Source: The Guardian >> Read Full Article

Can dog-whisperering techniques used to control canines also work with children?

Lucy Atkins’s children Isabella, Ted and Sam with Rocket

On parenting blogs, websites and Twitter, the guilty admissions are all the same: the training techniques of Cesar Millan, AKA “The Dog Whisperer”, work on kids too. Millan has published four books; his show runs on a perpetual reel on the National Geographic channel. “As I watched him work with an extremely aggressive pit bull,” admits a woman called TheMentorMom on Minti.com, “I saw that some of his techniques and philosophies applied to teaching children.”

While a push on the neck or a loud “Sshht!” could cause raised eyebrows at the toddler group, the notion that dogs and children share a need for calm, assertive “pack leaders” and that both need exercise, discipline and love seems reasonable. No wonder such theories are challenging the trend for indulgent “helicopter” parenting.

“Today’s parents have less time for their children, so when they do see them the last thing they want is confrontation,” says psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, author of The Spoilt Generation. “But parents are finally realising that the tail is wagging the dog. Authority is a good thing.” … >> Continue Reading