Parenting a Spicy One

Tired of negotiating with a tiny tyrant? Feeling drained by extreme emotions and unpredictable outbursts—including your own? Do you fear you might be raising a menace but also want to avoid dimming their sparkly light? Does "gentle parenting" advice make you chuckle bitterly because it doesn't work on your kid? Welcome to parenting a Spicy One—a child more loyal to their own soul than to your agenda. Parenting coach and adult Spicy One Mary Van Geffen knows raising these future world changers requires courage and compassion. Based on her experience guiding thousands of parents through her program, she offers a transformative approach to staying calm during five-alarm tantrums; choosing connection over control; maintaining boundaries without crushing their spirit; finding joy and confidence in parenting this prickly creature; being okay when they are not; and parenting with a tenderness you never experienced as a child. Each chapter provides small, doable changes to help you become calmer, kinder, and firmer, plus self-reflection questions to help you make space for the exceptional adult your Spicy One will one day become. It's never too late to confidently choose effective, respectful discipline—to transform both your relationship with your larger-than-life kid and yourself.