Bump-A-Holic

I’ve written earlier about the craze that seems to be infiltrating many communities and homes, creating less than ideal conditions for babies and parents: the bumpaholic . And I believe this type of pregnancy can be less than ideal for several reasons. It’s for the wrong reasons. We’ve all heard about the more common situations under which a pregnancy isn’t a good idea, even if it’s planned. Things like getting pregnant to keep the man, to try and save the relationship, or to create a bigger

Dealing With Introduction To The Parents

Dealing With Introduction To The Parents Meeting someone new is thrilling. Especially if you actually end up not deciding they’re a total loser in the first 10 minutes of the first date. Every now and again, that magical thing happens where learning more about a person doesn’t lead to you respecting them less, liking them less, or just thinking they’re a flat-out weirdo; sometimes you like them more And sparks fly and all that jazz. Pretty soon you’ve had more than a few dates under yo

Illinois Family Institute Goes After Me Again

The Illinois Family Institute’s Laurie Higgins is going after me (and my job) again . … parents really should spend some time perusing… math teacher, Hemant Mehta’s website to determine whether he is the kind of man with whom they want their children to spend a school year. He absolutely has a First Amendment right to promote any feckless, destructive, offensive, and immoral ideas he wants via his blog, but, as I mentioned in my earlier article, parents have the right not to have him as

Stress Free Potty Training A Commonsense Guide to Finding the Right Approach for Your Child

Stress Free Potty Training A Commonsense Guide to Finding the Right Approach for Your Child

No two children experience the toilet-training process in exactly the same way. While some kids might be afraid to even go near the bathroom, others may know when to go…but still never seem to make it there in time. This helpful guide takes the stress out of this challenging rite of passage, giving parents much-needed advice to help them identify what approach will work for their child’s temperament. The book distinguishes between common childhood personality types, providing easy techniques tailor-fit for all kinds of kids, whether they’re stubborn or willful, clinging to diapers, afraid to move on, or just late-bloomers. The book shows how to:

determine a child’s readiness to begin potty training * gradually move children past their existing comfort zone, without causing undue pressure * handle accidents and temporary setbacks This straight-talking guide enables readers to help every child make this important life transition free of worry and in the way that’s right for him or her.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Very helpful
With this being our first child, we found this book very helpful. It is very thoughtful and much better than the “one-size-fits-all” approaches to potty training. I feel like the book has also helped us to become better parents as well as potty-trainers.

5 Stars Excellent book!
This is the best potty training book I’ve read! Easy read with wonderful ideas! Buy it!!

4 Stars Good ideas to help potty training
This book has many ideas I am using to help my child succeed in potty training. I like the format and length. It seems like a practical approach and not strict as others that I have researched.

4 Stars Good recommendations, but didn’t exactly recognize my child’s personality type
This was the only book I read in preparation for potty-training my son. I found several of the book’s recommendations useful, particularly the one about letting your child run around naked. However, I didn’t find the toddler typology around which the book is structured particularly useful in my case, because I couldn’t recognize my son’s personality in any single type. I doubt my son is that unique; perhaps I over-analyzed him. In any case, readers of this book should read broadly and not rely solely on the recommendations in any single section.

5 Stars Very helpful and informative
This book really helped me understand the process of potty training. I liked how it helped you indentify your childs personality type and then gave suggestions on what may work best. A great resource for first time potty trainers!

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I Brake for Meltdowns

I Brake for Meltdowns

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Finally, a handbook for parents!
This book is very informative and most importantly, encouraging for parents who genuinely want their children to grow up to be responsible people. As with any book, there are a few things that I did not agree with 100%, but the main theme of it was suggestions for you to tailor to your individual child. There have been quite a number of times my 3-yr-old has done something and I had to put her in her time-out area and walk into another room and referenced this book. It is laid out really well also for that purpose.

5 Stars I Brake for Meltdowns
This book has some great suggestions on how to handle all different situations that my daughter can challenge me with! It is a nice, quick reference book - you do not need to read it from cover to cover to get a, “concept” of parenting methods. The suggestions are decent and clever. The authors also offer several different techniques to try for a scenario, which I find very helpful.

