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Updated:  04/05/06 10:26 AM

MEDIA ARTICLES

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Children's Demands for Toys and Food Increase with TV Time, Researchers Say
San Francisco Chronicle, 4/5/06

Any parent could tell you that kids want stuff they see on TV, but a study released Monday by two Stanford doctors warns that the more hours children spend watching a screen -- including video games on computers -- the more nagging about toys and food they will dish out, for months and even years.

 

BOOKS

Kohn, Alfie.  Unconditional Parenting : Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason.  Atria, 2005.

Author of nine books, including the controversial Punished by Rewards, Kohn expands upon the theme of what's wrong with our society's emphasis on punishments and rewards. Kohn, the father of young children, sprinkles his text with anecdotes that shore up his well-researched hypothesis that children do best with unconditional love, respect and the opportunity to make their own choices. Kohn questions why parents and parenting literature focus on compliance and quick fixes, and points out that docility and short-term obedience are not what most parents desire of their children in the long run. He insists that "controlling parents" are actually conveying to their kids that they love them conditionally—that is, only when they achieve or behave. Tactics like time-out, bribes and threats, Kohn claims, just worsen matters. Caustic, witty and thought-provoking, Kohn's arguments challenge much of today's parenting wisdom, yet his assertion that "the way kids learn to make good decisions is by making decisions, not by following directions" rings true. Kohn suggests parents help kids solve problems; provide them with choices; and use reason, humor and, as a last resort, a restorative time away (not a punitive time-out). This lively book will surely rile parents who want to be boss. Those seeking alternative methods of raising confident, well-loved children, however, will warmly embrace Kohn's message. (Mar.)Forecast: Kohn is a controversial and popular author/speaker, well regarded by scholars and educators. This title should appeal to parents who want to explore the "whys" and not just the "hows" of raising kids.

Trelease, Jim.  The Read-Aloud Handbook: Fourth Edition.  Penguin, 2001.

Since the publication of his first Read-Aloud Handbook, Trelease has made a serious avocation of spreading his gospel about the value of reading aloud to children and teens. To spread the word via audio is a natural transition and one that works beautifully. Trelease shares his message with clarity and fervor. He moves smoothly from the obvious educational and social advantages to the rationale for reading aloud to older offspring and students. Overall, this is an audiobook that takes full advantage of the medium, entertaining by moving gracefully between lecture mode, demonstrations and success stories.

 

 

 

American Dreams - Season One (Extended Music Edition)

I can't say enough about this show!  Episodes have generated many important (and interesting) family discussions.

Release date:  9/7/2004

 

 

Riera, Michael & Di Prisco, Joseph.  Right from Wrong: Instilling a Sense of Integrity in Your Child.  Perseus, 2002.

Never preachy and always practical, Right from Wrong is an important and inspiring book about raising children with a conscience. Educators Michael Riera and Joseph Di Prisco focus on integrity rather than morality in their provocative and persuasive thesis: "The most direct way for children to take lessons of integrity to heart is by being out of integrity," they explain.

Targeted for preschoolers through preteens, each chapter is organized around evocative vignettes about finding integrity. Among them: a kindergartner stealing a candy bar, the death of a family pet, a dustup on the soccer field, an 11-year-old who gives her phone number to a teenage boy at the movies. The authors imaginatively explore how parents can leverage kids' everyday experiences--homework, competition, tattling, awakening sexuality, or surfing the Internet--into teachable moments of integrity.

Overall, don't take your child's behavior personally, the book cautions. Avoid the trap of being so disappointed or panicked by children's behavior that you lose an opportunity for them to unpack conflicting emotions and learn to value integrity. Sound advice is underlined with sample parent-child dialogues, asking, for example, "What stopped you from listening to the part of you that knew the right thing to do?" This book is simply a gem--and a must-read for parents and teachers of young children alike.
 

Thompson, Michael.  Best Friends, Worst Enemies : Understanding the Social Lives of Children.  Ballantine, 2001.

