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A research topic guide covering aspects of parenting, including discipline, development, single parenthood, sex education, technology, and adoption.

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Real World Parents

"Christian families today often find themselves stuck between two stories--their own family's story and God's story. It's like they're living two lives: their Christian life and their "real world" life. The trick is figuring out how to get your family's story to line up with God's story in the world around us, helping you raise children who have the character, values, and mission that allows them to go out into the real world and live out a real faith. Real World Parents is a parenting book that helps you to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to raising Christian kids in a world that is filled with contradictions to a life of faith. Rather than trying to raise kids who are "good Christians," you'll find the tools to help you live out a faith that allows your children to see what it means to live as a Christian. As a result, your kids will learn about real faith by living it out with you. Culture expert and veteran youth pastor, Mark Matlock, will help you explore issues such as: * Helping your child make decisions * The importance of failure * Knowing God's story for your family * Changing the story your family is in * The pursuit of wisdom, and much more God has placed us here to interact with and represent him to the world by engaging with the culture--not retreating from it. Rather than trying to isolate your children from the world or draw lines that keep them from truly engaging in the world God calls us to help and heal, you can learn how to lead your family towards an integrated life where your story and God's story come together to make a difference in the world around you."

The Orchid and the Dandelion

"Based on groundbreaking research that has the power to change the lives of countless children--and the adults who love them." --Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts. A book that offers hope and a pathway to success for parents, teachers, psychologists, and child development experts coping with difficult children.      In Tom Boyce's extraordinary new book, he explores the "dandelion" child (hardy, resilient, healthy), able to survive and flourish under most circumstances, and the "orchid" child (sensitive, susceptible, fragile), who, given the right support, can thrive as much as, if not more than, other children.      Boyce writes of his pathfinding research as a developmental pediatrician working with troubled children in child-development research for almost four decades, and explores his major discovery that reveals how genetic make-up and environment shape behavior. He writes that certain variant genes can increase a person's susceptibility to depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and antisocial, sociopathic, or violent behaviors. But rather than seeing this "risk" gene as a liability, Boyce, through his daring research, has recast the way we think of human frailty, and has shown that while these "bad" genes can create problems, they can also, in the right setting and the right environment, result in producing children who not only do better than before but far exceed their peers. Orchid children, Boyce makes clear, are not failed dandelions; they are a different category of child, with special sensitivities and strengths, and need to be nurtured and taught in special ways. And in The Orchid and the Dandelion, Boyce shows us how to understand these children for their unique sensibilities, their considerable challenges, their remarkable gifts.

The Strength Switch

Unlock your children's potential by helping them build their strengths. This game-changing book shows us the extraordinary results of focusing on our children's strengths rather than always trying to correct their weaknesses. Most parents struggle with this shift because they suffer from a negativity bias, thanks to evolutionary development, giving them "strengths-blindness." By showing us how to throw the "strengths switch," Lea Waters demonstrates how we can not only help our children build resilience, optimism, and achievement but we can also help inoculate them against today's pandemic of depression and anxiety.             As a strengths-based scientist for more than twenty years, ten of them spent focusing on strengths-based parenting, Waters has seen how this approach enhances self-esteem and energy in both children and teenagers. Yet more on the plus side: parents find it a particularly exciting and rewarding way to raise children. With many suggestions for specific ways to interact with your kids, Waters demonstrates how to discover strengths and talents in our children, how to use positive emotions as a resource, how to build strong brains, and even how to deal with problem behaviors and talk about difficult situations and emotions. As revolutionary yet simple as Mindset and Grit, The Strength Switch will show parents how a small shift can yield enormous results.

Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear

"It might be the most important book about being a parent that you will ever read."--Emily Rapp Black,New York Times bestselling author ofThe Still Point of the Turning World "Brooks's own personal experience provides the narrative thrust for the book -- she writes unflinchingly about her own experience.... Readers who want to know what happened to Brooks will keep reading to learn how the case against her proceeds, but it's Brooks's questions about why mothers are so judgmental and competitive that give the book its heft." --NPR One morning, Kim Brooks made a split-second decision to leave her four-year old son in the car while she ran into a store. What happened would consume the next several years of her life and spur her to investigate the broader role America's culture of fear plays in parenthood. InSmall Animals, Brooks asks, Of all the emotions inherent in parenting, is there any more universal or profound than fear? Why have our notions of what it means to be a good parent changed so radically? In what ways do these changes impact the lives of parents, children, and the structure of society at large? And what, in the end, does the rise of fearful parenting tell us about ourselves? Fueled by urgency and the emotional intensity of Brooks's own story,Small Animals is a riveting examination of the ways our culture of competitive, anxious, and judgmental parenting has profoundly altered the experiences of parents and children. In her signature style--by turns funny, penetrating, and always illuminating--which has dazzled millions of fans and been called "striking" byNew York Times Book Review and "beautiful" by the National Book Critics Circle, Brooks offers a provocative, compelling portrait of parenthood in America and calls us to examine what we most value in our relationships with our children and one another.

