In this bold new book, Linda McClain offers a liberal and feminist theory of the relationships between family life and politics--a topic dominated by conservative thinkers. McClain agrees that stable family lives are vital to forming persons into capable, responsible, self-governing citizens. But what are the public values at stake when we think about families, and what sorts of families should government recognize and promote? Arguing that family life helps create the virtues and character required for citizenship, McClain shows that the connection between family self-government and democratic self-government does not require the deep-laid gender inequality that has historically accompanied it. Examining controversial issues in family law and policy--among them, the governmental promotion of heterosexual marriage and the denial of marriage to same-sex couples, the regulation of family life through welfare policy, and constitutional rights to reproductive freedom--McClain argues for a political theory of the family that embraces equality, defends rights as facilitating responsibility, and supports families in ways that respect men's and women's capacities for self-government.

A guide to developing a grace-filled marriage and raising creative, contented, capable children without legalism or manipulation.

Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.

One woman’s journey to uncover her family’s history and understand the ties that bind us to a particular place. Encompassing three centuries of manor lords and tenant farmers, Civil War heroes and renegade aunts, award-winning author Leila Philip tells the story of her ancestral Hudson Valley home, Talavera, and the mystery of her attachment to it. After her father’s death in 1992, Leila and her family struggled to find the means to keep their farm intact. This uphill battle led her to examine the forces that compel a family to sacrifice almost everything to hold onto a particular piece of land. Newly republished with a folio of historic photographs and an epilogue that updates the story of the farm and the family to the present, A Family Place addresses the tensions between memory and recorded fact, inviting readers to take a new look at their own sense of home. “Philip is an extremely gifted writer who doesn’t skirt somber emotional notes. She has created a brave, eloquent, and beautifully constructed memoir of a remarkable place and the remarkable family that belongs to it.” — Chronogram “Author Leila Philip presents a tribute to her family’s long and illustrious history, revealing a piece of Americana that is hard to replicate. A Family Place is recommended reading for anyone who wants to see the evolution of the American family first hand.” — Reviewer’s Bookwatch “Philip grafts history, natural history, and autobiography into a stunning performance.” — Maureen Howard, author of Big as Life “Mesmerizing Both narrative threads are profoundly personal. Braided together with insight, they pay homage to the ideals of home and family with a resonance that should extend beyond her home region.” — Publishers Weekly “ an unpretentious, subtly shaded story of the importance of understanding the ghosts and heroes that reside in every ancestral home.” — New York Times “An exquisite rendering of a Hudson Valley family farm, as detailed and colored as a Persian miniature. Philip’s family history is alarmingly transporting, and her sense of place so rich you can taste it.” — Kirkus Reviews(starred review) “Riveting one of the most finely written family histories available.” — Library Journal

Far and near. Lost and found. Four girls. Four generations. Georgia cannot figure out what's going on in her family. Her mother, Francie, is extremely overprotective. Her grandmother, Dana, and her great-grandmother, Abby, don't speak to each other. And Georgia's great-great-grandmother also had some secrets that nobody else knows about.Georgia knows this because she's found her great-great grandmother's diary hidden in a wall in the family's house in Maine. Reading the diary makes her think of her own struggles - and draws her even closer to the mysteries of her family as Abby's hundredth birthday approaches.HOME IS THE PLACE is the heartfelt, remarkable conclusion to Ann M. Martin's Family Tree series, which has followed Abby, Dana, Francie, and now Georgia from girlhood to womanhood, showing readers the intertwining, extraordinary ways we grow up.

A poetry collection introducing animal architects that build remarkable structures in order to attract a mate and have babies. Many animals build something--a nest, tunnel, or web--in order to pair up, lay eggs, give birth, and otherwise perpetuate their species. Organized based on where creatures live--underground, in the water, on land, or in the air--twelve poems bring fish, insects, reptiles, mammals, and birds to life. Back matter includes more information about each animal. "A fine synthesis of poetry and science" — Kirkus Reviews "An inviting introduction to a dozen industrious creatures" — Publishers Weekly "A natural for classroom use, with eye-catching art that will lure little ones in" — Booklist ILA Teachers' Choices

Making conscientious choices about technology in our families is more than just using internet filters and determining screen time limits for our children. It's about developing wisdom, character, and courage in the way we use digital media rather than accepting technology's promises of ease, instant gratification, and the world's knowledge at our fingertips. And it's definitely not just about the kids. Drawing on in-depth original research from the Barna Group, Andy Crouch shows readers that the choices we make about technology have consequences we may never have considered. He takes readers beyond the typical questions of what, where, and when and instead challenges them to answer provocative questions like, Who do we want to be as a family? and How does our use of a particular technology move us closer or farther away from that goal? Anyone who has felt their family relationships suffer or their time slip away amid technology's distractions will find in this book a path forward to reclaiming their real life in a world of devices.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Missionary Families Find a Sense of Place and Identity is a community history of members of nineteen Lutheran missionary families who served in Tanzania. Based on over ninety interviews and John Benson’s extensive knowledge of cultural geography, he compares the lives of the missionary generation who grew up in the United States and went to Tanzania as missionaries to those of their children who grew up in Africa but settled in the United States as adults. Benson blends his personal experiences as a child of missionaries in Tanzania to tell the story of both generations. Missionary Families is centered on the themes of connection to place and religious development and will appeal to scholars of geography, cultural studies and religion.

“This comprehensive analysis on abuse committed in the home provides insights at both the micro and macro levels... The book combines legal and social science approaches in a way that makes it essential reading for anyone studying or working on violence-related issues.†Kevät Nousiainen, University of Helsinki, Johanna Niemi-Kiesiläinen, University of Umeå and Anu Pylkkänen, University of Helsinki. “This excellent book offers a timely intervention into debates about violence. Whilst most debates still focus on the spectacular rather than mundane forms of violence, Linda McKie uses a synthesis of legal, sociological and feminist research to show how current debates fail to deal with the violence that underpins our lives.†Prof Beverley Skeggs, University of London. An exciting new addition to the series, this book tackles assumptions surrounding the family as a changing institution and supposed haven from the public sphere of life. It considers families and social change in terms of concepts of power, inequality, gender, generations, sexuality and ethnicity. Some commentators suggest the family is threatened by increasing economic and social uncertainties and an enhanced focus upon the individual. This book provides a resume of these debates, as well as a critical review of the theories of family and social change: Charts social and economic changes and their impact on the family Considers the prevalence and nature of abuse within families Explores the relationship between social theory, families and changing issues in familial relationships Develops a theory of social change and families through a critical and pragmatic stance Key reading for undergraduate students of sociology reading courses such as family, gender, health, criminology and social change.