Friends broaden our children’s horizons, share their joys and secrets, and accompany them on their journeys into ever wider worlds. But friends can also gossip and betray, tease and exclude. Children can cause untold suffering, not only for their peers but for parents as well. In this wise and insightful book, psychologist Michael Thompson, Ph.D., and children’s book author Catherine O’Neill Grace, illuminate the crucial and often hidden role that friendship plays in the lives of children from birth through adolescence.

Drawing on fascinating new research as well as their own extensive experience in schools, Thompson and Grace demonstrate that children’s friendships begin early–in infancy–and run exceptionally deep in intensity and loyalty. As children grow, their friendships become more complex and layered but also more emotionally fraught, marked by both extraordinary intimacy and bewildering cruelty. As parents, we watch, and often live through vicariously, the tumult that our children experience as they encounter the “cool” crowd, shifting alliances, bullies, and disloyal best friends.

Best Friends, Worst Enemies brings to life the drama of childhood relationships, guiding parents to a deeper understanding of the motives and meanings of social behavior. Here you will find penetrating discussions of the difference between friendship and popularity, how boys and girls deal in unique ways with intimacy and commitment, whether all kids need a best friend, why cliques form and what you can do about them.

Filled with anecdotes that ring amazingly true to life, Best Friends, Worst Enemies probes the magic and the heartbreak that all children experience with their friends. Parents, teachers, counselors–indeed anyone who cares about children–will find this an eye-opening and wonderfully affirming book.

Glasser, William, M.D.  Unhappy Teenagers -- A Way for Parents and Teachers to Reach Them.  Harpercollins, 2002.

During his decades-long career as a therapist, Dr. William Glasser has often counseled parents and teenagers, healing shattered families and changing lives with his advice. Now, in his first book on the lessons he has learned, he asks parents to reject the "common sense" that tells them to "lay down the law" by grounding teens, or to try to coerce them into changing their behavior. These strategies have never worked, asserts Dr. Glasser, and never will. Instead he offers a different approach based upon Choice Theory.

Glasser spells out the seven deadly habits parents practice, and then shows them how to accomplish goals by changing their own behavior. Most important, however, in Unhappy Teenagers, Dr. Glasser provides a groundbreaking method that all parents can use with confidence and love to keep a strong relationship with their child.

Grollman, Earl A. & Malikow, Max.  Living When a Young Friend Commits Suicide -- or Even Starts Talking About It.  Beacon Press, 1999.

Grollman, a prolific author and internationally known grief counselor, and his colleague Malikow present a powerful, dynamic resource that covers the issue of suicide from many angles. Using simple language, they maintain a compassionate tone that makes the information accessible to readers, no matter what their personality or stage of grief. Best of all, the text never drifts into vagaries. It consistently and concretely analyzes the grieving process and gives pragmatic advice on everything from talking to family members of the deceased to avoiding unhealthy reactions, such as alcohol abuse. Even in chapters that cover the sensitive issue of religious beliefs, the authors tread confidently and nonjudgmentally, impressively honoring all perspectives. Of great value to the youth who have faced the suicide of a loved one, the book will also be useful to educators, counselors, and parents. Appended material includes books and audiovisual support materials.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.  A must-read for teens and parents!
 

Wood, Chip.  Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14 : A Resource for Parents and Teachers, Northeast Foundation for Children, 1997.

This popular Guidebook which has helped thousands of teachers and parents to better understand children has now been expanded to include ages 13 and 14. Written with warmth, humor and deep reverence for children, Yardsticks offers clear and concise descriptions of the developmental characteristics of children at different ages. Teachers appreciate the user-friendly format as they use these "yardsticks" to shape curriculum. Straightforward descriptions of each age are followed by easy-to-read charts identifying developmental "yardsticks" in the areas of physical, social, language, and cognitive growth. Also included are curriculum suggestions and guidelines, a list of favorite books for different ages, and a bibliography with books on child development, curriculum content areas and parenting. 162 pages, paper.

Shaw, Robert, M.D.  The Epidemic: The Rot of American Culture, Absentee and Permissive Parenting, and the Resultant Plague of Joyless, Selfish Children.  Regan Books, 2003.

