Article archive / December 2017
Originally published: . Volume 8, No. 12. Source pages: 14.
Raising Human Beings: Creating a Collaborative Partnership with Your Child by Ross Green, PhD
Randall Lemoine, PhD Psychologist, Private Practice Baton Rouge
Raising Human Beings – Quite an intriguing title, eh? Indeed! In this, his latest book, renowned psychologist Ross Greene is elevating the use of his Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS) method, which he originally developed for use with behaviorally challenging children/adolescents [The Explosive Child (1998; 2014)], to be the new paradigm for parenting/discipline of all children/adolescents, in contrast to the more prevalent traditional and behaviorally-oriented methods (e.g., Alan Kazdin and Russell Barkley). Whereas traditional parenting/disciplinary approaches, which Greene labels as “Plan A,” have generally emphasized a unilateral approach, which is based largely on parental power and control methods, Greene’s CPS “Plan B” approach instead emphasizes a collaborative partnership between parent and child, which is based largely on empathic dialogue and mutual problem solving. In a writing style that is neither preachy nor lofty, Greene advises parents to forgo their use of time-outs, sticker charts, withdrawal of privileges, etc. in favor of establishing a decidedly person-centered, relationship-based, and skills-oriented approach to their discipline, one that better promotes both their child’s self- discipline and self-esteem. And without stating it explicitly, I hear Ross reminding those of us in psychology that the enlightened and modern version of traditional stimulus-response (S-R) behaviorism includes the uber-important variable of the organism (S-O-R) and inserts a healthy dose of humanism (enter Carl Rogers) into the formula, a notion that is more in keeping with the growing positive discipline movement. Greene’s book is chock-full of actual parent- child dialogues that bring his CPS approach “to life,” and provide practical, everyday examples for application, including what to do when the child is less-than-collaborative. He illustrates the skilled use of tried-and-true methods such as reflective listening and more contemporary methods such as motivational interviewing. Plus, at the end of each chapter there is a Q&A section in which Greene provides insightful answers to frequently asked questions.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.