DECEMBER 16 • 2021 | 23

SHE REALIZED CHILDREN IN 
SHE REALIZED CHILDREN IN 
THE MIDDLE OF A TANTRUM 
THE MIDDLE OF A TANTRUM 
WEREN’T SO MUCH 
WEREN’T SO MUCH GIVING 
GIVING 

HER A HARD TIME, THEY WERE 
HER A HARD TIME, THEY WERE 

HAVING
HAVING A HARD TIME. 
 A HARD TIME. 

That doesn’t mean there 
shouldn’t be consequences, 
she says. But consequences 
should be decided logically 
and be directly related to 
the behavior — for example, 
taking away a toy that is used 
as a weapon or having a child 
use his own money to replace 
something broken in anger or 
ruined by carelessness.
Heather Bershas of West 
Bloomfield, a mother of 
three who teaches early 
childhood and fifth grade 
at Temple Israel, says she 
loves Bagdade’s honest and 
straightforward writing style. 
She says she had a “lightbulb 
moment” when Bagdade 
discussed right-sizing her 
expectations of her 2-year-old 
son. “I just thought, ‘Huh, 

that makes so much sense!’”
Many of the anecdotes in 
the book are about Bagdade’s 
own children, Ruby, Gabi and 
Avi. She shared everything in 
the book with them and with 
her husband, Jeff, a traffic 
and safety planning engineer, 
before publishing.
“Every single story and 
anecdote in the book was 
‘approved’ by each child,” she 
said. “That is super-important 
to me. They love being my 
cover models!”
The book is available at 
Book Beat in Oak Park, 
Toyology in West Bloomfield, 
directly from the publisher 
at https://msipress.com or 
online from Barnes and 
Noble or Amazon, which also 
has a Kindle edition. 

Franki Bagdade

Supported through the generosity of The Jewish Fund and the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Family Foundation.

 
 
 
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