The Importance of Being Little

In this bold challenge to the conventional wisdom about early childhood, Yale Early Childhood expert Erika Christakis offers a pragmatic program to encourage parents to rethink how and where young children learn best. Christakis argues that children are hardwired to learn in any setting, but when 'learning' is defined by strict lessons and dodgy metrics, it devalues a child's intelligence while placing unfit requirements on the developing brain. Her message is energising and encouraging: children are inherently powerful and will flourish if we can revitalise the early learning environment.

The Self-Driven Child

"Instead of trusting kids with choices . . . many parents insist on micromanaging everything from homework to friendships. For these parents, Stixrud and Johnson have a simple message: Stop." --NPR "This humane, thoughtful book turns the latest brain science into valuable practical advice for parents." --Paul Tough, New York Times bestselling author of How Children Succeed A few years ago, Bill Stixrud and Ned Johnson started noticing the same problem from different angles: Even high-performing kids were coming to them acutely stressed and lacking motivation. Many complained they had no control over their lives. Some stumbled in high school or hit college and unraveled. Bill is a clinical neuropsychologist who helps kids gripped by anxiety or struggling to learn. Ned is a motivational coach who runs an elite tutoring service. Together they discovered that the best antidote to stress is to give kids more of a sense of control over their lives. But this doesn't mean giving up your authority as a parent. In this groundbreaking book they reveal how you can actively help your child to sculpt a brain that is resilient, and ready to take on new challenges. The Self-Driven Child offers a combination of cutting-edge brain science, the latest discoveries in behavioral therapy, and case studies drawn from the thousands of kids and teens Bill and Ned have helped over the years to teach you how to set your child on the real road to success. As parents, we can only drive our kids so far. At some point, they will have to take the wheel and map out their own path. But there is a lot you can do before then to help them tackle the road ahead with resilience and imagination.

Raising White Kids

With a foreword by Tim Wise, Raising White Kids is for families, churches, educators, and communities who want to equip their children to be active and able participants in a society that is becoming one of the most racially diverse in the world while remaining full of racial tensions. For white people who are committed to equity and justice, living in a nation that remains racially unjust and deeply segregated creates unique conundrums. These conundrums begin early in life and impact the racial development of white children in powerful ways. What can we do within our homes, communities and schools? Should we teach our children to be "colorblind"? Or, should we teach them to notice race? What roles do we want to equip them to play in addressing racism when they encounter it? What strategies will help our children learn to function well in a diverse nation? Talking about race means naming the reality of white privilege and hierarchy. How do we talk about race honestly, then, without making our children feel bad about being white? Most importantly, how do we do any of this in age-appropriate ways? While a great deal of public discussion exists in regard to the impact of race and racism on children of color, meaningful dialogue about and resources for understanding the impact of race on white children are woefully absent. Raising White Kids steps into that void.

Parenting with Words of Grace

Offering practical guidance for grace-filled communication in the midst of the craziness of everyday life, Parenting with Words of Grace will help you speak in ways that reflect the grace God has shown to you in the gospel.

The 5 Love Languages of Children

More than 1 million sold! You know you love your child. But how can you make sure your child knows it? The #1 New York Times bestselling The 5 Love Languages® has helped millions of couples learn the secret to building a love that lasts. Now discover how to speak your child's love language in a way that he or she understands. Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Ross Campbell help you: Discover your child's love language Assist your child in successful learning Use the love languages to correct and discipline more effectively Build a foundation of unconditional love for your child Plus: Find dozens of tips for practical ways to speak your child's love language. Discover your child's primary language--then speak it--and you will be well on your way to a stronger relationship with your flourishing child. For a free online study guide, visit 5lovelanguages.com.

Joys and Concerns of Parenting

What is parenthood really like? This video profiles a young family and a mother of small children, uncovering some of the joys and concerns of the parenting experience in the process. In an upbeat and energetic way, the program prepares parents-to-be and new parents for the life that awaits them—one filled with dirty diapers, crying, and sleeplessness—while clearly showing the rewards of raising children. Viewable/printable educational resources are available online. (19 minutes)

Source: Films on Demand