Pampered Child Syndrome Summary
Jessica Medeiros
Child Development
May 1, 2013
Book Review
The child-rearing book that I choose to read was “ The Pampered Child Syndrome” written by Maggie Mamen. “The Pampered Child Syndrome” is a source of advice for parents or professionals working with children who are “loved to much”, in other words they are given everything they ask for, yet remain unhappy, anxious or aggressive. Dr. Maggie Mamen describes common characteristics of the pampered child, and offers guidance on establishing an effective balance between caring for and nurturing children and maintaining authority and respect. Mamen also identifies the “symptoms” of the pampered child that mimic those of genuine emotional, behavioral, and psychiatric disorders and explains …show more content…
the dangers of misdiagnosis. While reading this book many things were brought to my attention, it connected to many related topics that were discussed in my child development course.
Some topics that were related were; how to care and nurture children, disorders in children, and mainly how to control children’s emotions. In my child development course my professor made it very clear to us that when caring for a child “parenting” is a very important factor in a child’s life. It has also been suggested that parents most definitely matter. “In fact we are the most powerful instruments of change in a family.” There was only a small section the book where it talks about parenting. Which I thought was a little downfall for parents reading this book. There is a bigger section in the book about disorders. In my child development course we took quite a decent time going over several disorders. One specific disorder that was mention in the book was anxiety. When reading over this section of the book I was very connected to what I have learned in my course about anxiety. In the book, Mamen mentions that there are three compents to anxiety which include; physiological which deals with your autonomic nervous system, cognitive which is through yours thoughts and behavioral which is related to avoidance. When looking back to my notes from class these 3 components are also mentioned. Mamen also talks about different types of anxiety, which was also talked about in my course. Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
are very common in infants and toddlers. Another topic in the book that I connected to my child development course was the section about temper tantrums. “Temper tantrums are not fun!” As Mamen states that temper tantrums are not fun I can relate to my professor stating the same. The book mentions that there are two types of tantrums one being a temperamental and the other manipulative. Mamen states how to react to each of these tantrums. Just as I was reading I remembered my professor stating to “never give in” during a manipulative tantrum. The book states the same. Mamen states in her writing when dealing with manipulative tantrums, “that you must stay consist, if you’re not consist you will never see the end to these tantrums.” One negative that I thought while reading about dealing with tantrums was while she described how to cope with manipulative disorders she didn’t explain how to deal with temperamental tantrums as well. She discussed the differences but when looking back to my notes, I noticed that my professor stated that you must “remove the cause” when dealing with temperamental tantrums. I thought Mamen could have had something along those lines while discussing temperamental tantrums. I thought that these two topics, anxiety and tantrums is where I felt connected to what I have learned throughout my child development course. I believe that the book correlated very well with the information that I learned about each of these two topics.
All in all, Mamen is very descriptive in her writings about each topic that she discusses. While reading I was very engaged in each of her topics. I did find that her topics about tantrums and disorders were very affected on how to cope with each of them. I would definitely rate this book as being useful. I would recommend it to any parent or professional trying to cope with “pampered child syndrome.” Mamen does an effective way on not only how to recognize this syndrome but also how to manage it.
Bibliography
Mamen, M. (2006). The Pampered Child Syndrome. Philadelphia, PA, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
Child Development
May 1, 2013
Book Review
The child-rearing book that I choose to read was “ The Pampered Child Syndrome” written by Maggie Mamen. “The Pampered Child Syndrome” is a source of advice for parents or professionals working with children who are “loved to much”, in other words they are given everything they ask for, yet remain unhappy, anxious or aggressive. Dr. Maggie Mamen describes common characteristics of the pampered child, and offers guidance on establishing an effective balance between caring for and nurturing children and maintaining authority and respect. Mamen also identifies the “symptoms” of the pampered child that mimic those of genuine emotional, behavioral, and psychiatric disorders and explains …show more content…
the dangers of misdiagnosis. While reading this book many things were brought to my attention, it connected to many related topics that were discussed in my child development course.
Some topics that were related were; how to care and nurture children, disorders in children, and mainly how to control children’s emotions. In my child development course my professor made it very clear to us that when caring for a child “parenting” is a very important factor in a child’s life. It has also been suggested that parents most definitely matter. “In fact we are the most powerful instruments of change in a family.” There was only a small section the book where it talks about parenting. Which I thought was a little downfall for parents reading this book. There is a bigger section in the book about disorders. In my child development course we took quite a decent time going over several disorders. One specific disorder that was mention in the book was anxiety. When reading over this section of the book I was very connected to what I have learned in my course about anxiety. In the book, Mamen mentions that there are three compents to anxiety which include; physiological which deals with your autonomic nervous system, cognitive which is through yours thoughts and behavioral which is related to avoidance. When looking back to my notes from class these 3 components are also mentioned. Mamen also talks about different types of anxiety, which was also talked about in my course. Stranger anxiety and separation anxiety
are very common in infants and toddlers. Another topic in the book that I connected to my child development course was the section about temper tantrums. “Temper tantrums are not fun!” As Mamen states that temper tantrums are not fun I can relate to my professor stating the same. The book mentions that there are two types of tantrums one being a temperamental and the other manipulative. Mamen states how to react to each of these tantrums. Just as I was reading I remembered my professor stating to “never give in” during a manipulative tantrum. The book states the same. Mamen states in her writing when dealing with manipulative tantrums, “that you must stay consist, if you’re not consist you will never see the end to these tantrums.” One negative that I thought while reading about dealing with tantrums was while she described how to cope with manipulative disorders she didn’t explain how to deal with temperamental tantrums as well. She discussed the differences but when looking back to my notes, I noticed that my professor stated that you must “remove the cause” when dealing with temperamental tantrums. I thought Mamen could have had something along those lines while discussing temperamental tantrums. I thought that these two topics, anxiety and tantrums is where I felt connected to what I have learned throughout my child development course. I believe that the book correlated very well with the information that I learned about each of these two topics.
All in all, Mamen is very descriptive in her writings about each topic that she discusses. While reading I was very engaged in each of her topics. I did find that her topics about tantrums and disorders were very affected on how to cope with each of them. I would definitely rate this book as being useful. I would recommend it to any parent or professional trying to cope with “pampered child syndrome.” Mamen does an effective way on not only how to recognize this syndrome but also how to manage it.
Bibliography
Mamen, M. (2006). The Pampered Child Syndrome. Philadelphia, PA, UK: Jessica Kingsley.