Take a good look around you: You can't go into stores or restaurants without seeing joyless children screaming, sulking, resisting their parents, or pulling things off shelves. Parents, in turn, nag, complain, and often try desperately to ignore their unruly, surly offspring.

In today's world, both parents and children are suffering all around us. But it takes a catastrophic event like the tragedy at Columbine High School -- or one of any number of other frightening examples that make headlines weekly -- to get us to acknowledge that something terrible is happening to our children. We have lost touch with what they need from us to grow and thrive, and in the process we've created enormous numbers of children who are disaffected, alienated, amoral, emotionally stunted, and even violent. In The Epidemic, esteemed child and family psychiatrist Robert Shaw brings to bear a lifetime of firsthand experience with and knowledge of this plague, which has become so much the norm that we often don't even recognize its warning signs.

This bold and timely book tells you how to save your child and yourself from this epidemic, but its suggestions will not be the ones that today's parents are used to hearing. While the media is far from innocent, the bulk of the blame lies with the faddish, both neglectful and overindulgent, child-rearing practices that experts have promoted for the past three decades. "These children are not an aberration. They are the natural outcome of the way we have been raising them," Shaw notes. But there is hope, and Shaw's commonsense approach cuts to the core of the problem and shows us the cure, covering such important and controversial issues as:

• The myths and realities of bonding and attachment
• How to recognize when nonparental care is working -- and when it isn't
• Milestones in your child's moral and ethical development
• The difference between self-centeredness and self-esteem
• Why you must stop the media from mugging your child
• Strategies for bringing children back from the edge

The Epidemic is not just a "how-to" book, it is a "what is necessary" book -- a call for parents to take responsibility for their children and give them what they truly need in order to grow, thrive, and love.
 

Kralovec, Etta  and Buell, John.  The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning.   Beacon Press, 2000.

In 1901, homework was legally banned in California. By 1960, assigning homework to our children carried a priority equal to national security. Today, few question the need for homework in preparing children for their future. How did this dramatic change happen?

In this first book to question the value of homework, Etta Kralovec and John Buell lead us through the history of the American classroom. They tell stories of students who come home to overworked parents and domestic responsibilities faced with hours of work that can effectively be taught in the school. In assigning massive amounts of homework to students, teachers and schools are essentially abdicating their responsibility to teach. The authors forcefully advocate for protecting the leisure time of children, who need a balance —often missing in today's world —of work and play that allows them to prepare for their futures in work and in citizenship. Most important, they offer a way for schools to accomplish the difficult task of educating our children without the bind of homework.

"Homework appears to disadvantage children by assuming they have a 'quiet, well-lit place to study,'" the authors contend. "If we all need [such a] place to study far away from the TV, we know a perfect place that meets those requirements. The schoolhouse." Linking homework with school reform for the first time, The End of Homework convincingly reveals the promise of a society that recognizes the necessity of work without forgetting the significance of leisure.

Wallerstein, Judith (et al).  The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce -- A 25-Year Landmark Study.  Hyperion, 9/6/2000.

A landmark cultural event that will change the way we look at divorce, Judith Wallerstein's 25-year study reveals, for the first time, the effects on children through adulthood, marriage, and their own parenthood.

Twenty-five years ago, Judith Wallerstein began talking to a group of 131 children whose parents were all going through a divorce. From those conversations have come two bestsellers, Surviving the Breakup and Second Chances. Now the third volume of this longitudinal study, The unexpected Legacy of Divorce brings all of her research up to the present and shows for the first time how children are affected by divorce long into adulthood.

 

Elium, Jeanne, and Don.  Raising a Teenager -- Parents and the Nurturing of a Responsible Teen.  Celestial Arts, 1999.

At a recent "Raising A Daughter" workshop focusing on the teen years, a mother in the audience raised her hand and asked, "How do I get my daughter to tell me about her thoughts and experiences of drugs and sex?" Jeanne asked, "How old is your daughter?" The mother paused, then responded, "Well, only three." Was her fear premature? Yes. Unusual? Not at all. In fact, just the idea of adolescence provokes more dread, more worry, and more confusion than any other stage of childhood--which is why we are so excited about the Elium's newest parenting book. This is not a cynical "survival guide." Raising A Teenager is an honest, beautifully written, exploration of the issues facing parents of teens today, with practical, realistic solutions.

