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Fire Child, Water Child: How Understanding the Five Types of ADHD Can Help You Improve Your Child's Self-Esteem and Attention
Fire Child, Water Child is a revolutionary guide to parenting a child with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that does not rely on medication or pathologizing your child’s challenges. This method, created by pediatrician and ADHD specialist Stephen Scott Cowan, helps you identify your child’s unique focusing style―wood, fire, earth, metal, or water―and calm the stress that can contribute to your child’s ADHD symptoms. What is your child’s ADHD style? • The Wood Child is an adventurous explorer who is always on the move but gets frustrated easily
• The Fire Child is outgoing, funny, and can be prone to mood swings and impulsive actions
• The Earth Child is cooperative, peacemaking, but can feel worried or indecisive when stressed
• The Metal Child is comforted by routine, and finds it difficult to shift attention from task to task
• The Water Child is an imaginative dreamer, yet struggles to keep track of time
By using this personalized approach, you will help your child reduce impulsive behavior, regulate attention, and handle school and home routines with confidence.
• The Fire Child is outgoing, funny, and can be prone to mood swings and impulsive actions
• The Earth Child is cooperative, peacemaking, but can feel worried or indecisive when stressed
• The Metal Child is comforted by routine, and finds it difficult to shift attention from task to task
• The Water Child is an imaginative dreamer, yet struggles to keep track of time
By using this personalized approach, you will help your child reduce impulsive behavior, regulate attention, and handle school and home routines with confidence.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 31, 2021
Interesting way to categorize people but the advice is not always helpful. Often the advise in helping a child deal with ADHD is Chinese herbs and acupuncture. Sometimes it's to learn to swim. What if your kid hates swimming? And he talks about how these kids grew up to be great athletes. Not everyone will be winning medals though. It felt like he specifically hand picked his examples and that doesn't really help the average child.
October 25, 2023
Amazing! My acupuncturist recommended this. I can not say enough good things about it. After trying all too many remedies from over the counter, prescription medicine, therapist, mindfulness classes, and the list goes on. This gave me lots of insight to myself as a fire and the rest of my family. No you can follow it word for word for yourself for child as each person is different. That is the point of what Dr. Cowen is saying.
For example I had been noticing 6 months to a year prior how my inner irritability and fatigue seemed a to be far more in check when I was hydrated. Seems obvious, and for an ADHDer is so easy to forget. This simple change to drinking more water, being closer to water really helped to soothe my heightened negative emotions. It was. A game changer.
Also, being able to relate to my family and understand their needs allowed me to worry less. I didn’t need as much control or I should say I didn’t try to control as much because I could understand their point of view and needs.
Take the book for what you want, next to mindfulness I think this is a game changer for all families with someone who has ADHD and cannot recommended it enough!
For example I had been noticing 6 months to a year prior how my inner irritability and fatigue seemed a to be far more in check when I was hydrated. Seems obvious, and for an ADHDer is so easy to forget. This simple change to drinking more water, being closer to water really helped to soothe my heightened negative emotions. It was. A game changer.
Also, being able to relate to my family and understand their needs allowed me to worry less. I didn’t need as much control or I should say I didn’t try to control as much because I could understand their point of view and needs.
Take the book for what you want, next to mindfulness I think this is a game changer for all families with someone who has ADHD and cannot recommended it enough!
June 8, 2019
I love the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and ADHD, to better conceptualize the different ways children manifest symptoms. The point that ADHD is a cluster of symptoms more than a disease is a fair and valid point. Classifying the autonomic system, limbic system, and neocortex as "little frog", "wild puppy", and "big heart" is an intuitive way to explain to children how brains function.
February 22, 2019
Interesting read! Great for any family/teacher even if ADHD isn’t a challenge. I appreciated that he offered many ideas for practical application even if I can’t see myself implementing all of them.
February 25, 2019
3 1/2 stars. Super interesting view on ADHD. Borrowed this from the library and decided to buy a copy so I could have the book as a reference.
December 25, 2020
Love how this explains different personalities and how to best work with them
February 3, 2022
Helpful suggestions for how to approach supporting your ADHD child. Suggestions to integrate into a treatment plan, I wouldn't use it as a stand-alone resource.
September 15, 2022
Excellent book for different perspectives and approaches to ADHD. Extremely helpful for parents.
May 27, 2023
Cannot for the symptoms into any of the 5, so I got very confused.
April 25, 2021
Excellent!
This book uses nature to help gives different description to ADHD, it is an out of the box way to help kids become their potential, really great!
This book uses nature to help gives different description to ADHD, it is an out of the box way to help kids become their potential, really great!
