Kids Development

Over her decades as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Delahooke has routinely counseled distraught parents who struggle to manage their children’s challenging, sometimes oppositional behaviors. These families are understandably focused on correcting or improving a child’s lack of compliance, emotional outbursts, tantrums, and other “out of control” behavior. But, as she has shared with these families, a perspective shift is needed. Behavior, no matter how challenging, is not the problem but a symptom; a clue about what is happening in a child’s unique physiologic makeup.

When she moved her young family to her husband's hometown in northern France, Karen Le Billon expected some cultural adjustment. But she didn't expect to be lectured for slipping her fussing toddler a snack, or to be forbidden from packing her older daughter a school lunch. Karen is intrigued by the fact that French children happily eat everything-from beets to broccoli, from salad to spinach - while French obesity rates are a fraction of what they are in North America.

Over the past decade, children’s mental health challenges have reached epidemic levels—stress, anxiety, childhood depression, and suicide are at unprecedented high rates. Amid high-stakes pressure for kids to succeed, parents and teachers have never needed a road map to healthy child development more urgently. And as psychologist and educator Doug Bolton explains in this eye-opening guide, underlying our modern-day stresses is an even more pervasive problem: We’re relying on practices that are not in line with what science tells us about how to truly motivate children and help them thrive.

For some kids, school offers a positive and engaging experience. For others, it's a boring, stressful, and frustrating waste of time. If your child is in the second category, why keep tormenting them? Instead, why not help them find an educational environment where they feel genuinely motivated, excited, and empowered? In this eye-opening book, Blake Boles makes the case for leaving conventional school and taking one of the many alternative paths through K-12 that exist today.

One in two children suffer from a chronic or recurring illness. If you feel stuck in a cycle of recurrent antibiotic use, missed school, sleepless nights and ER visits, Dr. Sheila Kilbane can help. In this book, integrative pediatrician Sheila Kilbane, MD, shares the methodology she's developed over almost 20 years of practicing medicine: a seven-step process that can begin to heal your child's chronic illness from the inside out.

Parents today complain of fragmented relationships with their kids. What parents yearn for - and their kids too - is deep, heart-to-heart connections. But how can parents compete with all the other noise fighting for their kids' attention? The answer, says Greta Eskridge, is to break free from regular routines and familiar comforts of home to experience new places and adventures - even if those adventures go awry. From simply reading a book together to going on an overnight backpacking trip, activities together provide unique and crucial bonding opportunities.

Join Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend, authors of the New York Times bestseller Boundaries, as they share the research and guidance you need to raise your kids to take responsibility for their actions, attitudes, and emotions. What Boundaries has done for adult relationships, Boundaries with Kids will do for you and your family.

Whether your goal is to prepare your child for a healthy relationship to technology or to curb unhealthy amounts of time spent gaming, How to Raise a Healthy Gamer will help you better understand, communicate with, and—ultimately—empower your gaming enthusiast to live their best life.

In Talking to Children About Divorce, Jean McBride provides you with the tools and encouragement to effectively communicate with your child about divorce. McBride brings her more than 25 years of specializing in divorce to guide you through crucial but difficult conversations and cultivate an environment of love and support throughout the divorce process. You’ll learn how to have honest conversations about different situations and emotions that may arise during divorce - from breaking the news to understanding resistance.

Being a parent is the toughest job in the world, especially with the increasing number of negative influences and pitfalls facing our kids today, from childhood obesity and out-of-control celebrity culture to the dangers of the internet and credit card debt. Larry Winget has never been one to shy away from tough truths, and what he says here may well be difficult for some parents to swallow: we are in the midst of a crisis with our kids.

Today's youth-sports experience provokes countless questions for well-intentioned parents. How young should kids start playing sports? Should they specialize—and when? What should a parent do when their kid is not getting the playing time they think their child deserves? How do parents encourage children without overwhelming them? Raising Empowered Athletes has answers for every youth-sports situation with an overarching goal of not only helping parents raise strong athletes but also nurture great human beings who are empowered to succeed on and off the playing field.

Give Your Child the Tools to Thrive—And Get the Support You’ve Been Searching For Does your child struggle with focus, meltdowns, or managing big emotions? This therapist-approved 10-in-1 bundle offers practical strategies to build emotional intelligence and executive functioning skills. What’s Inside the 10-in-1 Bundle: Part 1: Executive Functioning Workbook (5-in-1) 5-minute activities to boost focus, follow-through, and organization. Part 2: Emotional Regulation Workbook (5-in-1) Tools to help children calm down, manage anxiety, and feel in control.

Our culture tells parents there's one best way to raise kids: enroll them in a dozen activities, protect them from trauma, and get them into the most expensive college you can. If you can't do that, don't bother. How is that going? Record rates of anxiety, depression, medication, debts, loneliness and more. In Family Unfriendly, bestselling author and Washington Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney says it's time to end this failed experiment in overparenting.

Divorce is the intersection of everything we hold dear in life: love, sex, money, and children. When those are threatened, people get angry. Logical and reasoned decision-making spirals into power plays and finger-pointing and potentially open warfare. Without a clear head, divorce is a lose-lose for everyone except the lawyers. It doesn't have to be that way. Family law attorney Raiford Palmer has helped clients find a faster, more peaceful, less costly alternative to "World War III" divorce cases.

In The High-Conflict Custody Battle, a team of legal and psychology experts present a practical guidebook for people like you who are engaged in a high-conflict custody battle. If you are dealing with an overtly hostile, inflammatory, deceitful, or manipulative ex-spouse, you will learn how to find and work with an attorney and prepare for a custody evaluation. The book also provides helpful tips you can use to defend yourself against false accusations and gives a realistic portrayal of what to expect during a legal fight.

Just as sturdy scaffolding is necessary when erecting a building and will come down when the structure grows stable, good parenting provides children with steady and warm emotional nourishment on the path toward independence. Never-ending parental problem-solving and involvement can have the opposite effect, enabling fragility and anxiety over time.

Lulu, Elliot and Ginger are three little kittens that like to have fun. They are cute, cuddly and always getting into trouble. Join them on their adventures as they learn about the world around them.

The wise and insightful "If the Buddha" books have won Charlotte Kasl thousands of devoted fans. In her latest work, she turns her attention to parenthood, a stage of life that leaves most of us searching for answers. If the Buddha Had Kids applies Kasl's signature blend of spiritual guidelines, exercises, and practical advice to help parents raise peacemakers in our increasingly turbulent times, emphasizing that finding peace within a family is the first step toward creating a peaceful world.

Middle school is its own important, distinct territory, and yet it's either written off as an uncomfortable rite of passage or lumped in with other developmental phases. Based on her many years working in schools, professional counselor Phyllis Fagell sees these years instead as a critical stage that parents can't afford to ignore (and though "middle school" includes different grades in various regions, Fagell maintains that the ages make more of a difference than the setting).

Anxiety has an amazing ability to spread. Time and time again, when veteran counselor and parenting expert Sissy Goff has an anxious child or teen in her office, she's found they have at least one very well-intentioned but anxious parent. Anxiety is contagious, and it's likely affecting your kids, distracting you in the present, and making you feel like it will define your family's future. It doesn't have to be this way. Sissy offers you practical, well-researched tools that will make a difference in your life—and the lives of your children.