How do we encourage kids to talk with us about even the trickiest issues? Talking about the stuff that matters with your kids is not easy, but communication is the best tool we have for life and love. This book will guide you through 40 practical conversations using the structure of a family trip. It'll be meaningful fun. When you start having the conversations in this book, your kids will start changing their world!Inside, you'll discover: ?Stories, tips and research to inform the conversations?Relationship skills to build (like listening and conflict resolution)?How to combat the influences of our culture (like consumerism and tech devices)?How to build resilience, values, character and purpose?How our kids can play a part in solving problems, rather than being brought down by them?Advice from caring young adults about what worked for them!As parents, we want our kids to have happy, loving lives. As a society, we need kids who are capable of thinking and acting beyond themselves to help others have happy, loving lives too."There is a huge secret to life which most families - and most parenting books - completely miss. That we humans are happiest when we are living for each other, and discovering the fun that brings. In a society that is all about 'me' we have never been more stressed or miserable. Caring is a word that holds the key to life going well, and is the real heart of being human. This book shows you how to foster it. "Susy Lee's book is one of those rare ones you want to have at hand long term, as even dipping in seems to spark you with ideas and clues for really engaging with your children. What to ask, what to challenge them with, what to provoke them with. "Brightly and clearly written, with real personality, this book turns on its head our focus on making kids happy, and instead shows how to make them generators of happiness." - Steve Biddulph AM

Raising Kids with Character shows parents, clinicians, and policy-makers how the love relationship between parents and children is the workshop of the child's maturing personality, connecting everyday moments in family life to the growth of the child's sense of values and meaning. The book explains how children develop into fine, morally strong adults through their identification with loving parents, and combines practical wisdom about ordinary family experiences with an in-depth discussion of emotional development from birth through adulthood. Elizabeth Berger, MD, is a child psychiatrist and nationally acclaimed parenting expert. Her book looks beyond the parent's response to "negative behavior" to understand the meaning of the child's behavior within the growth process, while helping parents gain mastery of their own emotional reactions as a key to assisting this process. Rich vignettes of ordinary families, along with professional case studies of trouble youngsters in therapy, make this intelligent and well-written book the essential tool for parents and others looking not just to "manage" children but to understand and to nurture their spirits.

A modern parenting classic—a guide to a new and gentle way of understanding the care and nurture of infants, by the internationally renowned childcare expert, podcaster, and author of No Bad Kids “An absolute go-to for all parents, therapists, anyone who works with, is, or knows parents of young children.”—Wendy Denham, PhD A Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE) teacher and student of pioneering child specialist Magda Gerber, Janet Lansbury helps parents look at the world through the eyes of their infants and relate to them as whole people who have natural abilities to learn without being taught. Once we are able to view our children in this light, even the most common daily parenting experiences become stimulating opportunities to learn, discover, and connect with our child. A collection of the most-read articles from Janet’s popular and long-running blog, Elevating Child Care focuses on common infant issues, including: • Nourishing our babies’ healthy eating habits • Calming your clingy, fearful child • How to build your child’s focus and attention span • Developing routines that promote restful sleep Eschewing the quick-fix tips and tricks of popular parenting culture, Lansbury’s gentle, insightful guidance lays the foundation for a closer, more fulfilling parent-child relationship, and children who grow up to be authentic, confident, successful adults.

Kathleen O'Connell Chesto takes God seriously and the takes kids seriously. She understands that parents do not want to deprive their children of what's best and what's rightfully theirs. And she knows that the greatest deprivation a child can endure is an underdeveloped spirit.

Raising kids to be socially conscious and embrace strong values can be difficult in today's world. In Raising Kids Who Will Make a Difference, mother, counselor, and family-life educator Susan Vogt sets out to inspire, equip, and comfort parents in the awesome task of raising Catholic kids who will make positive contributions to our world. Using a delightful blend of honesty and humor, Vogt offers successful parenting strategies and straightforward discussions on important issues such as sexuality, substance abuse, materialism, racism, global awareness, and death.

To forge a sustainable future, we need citizens who care for the Earth. We need citizens who understand that planet care is the ultimate form of self-care. But we also need generations who live according to their values and convictions and who can effect positive change in their lives and the lives of others. Because public schools and the popular media cannot be counted on to produce an Earth-friendly citizenry, the task falls to parents. Yet even aware parents often lack the understanding and resources to take on such a task. EcoKids addresses this gap by presenting a coherent plan that will help parents foster love for nature, teach children the importance of environmental protection, and promote environmental values and inspire action - actions that will last a lifetime. A hopeful and inspiring guide for parents, topics covered include ways to: avoid gloom and doom in favor of positive solutions foster love and empathy for nature develop environmental values put values into action help children discover the roots of problems and be part of lasting solutions walk the talk counter the consumer culture, starting in your own home and community generate hope and combat apathy. Each chapter includes an inspiring case study of a child who's making a difference, short pieces that highlight serious problems such as global warming, along with positive solutions that can be read aloud to children, and activities for children. A resource guide lists helpful books, articles, videos, and organizations.

What do we wish most for our children? Next to being healthy, we want them to be happy, of course! Fortunately, a wide array of scientific studies show that happiness is a learned behavior, a muscle we can help our children build and maintain. Drawing on what psychology, sociology, and neuroscience have proven about confidence, gratefulness, and optimism, and using her own chaotic and often hilarious real-world adventures as a mom to demonstrate do’s and don’ts in action, Christine Carter, Ph.D, executive director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, boils the process down to 10 simple happiness-inducing steps. With great wit, wisdom, and compassion, Carter covers the day-to-day pressure points of parenting—how best to discipline, get kids to school and activities on time, and get dinner on the table—as well as the more elusive issues of helping children build healthy friendships and develop emotional intelligence. In these 10 key steps, she helps you interact confidently and consistently with your kids to foster the skills, habits, and mindsets that will set the stage for positive emotions now and into their adolescence and beyond. Inside you will discover • the best way avoid raising a brat—changing bad habits into good ones • tips on how to change your kids’ attitude into gratitude • the trap of trying to be perfect—and how to stay clear of its pitfalls • the right way to praise kids—and why too much of the wrong kind can be just as bad as not enough • the spirit of kindness—how to raise kind, compassionate, and loving children • strategies for inspiring kids to do boring (but necessary) tasks—and become more self-motivated in the process Complete with a series of “try this” tips, secrets, and strategies, Raising Happiness is a one-of-a-kind resource that will help you instill joy in your kids—and, in the process, become more joyful yourself.

Interweaving my experiences as a Canadian Muslim woman, mother, (grand)daughter, educator, and scholar throughout this work, I write about living and narratively inquiring (Clandinin and Connelly, Narrative Inquiry; Clandinin) alongside three Muslim mothers and daughters during our daughters’ transition into adolescence. I was interested in mother-and-daughter experiences during this time of life transition because my eldest daughter, Malak, was in the midst of transitioning into adolescence as I embarked upon my doctoral research. I had many wonders about Malak’s experiences, my experiences as a mother, and the experiences of other Muslim daughters and mothers in the midst of similar life transitions. I wondered about how dominant narratives from within and across Muslim and other communities in Canada shape our lives and experiences. For, while we are often storied as victims of various oppressions in media, literature, and elsewhere, little is known about our diverse experiences—par-ticularly the experiences of Muslim mothers and daughters composing our selves and lives alongside one another in familial places.