. I suggest writing all the tools down in your notes because there are too many to memorize and having quick access is key! The stories/examples from parents they give sound very Disney, but nonetheless, the tools DO WORK which is the most important factor of this book. Get it, you won't regret it!

1 person found this helpful

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A great resource for parents.

I think this book is great. it has some really good tools to use with kids which makes logical sense. of course not everything works on all kids but I have definitely noticed a difference with my 5 and 3 years olds. I would definitely recommend this book.

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wonderful book

a wonderful book full of great tools to help with infants and small children even though I have no children myself at this time I look forward to using the tools they teach in this book

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Lots of examples

Loved the book. It combines multiple different concepts and has a lot of examples. Highly recommend for any parent

1 person found this helpful

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  • Elliott Family
  • 2019-07-23

The message is great but the narration and writing style cringey

I love the message of this book and the way it is telling you to communicate etc, that is spot on and helpful

However the way this book is written is so cringey.
Constantly hearing “and the group replied back “
“And then the group”
“Insert a bunch of replies that sound so made up and straight out of a 80s sitcom over and over”


It just makes it SO hard to listen too. I hate it, I’ve stopped listening about 3 hours in.

The narrator voice also compounds this problem, I’m sorry to say.


Coming from listening to Laura Markhams audiobook really highlighted how hard this is to listen to or read.

44 people found this helpful

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  • Brittany Vickers
  • 2017-05-05

Changed my life

This book completely changed my perspective about how I should talk to my children. It radically changed what I say to my children. I have both the print and audio editions and really enjoyed listening to it so the parental voices became someone else's besides my own.

31 people found this helpful

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  • Katelyn
  • 2017-07-10

I want to be just like the authors

These authors emphasize the importance of remembering what it's like to be a kid. Big takeaways for me were to acknowledge feelings, describe what I see, be playful, give choices, and describe their wish fantasies. I've used these tools--now my daughter is hopping into her pajamas and likes to be carried to bed upside down. Really resonated with me and made me re-think how I talk to my daughter. Thanks!

24 people found this helpful

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  • Ray
  • 2017-12-01

Loved the book! Not so much some narration parts.

Any additional comments?

The person who narrates "Sarah" uses mutliple upward inflections in the wrong places and emphasizes parts of speech that shouldn't need it. It becomes so annoying that I began skipping her stories altogether. This is still a great listen/read and I would still recommend it to any parents with a toddler.

21 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2017-08-25

Interesting, practical, useful.

Thank you for writing this! I recommend to any parent. Was extremely helpful. Already seen improvements and got me thinking about it scientifically again instead if just flabbergasted parent.

20 people found this helpful

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  • D. Berzack
  • 2019-01-09

A cloying, long-winded, pointless cash grab

The original "How to Talk" is a seminal classic. This book offers virtually nothing new, just a lot of blathering chatter to fill pages, delivered with a grating, nasal voice.

It feels like they're just milking the brand. Please, do yourself a favor and read the original - it's nothing short of life changing - and avoid this garbage.

15 people found this helpful

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  • Angie Romo
  • 2017-03-21

It works

Just by starting to acknowledge feelings there is a noticeable progress. I am happy the authors noticed the previous book was neglecting children in the age range.

15 people found this helpful

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  • Jacelyn Brand
  • 2020-02-27

Did not like the narrator!

I own a paper copy of this book so I was excited to see that the narrated version was on Audible. However, the narrator of this book is terrible! She uses a very condescending and pretentious tone that negates the original authors purpose and meaning. I couldn’t even make it through the first chapter listening to her voice.

12 people found this helpful

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  • The Wang Family
  • 2017-06-05

Must read for parents of small kids!

Would you consider the audio edition of How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen to be better than the print version?

I loved this book. My only regret is that I didn't read it earlier. My daughter is 5 and I learned a lot still.

11 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Becky F
  • 2017-04-09

Love All the How to Talk Books

There were so many times when this book anticipated my "Yeah, but..." thoughts and doubts. Well written, fun to listen to, and lots of tools to practice using with my 3 boys all 7 and under.

11 people found this helpful

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  • Lili
  • 2023-03-21

A great guide for parenting and more

This book is a gem.
Some points might seem obvious and yet because we get so overwhelmed by our day to day chores, work and other obligations, it easy to loose patience and to create more tension while raising kids. This book will give you new tools but it might also just help you take a step back, breath and try again later. It also really help me notice my small victories and definitely made me feel less lonely in the struggle of parenting. I feel like when becoming parents it would be great to receive a set of a few books to help you along the way, this is one of them.

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  • joke bleys
  • 2021-04-22

an eye opener!

a book that every parent should read. it has opened my eyes and made me realize we are not alone.

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  • Dorothee
  • 2021-02-03

Awesome !!!!

This book is so useful ! Every parent / teacher / caregiver should read this. It is SO LIFE-CHANGING !

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  • Andreea Toma
  • 2019-10-11

great book

I love the stories and the tools.
Some of them are very funny.
I recommend it warmly