S.F. Chronicle Review, 1/21/00
 

Packer, Alex J. Ph.D.  How Rude! : The Teenagers' Guide to Good Manners, Proper Behavior, and Not Grossing People Out, Free Spirit Publishing, 1997.

Just in time to save the world from a manners meltdown, here's an etiquette book that teens will want to read--because it keeps them laughing, doesn't preach, and deals with issues that matter to them. Packer blends humor with sound advice as he guides readers through the world of manners from A ("Applause") to Z ("Zits"). Full of practical tips for any occasion.

 

 

Pollack, William.  Real Boys -- Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood.  Holt and Company, 1998.

What are little boys made of? In Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood author and psychologist William Pollack presents his findings from almost 20 years of clinical work and his recently completed study examining contemporary boyhood and the ways boys manifest their social and emotional disconnection through anger and violence. There's a code of boy behavior, Pollack says--an unspoken "boy code" that teaches boys how to act and demands that they cover up their emotions. But the author submits that boys are lonely, they are loyal, they are depressed, they struggle with self-esteem issues, they are at risk, they need to be understood, and they need to be listened to. Boys can be empathetic and sensitive, Pollack stresses, as he effectively and convincingly disabuses readers of a number of myths: that testosterone controls a boy's behavior; that boys should fit into a gender stereotype of masculinity; and that boys are toxic, "psychologically unaware, emotionally unsocialized creatures."

Real Boys presents more than the problems of modern boyhood, it also provides advice and assistance--ways for parents to talk with their sons, read their moods and emotions, and help them become confident, empowered men with genuine voices of their own.

Kindlon, Dan & Thompson, Michael.  Raising Cain -- Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys.  Ballantine Books, 1999.

Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher's groundbreaking book, exposed the toxic environment faced by adolescent girls in our society. Now, from the same publisher, comes Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson, which does the same for adolescent boys. Boys suffer from a too-narrow definition of masculinity, the authors assert as they expose and discuss the relationship between vulnerability and developing sexuality, the "culture of cruelty" boys live in, the "tyranny of toughness," the disadvantages of being a boy in elementary school, how boys' emotional lives are squelched, and what we, as a society, can do about all this without turning "boys into girls." "Our premise is that boys will be better off if boys are better understood--and if they are encouraged to become more emotionally literate," the authors assert. As a tool for change, Kindlon and Thompsom present the well-developed "What Boys Need," seven points that reach far beyond the ordinary psychobabble checklist and slogan list. Kindlon (researcher and psychology professor at Harvard and practicing psychotherapist specializing in boys) and Thompson (child psychologist, workshop leader, and staff psychologist of an all-boys school) have created a chilling portrait of male adolescence in America. Through personal stories and theoretical discussion, this well-needed book plumbs the well of sadness, anger, and fear in America's teenage sons.

Gurian, Michael.  The Wonder of Boys -- What Parents, Mentors, and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men.  Tarcher-Putnam, 1997.

In the thoughtful and provocative The Wonder of Boys: What Parents, Mentors, and Educators Can Do to Shape Boys into Exceptional Men, therapist and educator Michael Gurian takes a close look at modern boyhood. Gurian asserts that the biological and neurological differences between boys and girls need to be accounted for and nourished in order to raise healthy, happy boys. In discussing boy culture--and the roles of competition, aggression, and physical risk taking--the author concludes, "It's not boy culture that's inherently flawed; it's the way we manage it." If the natural, testosterone-based impulses of boys are squelched or ignored, Gurian posits, such biological truths may find their way to the surface in other, more negative behaviors. He suggests that boys do best when they are part of a "tribe," three families that include: a birth or adoptive family; an extended family of friends, teachers, peers, and mentors; and the "family" of outside culture, media, religious institutions, and community figures. The Wonder of Boys offers advice on how to understand and build strong father/son and mother/son relationships, stresses the importance of healthy discipline, and suggests methods of teaching boys about sex, relationships, and spirituality. Parents and teachers of boys will find this book to be an insightful read.

