Dealing with Difficult Parents: And with Parents in Difficult Situations by Todd Whitaker

Dealing with Difficult Parents: And with Parents in Difficult Situations Reviews

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  Samantha Statz

  I had to read this for a class.
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  David Anderson

  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.
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  Kelly

  Good book for new teachers/administrators and good refresher for veteran teachers/administrators.
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  Lisa Thomas

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

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

  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.
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  Kristen

  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

  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.
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  Mleander23

  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

  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.
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  M

  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.
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  Rachel Polacek

  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.
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  Kate

  I read this book for a distance learning course, and I really liked it. It's very practical and I got a lot out of it.
  
  One note: I recently read Whitaker's other book and a few of the tips are from there. That's not really a problem per se, just a note.
• 
  Jessie

  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!
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  Jena Gardner

  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

  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

  Really fantastic. A must-read for all educators.
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  Colin Kemmis

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

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

  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.
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  Becky J

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

  Not particularly well-written or useful.
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  Michelle

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

  As a high school teacher in a era of helicopter AND lawnmower parents who seem to have lost their minds, just the title of this book was very appealing. I did enjoy the book, but it seemed to use the exact same examples over and over and over again. As a veteran teacher, I could come up with a thousand examples of crazy parent complaints--why couldn't this principal come up with more than four?! I did take away a few pieces of excellent advice; however, this book seemed to be aimed more at principals than teachers. I had hoped for a more specific advice and a larger selection of strategies. In fact, the book is quite brief, but somewhat helpful.