5 Stars Works right away
I love this book. I’ve read some chapters with my daughter (instead of just me reading it, I read it to her like a story book, ha), and it works! Especially the “won’t say hello to greeters” & “won’t give a relative a hug or kiss”…works right way!!!

5 Stars Invaluable resource of tried and true advice that works!
Wow! This book is truly amazing. The information is really practical and applicable for both parents and early childhood teachers. The table of contents makes it especially user friendly; no need to reread the entire book for problem-specific solutions, though you may find it impossible to put down! Thank you, Michelle and Barbara!

5 Stars Great resource for new parents; great reminders & tools for experienced parents.
Highly recommend! As a mom of 4 children aged 11 down to 2, it’s not often that I have time to pick up a parenting book anymore. But this great book kept me reading & gave me some helpful new parenting tools for my arsenal. It would be a wonderful resource for new parents, too.

Targeted to common parenting challenges — e.g., pushing, mean & angry talking, refusing to stay at the dinner table — the book suggests very specific words & actions parents can use with young children for each particular issue — with a loving, respectful, but firm tone that most of us aspire to, but don’t always achieve. So busy parents can flip right to the problem at hand for a quick refresher on an ideal response, or for another approach to try when you’re stuck in a parenting rut. The authors include lots of examples & solutions from their own experience that really ring true & make this a much more practical & helpful resource than most of the parenting books I’ve consulted over the years.

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Parenting from the Inside Out

Parenting from the Inside Out

“Daniel Siegal and Mary Hartzell have quite deftly managed to translate highly complex neuroscientific and psychological matters into lay strategies for effective parenting. This is truly a must-read book for the parents and those aspiring to becomeparents”

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great insight~
Cracking the Parenting Code: 6 Clues to Solving the Mystery of Meeting Your Child’s Needs

I have read hundreds of parenting books being a parenting coach and workshop leader. No book has come close to nailing the real issues and problems in parenting, as this book. I use quotes from this book in my new book because the insight is timeless. I found it valuable in helping parent’s realize that the way they were parented affects how they parent. My copy of Parenting from the Inside Out is sliced and diced and underlined everywhere. If you truly want to connect with the heart of you child, this is the book to help you do just that!

4 Stars A Book in-line with Developing Trends
Increasingly, we are recognizing that the attachment and social history of the parent very much impacts the parent-child relationship. This is why greater emphasis is being placed on family-based approaches to therapy, rather than seeing the child alone. Particularly in challenging family situations–such as with foster and adopted kids–we now understand that parents must resolve losses from their own past in order to facilitate the child’s healing.

This is one of the first books to bring this reality to light. While the ‘how-to-do-it’ section is a bit brief, it lays the foundation for this premise in ways that parents and practitioners can easily understand. After this, read the newer works by Daniel Hughes, Ph.D.

I like how the authors balance the clinical (of Dr Siegel) with the practical (of Mary Hartzell). This brings a nice balance that makes the book accessible for most readers.

5 Stars parenting and so much more
This book is so much more than a parenting book. It helps you see why you do things the way you do. Then you are able to change. This makes you a better parent and a better person.Parenting from the Inside Out

5 Stars parenting
Very educational tool for a parent or a pre-parent…every person needs to read this book

5 Stars Parenting from the inside out
If you want to avoid making the same mistakes your parents made, if you know there is a better way of parenting than the one you have been exposed to, if you want to be a better parent. or if you want to parent with compassion and understanding.

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Raising a Self Disciplined Child

Raising a Self Disciplined Child

Brooks and Goldstein (Raising Resilient Children) note that a key component of resiliency is self-discipline. It’s so essential, in fact, that the authors devote their new text entirely to fostering its development in children. They begin by pointing out that discipline is a teaching process. A disciplinarian, they state, is not a parent who punishes or intimidates, and the goal is not to produce compliant, obedient kids. Rather, the objective is to keep children safe, help them learn self-discipline and become responsible for their own actions and choices. The authors reveal that spanking and other authoritarian methods work against this process. As an alternative, they offer a number of approaches parents can take to instill self-discipline and help children appropriately control their own lives, such as offering choices, letting kids come up with solutions and giving positive feedback. The authors employ a series of detailed case studies to illustrate (regrettably, these are tediously heavy-handed and needlessly drawn out). Still, the book provides practical tools for creating healthier families and self-disciplined kids. Parents who are weary of nagging and threatening will no doubt welcome the authors’ tried and true tactics. (Sept.)
Copyright