Riera, Michael.  Staying Connected to Your Teenager: How to Keep Them Talking to You and How to Hear What They're Really Saying.  Perseus, 2003.

The first step is simple: realizing that inside every teen resides two very different people-the regressed child and the emergent adult. The emergent adult is seen at school, on the playing field, in his first job, and in front of his friends' families. Unfortunately, his parents usually see only the regressed child-moody and defiant-and, if they're not on the lookout, they'll miss seeing the more agreeable, increasingly adult thinker in their midst. With ingenious strategies for coaxing the more attractive of the two teen personalities into the home, family psychologist Mike Riera gives new hope to beleaguered and harried parents. From moving from a "managing" to a "consulting" role in a teen's life, from working with a teen's uniquely exasperating sleep rhythms to having real conversations when only monosyllables have been previously possible, Staying Connected to Your Teenager demonstrates ways to bring out the best in a teen-and, consequently, in an entire family.
 

Riera, Michael & Di Prisco, Joseph.  Field Guide to the American Teenager: A Parent's Companion.  Perseus, 2001.

Invaluable analysis of teenage behavior and uncommonly wise advice for apprehensive parents.

Addressing the isolation, fear, and silence parents endure during their child's adolescence, authors Michael Riera and Joseph Di Prisco get beyond the stereotypes to expertly guide parents to a better appreciation of their teenager's frustrating if not completely troubling behavior.

Through stories and conversations, Field Guide to the American Teenager dramatizes teens living their lives on their own terms, illuminating for bewildered and sometimes beleaguered parents what is extraordinary in the ordinary reality of everyday teenage life. Complete with suggestions for parents to improve communication, Field Guide lets parents stand briefly in their teenager's shoes, ultimately guiding families toward genuine mutual respect and understanding.
 

Gurian, Michael.  A Fine Young Man -- What Parents, Mentors, and Educators Can Do to Shape Adolescent Boys into Exceptional Men.  Tarcher-Putnam, 1998.

Building on the success of his guide to raising healthy young boys (The Wonder of Boys, Michael Gurian has written the next chapter--a book focusing on the much-maligned adolescent male. Gurian asserts, "We do not understand adolescent-male development, and therefore are unable to give our adolescent males the kind of love they need to become fully responsible, loving, and wise men." Adolescent boys may appear to be self-sufficient, but Gurian asserts that they actually need their parents and elders desperately. The author carefully illustrates what we--as parents, mentors, and educators--need to know about male adolescents, and what we can do to aid them on their journey to adulthood.

Bluestein, Jane PhD.  Creating Emotionally Safe Schools : A Guide for Educators and Parents.  Health Communications, 2001.

Educational counselor Jane Bluestein (21st-Century Discipline) challenges educators, parents, communities and corporate citizens to consider school safety beyond the presence or absence of violence. School safety can be measured psychologically, she claims, and is influenced by everything from a school system that does not respect the expertise and individual styles of its teachers to teachers who use grades and pop quizzes to ridicule slow learners and students who tease and harass even one classmate. In Creating Emotionally Safe Schools: A Guide for Educators and Parents, Bluestein brings together social, biological, educational and environmental perspectives in a weighty and timely book.
 

Lemieux, Michele.  Stormy Night.  Kids Can Press, 1999.

Children are natural philosophers, perhaps because they have so much to resolve if they're to have any hope of getting along in the world. Such as: Why do things fall when I drop them? Do they always? How can my mother tell when I'm lying? Is she? Will it be morning again tomorrow? How do I know whether I'm awake or dreaming? And a mind that's building a philosophy to live by doesn't stop at the practical questions. Where does the moon go in the day? Did the world really exist before I was born? When will I get to be older than my big sister? How do I know I'm really me?

Read the rest of this review on Salon.com

Rubin, Nancy. Ask Me If I Care -- Voices from an American High School. Ten Speed Press, 1994.

