What the Pros Have to Say about “Buttons”

When Your Kids Push Your Buttons Book

When Your Kids Push Your Buttons…got a ***1/2 star rating out of 4 stars on the New York Post’s top parenting book list!

“Why does a kid’s particular behavior drive you batty? Harris suggests you think back to your own childhood: Maybe that misbehavior’s triggering a memory that pushes your buttons. Understanding why you get angry helps.”

“A straightforward, easy-to-read manual, When Your Kids Push Your Buttons is filled with practical advice gleaned from a course Harris, a parent and family counselor, has taught for several years.Also included are worksheets and step-by-step exercises for breaking free of the past and defusing explosive situations. If you can identify with the title (and what parent can’t?), “Buttons” is worth reading.”
—Rich, The New York Post


“I wish Bonnie Harris had written this book 20 years ago, when my child was little. It presents everyday situations with solutions that are laced with wisdom, humanity, and uncommon sense. When Your Kids Push Your Buttons…is a must-read if you want to stop acting and sounding like your mother (or father).”
—Cherie Carter-Scott, Ph.D. author of If Life is a Game, These are the Rules and The Gift of Motherhood: Ten Truths for Every Mother


“A wise and practical guide to more mindful and open-hearted parenting”.
—Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn, co-authors of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting


“This is the tai’chi of parenting books: all about how to move with the other instead of against, how to pay attention to what the other is doing before taking action. Bonnie Harris has written a book that proposes action without producing guilt, that appeals to those parents who still remember how they wish they had been treated when they were small. She manages to help us see the importance of detachment, while simultaneously urging us to the wonderful intimacy that always follows when we let our children be our teachers.”
—Michael Trout, Director, The Infant-Parent Institute


As a pediatrician I find that I am already making a list of families that would benefit from this book! It fills a wonderful niche in parent guidance; that of responsible compassionate parenting. It is a guide to the soul searching necessary to be the parent you, and your child, want you to be.
—Jan McGonagle, MD, pediatrician at Dartmouth Hitchock


“I loved this book! Finally, a parenting expert that speaks to parents like a best friend, confiding in us about her own feelings towards her children, encouraging us to share our deepest despair and anger towards our children, and offering solutions that bring parents and children back into connection with one another. Bonnie normalizes the often-times unspoken feelings of anger and rage that parents experience towards their children and teaches how these trigger points can be turned into growth spurts for parents and children alike. Her most fundamental principle in parenting is that of the importance of connection and reducing empathic ruptures. Similar to Harville Hendricks, Bonnie writes with the view that parents can make changes in their own behavior. For parents who see their children as their teachers, and who view themselves as guides and not gods, this is the book for you.”
—Karen B. Walant, Ph.D. Psychotherapist and Author of Creating the Capacity for Attachment, Advisory Board, Attachment Parenting International


“Bonnie Harris gives parents the necessary and useful tools to deal with the often daily frustrations evoked by our children. These suggestions are both insightful, humane, and respectful.”
—Isabelle Fox, author of Being There: The Benefits of a Stay at Home Parent


“An excellent guide to the flash points of parenting that catch even the most well-meaning of parents by surprise— and what to do about them. Bonnie Harris is a thoughtful ally of any parent.”
—Sam Osherson, PhD, author of Finding Our Fathers: How A Man’s Life Is Shaped By His Relationship With His Father


“Parents will recognize themselves throughout this book. Bonnie Harris offers one situation after another about children of all ages who push parental buttons…and gives the keys to diffusing incipient explosions as well as new, rewarding ways to get along with your kids.”
—Nancy Balaban, Ed.D., Infant and Parent Development and Early Intervention Program, Bank Street College Graduate School of Education


What They Say About Bonnie:

“In creating and developing the work of The Parent Guidance Center, Bonnie Harris has helped change the lives of so many families seeking to learn how to effectively raise their children. The mission of educating and supporting these families throughout this region of New Hampshire has served as a model for quality parenting programs that are so needed throughout the country.”
—Nancy Samalin, author of Loving Your Child is Not Enough: Positive Discipline that Works; Love and Anger: The Parental Dilemma; and Loving Each One Best


“The Parent Guidance Center and its founder, Bonnie Harris, has been doing excellent work for many years in the Monadnock Region. The center functions as a teaching and support resource for many parents and helping professionals. The center would likely never have been started, and certainly not have achieved its current level of success, without the energy and wisdom of Bonnie Harris.”
—Sam Osherson, Ph.D., chair of the psychology faculty at The Fielding Institute; psychotherapist in Cambridge, MA; and author of The Hidden Wisdom of Parents


“Bonnie Harris’ broad knowledge of child development, her deep wisdom as a parent, and her special skill as a parent educator have helped her create a truly supportive and informative parent guidance program. Helping parents be the ‘best parent they can be’ is her goal. She has led many parents in their journey toward this goal.”
—Janice P. Miller, adjunct faculty, Bank Street College of Education; Director, The Riverside Church Weekday School; Former faculty, Pacific Oaks College; Former Assoc. Director, Pacific Oaks Children’s School; Founding Director of Basic Trust Child Care Center


“As a pediatrician, every day I see parents and children struggling with each other to maintain a close family. Bonnie Harris, as the founder of The Parent Guidance Center, has established and tirelessly promoted a set of principals that embody vital issues challenging American families. Bonnie Harris and The PGC are treasures.”
—Dr. Lara Scheinblum, pediatrician, Monadnock Community Hospital