10 Days to a Less Distracted Child The Breakthrough Program that Gets Your Kids to Listen Learn Focus and Behave

10 Days to a Less Distracted Child The Breakthrough Program that Gets Your Kids to Listen Learn Focus and Behave

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars You’re not alone!
I’ve read many, many books on ADHD and distractibility (Hallowell/Ratey, Murphy, etc.). While those books supplied much-needed background info — and I urge you to read them as well — this book gives you ACTUAL STEPS TO TAKE when — or before — you’re at wit’s end.

My creative, intelligent, distractible son has had a lot of the issues described in this book: social interaction, homework trouble, depression and confidence. Although this is a “10-day” program, I urge you to read the entire book first, just to get an overview. It’s full of great insight and will help you understand why/how your child learns differently.

I”m a “Type A” mom — a list-maker, neat freak, get-it-done-now person — and it’s literally taken years to understand my son. This book gave me concrete ways to help my child navigate a world that’s not set up for his way of approaching things.

NOTE: Check out “Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World” as well, if your child is particularly creative and “visual” as well as being distractible.

4 Stars Great Suggestions
This book is great for that parent who is at their wits end with their kids behavior issues… if you are tired of yelling, threatening, spanking etc.. and having it go NO WHERE!! Then read this book. Nothing works all of the time but this book gave me “his” view. How he is thinking/reasoning and suggestions on how to deal with it. I don’t have to yell(unless it’s to get everyone’s attention) I make suggestions and try and get him to tell me what the problem is or how to fix it. It doesn’t work all the time but it does help considerably!!!

5 Stars Worked for my 6 year old boy!
I bought 10 days to a Less Distracted Child at the same time as 10 days to a Less Defiant Child. I decided to read less distracted first, because frankly, I was angry with my 6-year old son. He is in kindergarten, reading at a high second-grade level, can add and subtract, and was getting daily reports saying he was NOT completing his work at school. My very bright son was getting labeled a trouble-maker and a “slow” child. I took his actions as defiance, but after reading Dr. Bernstein’s book, I realize he is just EXTREMELY distractable. And, I really recognized myself in his descriptions too. On both sides - the exhausted, over-reacting parent and the distracted little kid.

As a parent with ADHD, it is highly likely my son has it as well. This book helped me to slow down and recognize that my son is trying his best, but completely lacks the skills to know how to keep himself on track. And that is my job as his parent to teach him.

This book is very easy to read, the steps are easy to follow, (even for a very distractable mom like me), and they make an IMMEDIATE difference. My son started bringing home silver stars (the highest they give for behavior) the day after I started using the steps in the book. I highly recommend this book to any parent who is struggling with a child who is under-performing . Also, if you have a defiant child, maybe you should read this book first and see if they are really just distracted.

5 Stars Another great book by Dr. Bernstein
Dr. Bernstein obviously gets it. He clearly understands these distractible kids and why they do what they do. He also understands their parents and the challenges that they face. More importantly, he understands what they can do about it! This book is packed with practical tips and strategies that parents can use to help their distractible kids do better in school and at home. Although obviously this applies mostly to ADHD kids, there are other reasons why a child could have trouble with inattention, and Dr. Bernstein’s suggestions are applicable to them as well. He really tries to help parents understand why their kids do what they do, and also normalizes their own sometimes unproductive reactions. There are other books out there on this topic, but few of them are as thorough or helpful.

5 Stars Need help, here is help
This book has helped me so much. It feels like the book it is actually talking to me. I really recommed it even if you don’t have anyone with adhd or add. Really good. If you are a parent that snap quickly you need to read this book.

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I Brake for Meltdowns How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2 to 5 year old

I Brake for Meltdowns How to Handle the Most Exasperating Behavior of Your 2 to 5 year old

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Finally, a handbook for parents!
This book is very informative and most importantly, encouraging for parents who genuinely want their children to grow up to be responsible people. As with any book, there are a few things that I did not agree with 100%, but the main theme of it was suggestions for you to tailor to your individual child. There have been quite a number of times my 3-yr-old has done something and I had to put her in her time-out area and walk into another room and referenced this book. It is laid out really well also for that purpose.

