Parenting Under Fire

How to Communicate with Your Hurt, Angry, Rejecting, Distant Kid

By Amy J.L. Baker, PhD and Paul R. Fine, LCSW

Children who are hurt, angry, rejecting, and distant (HARD) can be challenging to parent. They can be rude, uncooperative, and disagreeable. They are hard to relate to or connect with, and they can appear to be hardened to the love and guidance of their parent. Whether hard children are caught in a loyalty conflict, are victims of parental alienation, or behaving this way for some other reason, their parents need help.

This book provides parents of a hurt, angry, rejecting, or distant child the much needed guidance and support they need to connect with their children and repair relationships while opening the lines of communication. The book is divided into three sections, each focusing on a different form of communication, and provides the reader with the science-based hope and inspiration they need as well as hundreds of practical suggestions about how to keep the communication loving, appropriate, and connected.

Amy J.L. Baker, PhD is a leader in the field of parental alienation, lecturing and training on the subject around the world. She has been quoted and/or appeared in major media outlets including The New York Times, Newsweek, and Good Morning America.

Paul R. Fine, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker who has decades of experience working with individuals and families dealing with a range of conflicted family situations including families with children who are hurt, angry, rejecting, and distant. He is the co-author of three books with Amy J.L. Baker.

Essential for parents of HARD children.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

August 2023

208 pages

Hardback 978 1 5381 7906 2 eBook 978 1 5381 7907 9

Family & Relationships • Parenting / General