Maximize Your Success in the Life-Altering Job of Step-Parenting. **** No matter who you are, and how much experience you’ve had with kids, becoming a step-parent, or “blending” families is difficult work. The book presents 8 Strategies, in the form of action steps, to maximize anyone’s chances of success. Written in a non-apologetic voice, the authors present strong and specific direction for handling common problems. Vignettes of 30 real-life family situations support the strategies suggested. Issues and examples are applicable cross-culturally, and address needs of both men and women. * * * As a clinical social worker working with children and families for over thirty years, I was amazed that a book for stepparents was finally written in a no-nonsense approach to melding two or more families as a whole. There is now a map to navigate this potential mine field. The authors traverse the mine field with specific and practical advice for real world parents and real world children. Written with their special ability to pull the reader in and make you feel you can do it! -Rhonda Terpak, LCSW **** Finally! A book that skips the psychological babble and offers straight-up advice for building a loving, respectful blended family. This book should be required reading for anyone who applies for a marriage license the second time around! -Rod Slane, step-father; and composer, Prescription Audio. **** These authors have provided a nuts and bolts guide that offers simple solutions to a complex issue. It will remain on my nightstand where it is destined to become a well-worn reference manual for this busy career woman who also happens to be the adoptive parent and step-parent of seven children. This is a must for anyone who is now, or is considering to become a step-parent! -Jill Noonan, film producer, Dreams Beyond Production. **** Another great book destined to be a best seller. These authors never cease to amaze me! It is like reading a novel, except the characters are real. Insightful, interesting, and a page-turner.-Uwe Geertz, Ph.D., professor of psychology.

Love may be sweeter the second time around, but once the bliss of a newfound relationship wears off a little, the reality of being part of a stepfamily sets in. If you are one of the millions of remarried Americans facing the challenge of blending two existing families into one cohesive whole, you are part of a stepcouple—and you know all too well how hard it can be to make your marriage work in sometimes tough terrain. Different parenting styles, finances, relationships with ex-spouses, legal matters, and even seemingly simple issues such as the kinds of chores assigned to children can chisel away at your union if you don’t always make your marriage a priority. Stepcoupling offers advice for stepcouples on how to do just that—all the while strengthening their blended family with a healthy marriage. Susan Wisdom and Jennifer Green provide tips and strategies on dealing with the issues remarried couples face, with a wealth of advice from real-life stepcouples, such as: * Learning to tailor your expectations of your spouse or children and remembering that no family is perfect * Knowing where your boundaries are, whether involving a hostile ex-spouse or a stepchild who demands too much attention * Realizing that traits like flexibility, tolerance, forgiveness, and openness are especially essential in a stepfamily situation * Making “us” time for talking, problem-solving, weekends away, and enjoying your marriage to constantly renew and strengthen your bond as a couple Let this invaluable remarriage manual help you make your stepcouple the foundation of a strong, happy, and successful stepfamily.

With more kids at home now . . . here is a book for parents, family members and friends who want to maximize this time for a deeper learning experience for their children and themselves. Free Range Learning will encourage and excite those who want their children to reap important benefits from this period of “sheltering in place,” learning at home. This is a book for anyone simply wanting some fresh ideas at this time, or those who wonder if a commitment to ongoing homeschooling might actually result in longer term benefits! The material in this book is backed by scientific and educational studies, along with the testimonies of scores of parents and kids from around the world. The work here is applicable for young people from pre-school through high school. Studies indicate that adults who were homeschooled are: * More likely to vote, volunteer and be involved in their communities than graduates of conventional schools. * Read more books than average. * More likely to have taken college level courses than the population as a whole. * Tend to be independent and self-reliant. Children are naturally “free range” learners. They build knowledge and skills naturally, within the full spectrum of their daily lives, while observing, exploring and pursuing their interests. This book guides any parent or educator in assisting that process.