5 Stars I Brake for Meltdowns
This book has some great suggestions on how to handle all different situations that my daughter can challenge me with! It is a nice, quick reference book - you do not need to read it from cover to cover to get a, “concept” of parenting methods. The suggestions are decent and clever. The authors also offer several different techniques to try for a scenario, which I find very helpful.

5 Stars Works right away
I love this book. I’ve read some chapters with my daughter (instead of just me reading it, I read it to her like a story book, ha), and it works! Especially the “won’t say hello to greeters” & “won’t give a relative a hug or kiss”…works right way!!!

5 Stars Invaluable resource of tried and true advice that works!
Wow! This book is truly amazing. The information is really practical and applicable for both parents and early childhood teachers. The table of contents makes it especially user friendly; no need to reread the entire book for problem-specific solutions, though you may find it impossible to put down! Thank you, Michelle and Barbara!

5 Stars Great resource for new parents; great reminders & tools for experienced parents.
Highly recommend! As a mom of 4 children aged 11 down to 2, it’s not often that I have time to pick up a parenting book anymore. But this great book kept me reading & gave me some helpful new parenting tools for my arsenal. It would be a wonderful resource for new parents, too.

Targeted to common parenting challenges — e.g., pushing, mean & angry talking, refusing to stay at the dinner table — the book suggests very specific words & actions parents can use with young children for each particular issue — with a loving, respectful, but firm tone that most of us aspire to, but don’t always achieve. So busy parents can flip right to the problem at hand for a quick refresher on an ideal response, or for another approach to try when you’re stuck in a parenting rut. The authors include lots of examples & solutions from their own experience that really ring true & make this a much more practical & helpful resource than most of the parenting books I’ve consulted over the years.

Buy/More Info

Everyday Blessings The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting

Everyday Blessings The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting

In the rush, rush, rush of too-much-to-do-and-no-time-to-do-it, the all-important, nurturing aspects of parenthood can easily disappear. Jon Kabat-Zinn, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are and Myla Kabat-Zinn have collaborated on Everyday Blessings, a book that approaches parenting from the Zen Buddhist position of moment-to-moment awareness. It’s a beautiful presentation and a thoughtful approach to mindful meditation that will help you slow down, enrich your life as a parent, and nourish the internal life of your children.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Disappointing
Having read and thoroughly enjoyed, “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” I was excited to read “Everyday Blessings”. I could not have been more disappointed. As a parent, I was looking for concrete examples of mindful parenting. The book felt preachy and at times, condescending. There are other books out there that are much more helpful if you are looking for techniques to improve your parenting, such as “Buddhism For Mothers” (great for Dads too!).

4 Stars A Solid Book on Parenting, May Be More Helpful for Parents of Older Children
For a parenting book, this is a solid book. There is alot of quality content. The essence of the book is to care for your children, in a mindful way. To listen to them, and to let them be. I didn’t agree with all the stories and parenting tips, but overall, this is a very caring and compassionate way to raise children. It’s not a practical guide to raising children, but rather, a guide to seeing your relationship with your children as a blessing meant to raise your awareness. There are only a few books on the market like this, I think many parents will gain value from the advice in this book. This book might be more help to parents who have children who are say ages 8 and older than those with infants. It’s a good book with meaningful lessons worth considering.

Review is by Ramiel Nagel author of Healing Our Children: Because Your New Baby Matters! Sacred Wisdom for Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting (ages 0-6) & Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition (First Edition).

5 Stars a different perspective
As a newbie to parenthood, I find this book enlightening and helpful on many levels. Trying to stay present and in the moment is a constant struggle, but the authors give you the gift of their experience and knowledge to help you stay engaged in the day to day joys of being a parent. Our culture is so busy being over stimulated that we are losing sight of all of god’s gifts before us each day, including raising our family! Stop, breathe and enjoy your child before this day is over!

5 Stars Everday Blessings
Worthwhile reading for time-strapped parents who want to be more present in their everday interaction with their children.

2 Stars Not as helpful as I had hoped
I was hoping this book would help me learn to be a calmer, more patient, and contented parent. While there were lots of examples, I felt this book was rambling and didn’t really give me practical help.

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