Getting To Calm

Critical praise for
Getting to Calm

"An ideal guide book for parenting teens, Getting to Calm shows how emotional intelligence starts in the home. Parents are given valuable strategies for managing their own emotions and tackling challenging situations, all with a keen focus on the critical importance of maintaining a strong parent-teen relationship. Indispensable!" -John Gottman, Ph.D., author of Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child

"This is a smart book. Filled with accessible science and illuminating stories, Getting to Calm offers sound advice for not only staying sane as a parent, but navigating the waters of your teen's life with clarity and skill so that both you and your adolescent will benefit. A wonderful contribution to every parent's library of support. Bravo!" -Daniel J. Siegel, M.D., author of The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being and Parenting From the Inside Out

"Required reading for any parent who struggles with their teen. Here is true insight into the mental and emotional world of adolescents. Kastner and Wyatt offer parents useful, step-by-step tools for managing their own emotions in the face of teenaged chaos." -T. Berry Brazelton, MD and Joshua Sparrow, MD, Harvard Medical School



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DR. LAURA KASTNER is a clinical psychologist and clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at University of Washington. Dr. Kastner has co-authored three books with Jennifer Wyatt: The Seven Year Stretch: How Families Work Together To Grow Through Adolescence, Houghton-Mifflin, 1997; The Launching Years: Strategies for Parents from Senior Year to College Life, Three Rivers Press, 2003; and Getting to Calm: Cool-headed strategies for parenting tweens and teens, ParentMap, 2009. She has also written academic articles and magazine features on a wide range of topics related to child development, family functioning and mental health. A frequent lecturer on a wide-range of family topics, Dr. Kastner maintains a private practice and consults on parenting issues. She and her husband of 26 years have two young adult children.

Author Dr. Laura Kastner on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition"
Read or listen to an interview with Dr. Kastner on National Public Radio, Morning Edition (August 8, 2010), by Patti Neighmond:

Experiencing Teen Drama? Blame Biology

"Back in the days of authoritarian parenting in the l950’s, obedience and propriety were high values. Digressions from good manners, respect and good behavior were met with punishment. But then in the 1970’s and 1980’s, things changed. Parents wanted high self-esteem for their kids and closer relationships with them. Fear-based and power-coercive relationships went the way of the rod in the classroom.

So it’s no wonder that today’s teens feel much more free to act out than their predecessors ever hoped. And they do. Just ask any parent of a teenager who will likely complain about rudeness, ill manners, constant criticism and even being yelled at by their teenager.

The dilemma is pretty typical, says psychologist Laura Kastner, who along with Jennifer Wyatt, wrote a recent book Getting to Calm: Cool-headed strategies for parenting tweens and teens. For over thirty years, Kastner has helped parents and their children work toward greater calm in the home.

Read or listen to the entire interview here...


News Coverage - Getting To Calm

New Day appearance on April 18, 2011




From Jon Britt

Laura Kastner, Ph.D.