Stubborn Love Needs Stubborn Discipline

Like most people, I love a good story that ends happily. Such is the story I am about to relate.

Six months ago, a mom wrote me asking for help with her two-and-one-half-year-old son, whom she and her husband had adopted when he was 20 months of age.  He had been rescued at an early age from abusive parents and put on what I call the “foster home express.” As he went from one temporary situation to another, behavior problems developed and quickly worsened. By the time of his adoption, he was throwing wild tantrums when he didn’t get his way, hitting and biting when he was angry, and refusing to obey pretty much any instruction.