There are loads of books covering the basics of getting along with and disciplining children, but as every parent knows, each kid is different, and there’s no telling what will or won’t work.

Anna Glas and Åse Teiner have many years of experience as certified parental coaches, and being mothers themselves, they realized that looking at problems from different angles and using novel approaches can have pleasantly-surprising results.

Do This! Not That! tells forty-nine real stories of parents using unconventional methods in everyday situations. Every story starts with a short background of the problem, shows the parents trying out a wacky solution, and then follows them to see the result and suggests other creative methods of dealing with the problem. What happens when you give your son ice cream before dinner, when you pay a teen from the neighborhood to take your baby for a ride in the stroller while you catch up on sleep, or when you let your daughter eat cookies on her way to preschool?

Divided into three sections—Grow as an Adult, Break Everyday Patterns, and Say “Yes!”—Do This! Not That! will show you that thinking outside the box may be just what you need to get a handle on those rascals.