Want to know what your sullen teenager is really thinking? Nancy Rubin has been teaching Social Living classes at a large, urban public high school for over 17 years. This book is based on her students' in-class journals. Sex, drugs, AIDS, racial identity, self-image--the students pull no punches, and neither does Rubin. Many of the journal entries are in letter form--to a parent, a body part, drugs, a romantic interest, a dead friend. This is an uncensored and consistently moving look at life in contemporary America from the teen perspective. And the news is not all bad.

 

Bloch, Douglas. Positive Self-Talk for Children -- Teaching Self-Esteem through Affirmations: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Counselors. Bantam Doubleday Books, New York, 1993.

A step-by-step guide to helping children build self-esteem, a sense of independence, and greater optimism provides affirmations for every stage in a child's development and features chapters that help adults deal with their own negative tendencies.

 

 

Burns, Marilyn.  Math -- Facing an American Phobia.  Burns Education Association, 1998.

Research shows more than two-thirds of American adults fear and loathe mathematics. But is doesn't have to be that way. This book looks at why math has such a bad reputation. It laughs at itself while it sneaks its message through about what math can and should mean to us all and how we can keep our children from adopting the negative attitudes many of us have.

 

 

Calkins, Lucy McCormick. Raising Lifelong Learners -- A Parent's Guide. Addison Wesley, Reading, MA, 1997.

One of the best books for parents I have ever come across. Clear, concise, and written from a parent-educator's perspective. I am recommending it widely these days.

 

 

 

Coles, Robert. The Moral Intelligence of Children -- How to Raise a Moral Child. Random House, New York, 1997.

Child psychiatrist and Harvard professor Robert Coles has actively dedicated much of his life to exemplifying, teaching, and writing about the moral life. In his wonderful new book, Coles illuminates the ways in which children become moral--or not so moral--adults, drawing on case studies, talks with parents, visits to nurseries and classrooms, and interviews with children.

Also available in audio cassette format.

 

Harris, Judith Rich.  The Nurture Assumption -- Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do.  Free Press, 1998.

Whether it's musical talent, criminal tendencies, or fashion sense, we humans want to know why we have it or why we don't. What makes us the way we are? Maybe it's in our genes, maybe it's how we were raised, maybe it's a little of both--in any case, Mom and Dad usually receive both the credit and the blame. But not so fast, says developmental psychology writer Judith Rich Harris. While it has been shown that genetics is only partly responsible for behavior, it is also true, Harris asserts, that parents play a very minor role in mental and emotional development. The Nurture Assumption explores the mountain of evidence pointing away from parents and toward peer groups as the strongest environmental influence on personality development. Rather than leaping into the nature vs. nurture fray, Harris instead posits nurture (parental) vs. nurture (peer group), and in her view your kid's friends win, hands down.

Joan Ryan's column in the Sunday Chronicle Examiner (10/25/98) is about this book.

Hewlitt, Sylvia Ann & West, Cornel. The War Against Parents: What We Can Do for America's Beleaguered Moms and Dads. Houghton-Mifflin, New York, 1998.

Joan Ryan's column in the Sunday Chronicle Examiner (4/19/98) is about this book.

The average worker is now at work 163 hours a year more than in 1980 -- shortchanging their children Sometimes I've wondered why we don't seem to be as adept at parenting as our parents were. Why do we feel more squeezed for time, less sure of ourselves? And why do we seem to be raising a nation of lost, out-of-control kids?

 

McCoy, Elin. What to Do... When Kids Are Mean to Your Child. Reader's Digest Press, New York, 1997.

For parents of children ages five to thirteen, here is solid advice on dealing with teasing, name-calling and other trials of growing up. From sandbox spats to third-grade bullying, kids of all ages suffer hurts and humiliations that leave parents at a loss about what to do. This straightforward guide provides the proven solutions parents have been looking for. Photos & illustrations.

 

 

Ms. Foundation for Women. Girls Seen and Heard -- 52 Life Lessons for Our Daughters. Jeremy Tarcher Publishing, New York, 1998.