What determines whether stepfamilies remain together? What helps stepfamilies overcomes the difficulties of remarriage and become mutually supportive family units? How can mental health professionals better support this development? This book brings both clarity and depth to the unique and complex dynamics of remarried families. Patricia Papernow draws on interviews with over 100 stepfamily members, up-to-date research, a solid theoretical framework, and an empathic clinical sensibility to present an insightful model of stepfamily development, the Stepfamily Cycle. This details account of the sages of forming a lasting, cohesive group is richly illustrated by stepfamily members' own stories. Becoming a Stepfamily describes the developmental challenges involved in building nourishing, reliable relationships between stepparents and stepchildren, in the newly married couple, and between different family groups who must learn to live together in a remarried family. Papernow discusses the factors that influence the pace and ease of development, and she provides four full length case studies illustrating the varied paths through the stepfamily cycle to the successful remarried life. The author offers therapists, clergy, school personnel, and others involved with stepfamilies a range of effective interventions, including preventive, educational, and clinical approaches. She provides practical guidance for helping family members deal constructively with the differing attachments of children to their biological parents and stepparents, assisting stepparents as they cope with feeling excluded from the powerful biological parent-child bond, and guiding biological parents torn between their spouse's need for intimacy and privacy and their children's needs for support and attention.

Want children who are patient, kind, humble, thankful, and respectful? Who have a good work ethic, strong character, and a healthy self-image? Who succeed in all areas of life--personally, professionally, and relationally--to the best of their ability? You can't force your kids to be grateful for everything you do, but you can raise successful, responsible kids who grow into adults you can be proud of. With his signature wit and wisdom, international parenting expert Dr. Kevin Leman reveals eight no-nonsense strategies that build on the foundations of character, good behavior, respect, discipline, and a winning attitude. He shows you how to - expect the best to get the best - minimize friction and optimize solutions - put your relationship first - and much more It is possible to raise a successful child in a "whatever" generation. Dr. Leman shows you just how simple it can be.

By choosing to parent children, or to serve as a friend, educator or informal mentor, you have taken up an admirable and challenging task. Committing yourself to the care and education of children sets you on a journey that is ripe with enormous opportunities for personal growth, expanded love, joy, self-understanding and compassion. It also introduces you to areas of your own life that may have been unexamined, confronting you with limiting beliefs and issues of your own self-esteem. This Workbook is the companion volume to Conscious Parenting by Lee Lozowick (Hohm Press, 2010), and is designed be a useful map and “travel” guide for you on this adventure. The Conscious Parenting Workbook (like Conscious Parenting itself) aims to assist you in aligning with a big view of the subject – an overall context from which to parent and educate. Years of personal experience, combined with solid foundations shared with many great educators, have made Lee Lozowick’s Conscious Parenting a pragmatic handbook, much appreciated by his peers and by thousands of parents worldwide. But especially, and perhaps uniquely, his work relies on life-affirming principles culled from his own spiritual understanding along with those from other longstanding spiritual traditions. His work, then, speaks to the ways and means for transforming ordinary family life with children into a primary means of spiritual practice, including the inevitable challenge for work-on-self.

The word satori literally means understanding. It is that "a-ha" moment, when you finally "get it." It is a word that can, and will, change your life forever. This fun, compassionate, and practical guide will teach you to navigate the stressors in your world and learn to listen to the intelligence that resides in your heart, rather than the programming in your head. Only then can you experience true and lasting joy in your life.

This is the story of friendship, carved out by the universe--destined. It is the coming together of two unlikely souls, colliding in a celestial moment and setting in motion the rest of their life's journey. It is only true if you believe it is, and sad, only if you cannot see past tomorrow.

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.

We all yearn to look back to find we lived a life of significance. But is it even possible anymore? Considering the amount of distraction and pressure that exists in society today, living a fulfilling life may seem like an unachievable dream. But it is not—not with the nine habits outlined in this book. New York Times bestselling author and widely known blogger, Rachel Macy Stafford, reveals nine habits that help you focus on investing in the most significant parts of your life. As your hands, heart, and eyes become open, you will experience a new sense of urgency—an urgency to live, love, dream, connect, create, forgive, and flourish despite the distractions of our culture. By following each daily Hands Free Declaration, you will be inspired to adopt mindful daily practices and new thought-processes that will help you: • Make meaningful, lasting human connections despite the busyness of everyday life. • Live in the now despite that inner nudge pushing you out of the moment toward perfection and productivity. • Protect your most sacred relationships, as well as your values, beliefs, health, and happiness, despite the latent dangers of technology and social media. • Pursue the passions of your heart without sacrificing your job or your daily responsibilities. • Evaluate your daily choices to insure you are investing in a life that matters to you. With a Hands Free Life perspective, you will have the power to look back and see you didn’t just manage life, you actually lived it—and lived it well.