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Ten Books on Raising Good Humans
Growing Up Great: Your Guide to the Newest Child Development Reads
Child Development is the topic of the week, and even if you don't have children of your own, it's still important that the next generation develop into kind, responsible people who have the knowledge and abilities to deal with the difficulties of life.
In line with this, I’m sharing ten new and soon-to-be-released books on child development that can provide valuable insights and guidance. These books cover a wide range of topics, from fostering emotional intelligence to promoting healthy communication skills, ensuring a well-rounded approach to raising good humans.
The School of Hard Talks: How to Have Real Conversations with Your (Almost Grown) Kids by Emily Kline Ph.D (4/4/23) Sasquatch Books | Learn how to connect with your young adult children in this practical guide using techniques that focus not on inducing compliance but rather on respecting their thoughts and understanding their motivations.
Childhood Unplugged: Practical Advice to Get Kids Off Screens and Find Balance by Katherine Johnson Martinko (7/11/23) New Society | Childhood Unplugged takes a bold approach to creating healthy boundaries around the use of digital media, suggesting kids should be offline for the majority of their time.
Raising Good Humans Every Day: 50 Simple Ways to Press Pause, Stay Present, and Connect with Your Kids by Hunter Clarke-Fields (8/1/23) New Harbinger Publications | From the author of Raising Good Humans, this "go-to" daily guide offers 50 simple ways to press pause, stop reacting, and start parenting with intention.
How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess: A Guide to Building Resilience and Managing Mental Health by Caroline Leaf (8/8/23) Baker Books | Based on up-to-date research, clearly illustrated with case studies, and practically applied to the problems kids are facing today, Dr. Leaf shares a clear and effective five-step plan to teach your child how to manage their mind so they can live a life with greater resilience, health, and happiness.
Calm the Chaos: A Fail-Proof Road Map for Parenting Even the Most Challenging Kids by Dayna Abraham (8/15/23) Simon & Schuster | There are five steps to calming the chaos: Getting to Safety, Restoring Trust and Energy, Finding Calm in the Moment, Getting Ahead of the Moment, and Defining Family Success.
Eight Setbacks That Can Make a Child a Success: What to Do and What to Say to Turn Failures Into Character-Building Moments by Michelle Icard (8/22/23) Rodale Books | Distilled from Michelle Icard's decades of experience working with tweens, teenagers, and families, it also introduces her signature three-step approach to any kind of failure: Contain, Resolve and Evolve.
Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-And What We Can Do about It by Jennifer Breheny Wallace (8/22/23) Portfolio | Drawing on interviews with families, educators, and an original survey of nearly 6,000 parents, she exposes how the pressure to perform is not a matter of parental choice but baked into our larger society and spurred by increasing income inequality and dwindling opportunities.
Back on Track: A Practical Guide to Help Kids of All Ages Thrive by Rebecca Jackson (9/5/23) Mayo Clinic Press | Back on Track is the book for every parent who has worried about their child and wants to create change. It provides an action plan for parents to help their child thrive at school, at home, and at play—from a professional who develops and implements brain-based wellness programs for kids, adults, and athletes and is a mom herself.
This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained by Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett (10/10/23) Rodale Books | Almost everything about puberty has changed since today's adults went through it. Talking about any of this is like talking about puberty itself: Awkward! But it's also critical for the health, happiness, and safety of today's kids.
Tiny Humans, Big Emotions: How to Navigate Tantrums, Meltdowns, and Defiance to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children by Lauren Elizabeth Stauble and Alyssa Blask Campbell (10/10/23) Harvest Publications | Designed for all humans—tiny and big—this book shows caregivers how to handle their children's outbursts while empowering them to recognize and manage difficult feelings like anger, sadness, and shame, along with anxiety.
Looking to expand your knowledge on this subject? This is only a small selection of the nonfiction books that I've compiled on this subject; there are many more available that go into greater depth on particular aspects of raising children and child development.
Click below to visit my online bookshop, where you can find a wide range of books specifically tailored to address the challenges children face today.
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Ten Books on Raising Good Humans
When my son was small, I never had time to read books on raising children. I was too busy...raising a child. Now that I have the time, and I'm entering the uncharted territory of 'teen boy,' I've read two books this summer that have been eye openers, that I'd like to recommend:
Decoding Boys: New Science Behind the Subtle Art of Raising Sons by Cara Natterson, and Building Boys: Raising Great Guys in a World that Misunderstands Males by Jennifer L.W. Fink
Thank you so much for these great recommendations!