Dealing With Difficult Parents And With Parents in Difficult Situations

by Todd Whitaker, Douglas J. Fiore

This book helps teachers, principals, superintendents, and all educators develop a repertoire of tools and skills for comfortable and effective interaction with parents. It shows you how to deal with the parent who is bossy, volatile, argumentative, aggressive, or maybe the worst - apathetic. It provides specific phrases to use with parents to help you avoid using "trigger" words which unintentionally make matters worse. It will show you how to deliver bad news to good parents, how to build positive credibility to all types of parents, and how to foster the kind of parent involvement which leads to student success.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Leadership, Self Help

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Samantha Statz]

I had to read this for a class.

[Amanda Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read for teachers! I tend to avoid confrontation and get anxious when doing parent phone calls. This book provided a lot of great strategies to use and a mindset shift! I feel more confident in my ability to phone home and am excited to take charge in this area. It would have been 5 stars but the author repeated himself quite often. Definitely an easy and enjoyable read. Highly recommend for anyone in the education field!

[Timothy Riley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snoozefest. You wouldn't read this unless you took a course that forced you to.

[David Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book for a seasoned teacher may seem a bit boring, but it is a great book to give to a new teacher or new admin. As a seasoned admin I felt this book was a good reminder of what to do in certain situations.

[Mi's Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuốn sách hay và khá hữu ích dành cho giáo viên các cấp. Cuốn sách giúp người đọc hiểu rõ tâm lí của phụ huynh và biết cách ứng phó với các tình huống khó xử lí và giải quyết vấn đề một cách khéo léo.
Cuốn sách hữu ích, có thể tham khảo.

[Haley Neumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt that I got a few new ideas from the book that I could personally implement, but overall I feel our school does a great job involving parents at school and making them feel welcome. Overall it was a good book and useful to a new teacher.

[Lisa Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book to add to the toolbox of anyone who has to deal with parents, it helped me through many a difficult situation!

[Kayla Lord-Carmody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides various strategies for dealing with a myriad of typical issues. Supports the teacher while empathizing with the parent.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the least painful book I’ve ever had to read for school. Lots of practical tips and practices for increasing parent engagement.

[Ilyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for a PD...interesting information

[Lisa Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pretty 101 level (communicate positive information early on to build trust, etc), and some parts are more geared toward administrators, but it has some good stuff for new teachers.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for continuing ed.

The author gave some practical tips, however, it felt more slanted towards principals dealing with difficult parents. I guess I would keep this around as a resource for the future....my truly difficult parents tend to be few and far between (at least the ones I actually hear from).

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty basic book about dealing with difficult parents. It was geared more towards parents of students who are getting in trouble for something. Probably great for intermediate or middle school teachers! An updated version would be great because parents today who rely on electronic communication are very different than parents of 2001.

[Mleander23 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an every summer reading book! I am a HUGE fan of Todd W. and his simple reminders of how to do it better are exactly what I need to move forward and continue my own growth as an educator. The techniques are easy, but most importantly he stress the importance of working with parents to allow them into our school community. Until next July.....r

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like its companion Dealing with Difficult Teachers, Whitaker and Fiore provide practical and effective ideas for managing a variety of challenging situations in the schoolhouse. You might say to yourself, "That won't work", when reading some of the authors' suggestions. And then you try it, and it does.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just about finished reading this for a class I'm taking online. It's basic information put in a "nice-to-read" format. Nothing too complex, but it validates alot of the work that I've been doing with difficult parents. Valuable read.

[Rachel Polacek · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overview on how to deal with parents as a teacher, even though some of this may be outdated (published ~10 years ago); some of the sources definitely are. So helpful for a new teacher, especially someone who is really uncomfortable with confrontation.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical advice for dealing with parents in difficult situations. Written from the point of view of principals and teachers, I enjoyed the stories. The writing style was also very easy to read, very conversational. Best textbook I've had to read!

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it. I picked up the book and had a hard time putting down. There was so much useful information as a parent and also one who is around other parents in a school setting. Great for principals and teachers to help them deal with such individuals. Awesome. A must read for any teacher.

[Jena Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting reminder on being professional when others are not. Some good advice, but at times I felt the author (a principal) was unnecessarily manipulative for little reason.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a teacher this was pretty helpful. There are a lot of things that were common sense, but some good and new strategies. Most of the ideas worked pretty well for me, but you can't please everyone.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fantastic. A must-read for all educators.

[Colin Kemmis]

Suprisingly great book, now only with dealing with parents, but overall effective communication. Gotta get a raise at work.

[Evan · Rating 1 out of 5]

blah. blah blah blah. blah blah blabbity blah blarb.
Thats pretty much this book. I'll be glad when the class is done.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this for a grad course and thought it was terribly written and not very useful.

[Margaret Mccormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so wonderful I will keep it on my desk always.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads really well and has great practical and detailed advice on building relationships with parents of your students. I enjoyed the real life examples and dialogues that are provided.

[Becky J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful. A lot of it is common-sense but bears repeating. You need the reminder in the moment anyway.

[Erinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not particularly well-written or useful.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for a continuing education class. I've read better, but there were a few strategies I learned.