In Girls Seen and Heard, we’ve transformed the insights of the extraordinarily popular Take Our Daughters To Work® Day into the successful habits of a lifetime. Girls are looking intently at our lives: how we act with them and with one another; when we speak up and when we choose silence; how we resolve conflict and deal with power. They aren’t looking for perfection, for perfect women with perfect jobs. They are looking for truths and realities. As you read this book, remember that yours is a voice of strength, authority, and compassion. Through your own courage to speak and act, you can help a girl become all that she can be: visible, valued and heard. Marie C. Wilson, President, Ms. Foundation for Women
 

Nowicki, Stephen & Duke, Marshall. Helping the Child Who Doesn't Fit In. Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, GA, 1992.

Clinical psychologists Nowicki and Duke show parents and teachers how to simply assess the extent of a child's dyssemia, provide exercises for correcting their problems, and offer guidance for seeking professional assistance.

 

 

Nowicki, Stephen & Duke, Marshall. Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success. Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, GA, 1996.

Nowicki and Duke's follow-up effort to Helping the Child Who Doesn't Fit In.

 

 

 

Pennac, Daniel. Better Than Life -- The Secrets of Reading. Coach House Press, Toronto, 1994.

The Reader's Bill of Rights:

1. The right not to read.
2. The right to skip pages.
3. The right not to finish.
4. The right to reread.
5. The right to read anything.
6. The right to escapism.
7. The right to read anywhere.
8. The right to browse.
9. The right to read out loud.
10. The right not to defend your tastes.

Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia -- Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Random House, New York, 1994.

Pipher, Mary. The Shelter of Each Other -- Rebuilding Our Families. Ballantine Books, New York, 1996.

Ponton, Lynn E., M.D. The Romance of Risk -- Why Teenagers Do the Things They Do. HarperCollins, New York, 1997.

Rich, Dorothy. MegaSkills -- Building Children's Achievement for the Information Age. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY, 1998.

A new, revised, and updated edition published 1/1/98.

Riera, Michael. Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers. Celestial Arts, Berkeley, CA, 1995.

Michael Riera is the high school counselor many of us wish we'd had: he's smart, non-judgmental, and respectful of kids. This excellent book is chock full o' advice for parents that sometimes goes against the established grain but makes utter sense. For example, don't give advice even when asked, embrace estrangement (it's part of your teenager's development), and take a demotion and move from "manager" to "consultant." Uncommon Sense is an excellent book for any parent of an older child or teenager.

 

Riera, Michael. Surviving High School. Celestial Arts, Berkeley, CA, 1997.

"Becoming familiar with yourself is no easy task. In fact, it's going to take many courageous acts, some brutal, some ecstatic." This companion workbook to Uncommon Sense for Parents with Teenagers is directed at the kids themselves. With subjects ranging from "Getting Your Driver's License" to "Romance" to "Being Gay," Michael Riera's non-judgmental tone and good advice make this a book that teenagers might actually like their parents to give to them.
 

 

Winik, Marilyn. The Lunch-Box Chronicles -- Notes from the Parenting Underground. Pantheon Books, New York, 1998.

"Take Erma Bombeck, add the obsessions of a single mother with two boys under the age of 10, lace with a mild streak of wildness, and you have Marion Winik, as companionable a writer as a crazed parent ever found." So says the New York Times Book Review about this hilarious look at child rearing from NPR commentator Marion Winik.

 

 

Wolf, Anthony E. 'It's Not Fair, Jeremy Spencer's Parents Let Him Stay Up All Night!' : A Guide to the Tougher Parts of Parenting. Noonday Press, 1996.

Wolf, Anthony E. Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall? : A Parent's Guide to the New Teenager. Noonday Press, 1992.

INTERNET LINKS

Early Warning, Timely Response -- A Guide to Safe Schools, a joint project of the U.S. Office of Education, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the National Association of School Psychologists, has been just released. The entire text is available for browsing or download by clicking on the title link.

Helping Your Child with Homework

A publication of the United States Department of Education. The department also has published a companion guide, Helping Your Students with Homework -- A Teacher's Guide.

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