August 7, 2013
Stephen Cowan takes a very holistic approach to ADHD in this book, drawing from a variety of scientific and philosophical sources to build a framework for understanding and supporting five major personality types. Each type corresponds to an element (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) that represents a person's most basic tendencies. According to Cowan, those tendencies become distractions when we're feeling threatened and insecure, particularly in situations that are contrary to our nature.
The first half of the book is focused on justifying a more holistic approach, identifying your child's nature, and getting a grasp on the elements and their relationships. Some of the terms, like "puppy heart," may seem silly at first, but they're a memorable and approachable way to relate a more complex scientific theories.
The second half uses specific cases to map out solutions for each type, drawing from the other elements to increase feelings of security, offer positive direction, find outlets, and enhance self-reflection. While many of the suggestions seem universal for those with ADHD, the how and why varies from type to type. For example, establishing an open schedule is vital for making a water child feel secure, while creating a schedule gives a wood child goals to push their focus in a positive direction. The approach was enlightening, offering new insight on why some tried-and-true strategies fail for some, but make a noticeable difference for others.
The first half of the book is focused on justifying a more holistic approach, identifying your child's nature, and getting a grasp on the elements and their relationships. Some of the terms, like "puppy heart," may seem silly at first, but they're a memorable and approachable way to relate a more complex scientific theories.
The second half uses specific cases to map out solutions for each type, drawing from the other elements to increase feelings of security, offer positive direction, find outlets, and enhance self-reflection. While many of the suggestions seem universal for those with ADHD, the how and why varies from type to type. For example, establishing an open schedule is vital for making a water child feel secure, while creating a schedule gives a wood child goals to push their focus in a positive direction. The approach was enlightening, offering new insight on why some tried-and-true strategies fail for some, but make a noticeable difference for others.
February 27, 2014
This book examines the connection children and their personalities have with Chinese medicine and its labeling of the Five Phases - related to nature: Water/Winter, Wood/Spring, Fire/Summer, Earth/Harvest, and Metal/Autumn. Each have particular characteristics and help to explain the ways that we respond to our environment. Of particular concern is how to aid the child diagnosed as ADHD and his/her parents and teachers. The author is a developmental pediatrician and advocates the use of alternative therapies such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, play therapy, diet and supplements, as well as pointing out how each child can benefit from intervention from the phases one is not identified with. Once the child is not considered to have a pathology, it is simpler to treat him/her. Dr. Cowan also explains very succinctly how current psychotropic medicines actually affect each type of child. good starting point for parents who are trying to deal with children who don't fit the mold of 20th century education.
January 21, 2014
Very interesting if you are really into holistic child raising. It describes the 5 kinds of children (or people like me) and the sign they are -earth, fire,wood, metal and water. When you discover this you can treat your child with holistic healing instead of medicine. I have to say - the different signs were extremely accurate to my 2 boys who show signs of ADHD (But who doesn't?) The one I worry about is a water sign and the different scents and oils might be something interesting to try since he is almost 6 and still cannot sleep through the night. He also suffers from some anxiety and a lot of fear. We massage him to get him to sleep, so I thought it might be a good test to see if some scented oils work. He'll go to school smelling of rosemary. :0) I'm a fire sign by the way...
August 12, 2012
Aside from references to Eastern philosophy, I found this book to be quite fascinating! I learned a lot about temperament, social inclination, and response to stress based on classifying personality/temperament according to the elements.
April 7, 2013
This book was very helpful in understanding how ADHD looks in different personalities, how to nourish the different personalities of ADHD, and how to challenge and develop a child with ADHD. I am glad I read it.
January 29, 2014
When you look past the ADHD label, this is a book for both children and adults. I especially appreciate the examples of how Cowan puts the Chinese Law of the Five Elements in to action. I've used this book to inquire into my child's behaviors and actions as well as my own.
August 29, 2012
Amazing book! Great resource for parents whether you think you child has ADHD or not.
Want to Read
June 20, 2013Recommended by my acupucturist in 2013, I finally bought a copy of it and read part of it on vacation at the end of the year.
August 15, 2014
Didn't fit our needs
December 26, 2016
I use this for my line of work which is food as medicine. This book is incredibly helpful in its holistic approach.
April 29, 2017
This book did a nice job with explaining the five personality archetypes as related to Chinese medicine. (Wood, fire, earth, metal, water)
I read the book for insight into myself and my child but not for ADHD specifically.
This book would be helpful to anyone seeking a greater understanding of our innate human physical and mental tendencies and the ways in which we connect into the system of which is life.
And for my friends who are curious, I am a fire child through and through
I read the book for insight into myself and my child but not for ADHD specifically.
This book would be helpful to anyone seeking a greater understanding of our innate human physical and mental tendencies and the ways in which we connect into the system of which is life.
And for my friends who are curious, I am a fire child through and through
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews