All posts tagged: parenting book

WeekEND Reading: Need to hit the ‘reset’ button on your Parenting/Family Life? Sue Groner, The Parenting Mentor is here with 5 Ways to Rock the New Year, her new book, PARENTING: 101 WAYS TO ROCK YOUR WORLD, and more

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By Leslie Lindsay   In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season we just put behind us, parents might find it a bit challenging to re-center and focus on what’s important: our family.  I recently had the opportunity to read Sue Groner’s amazing book of parenting tips. The book is slim, but don’t be fooled; it’s jam-packed with practical, hands-on, and very ‘do-able.’ Be sure to check out my review here.  Today, I have this lovely guest post from Sue on 5 ways parents can hit ‘Reset’ for the New Year; please join us! “If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a lot of time reading how-to articles and blogs about being the best parent you can be. The amount of advice available to parents is overwhelming and confusing. Thinking that you’re not living up to a parenting gold standard causes stress and anxiety. And it certainly doesn’t make you feel great as a parent. This year, during our New Year’s family dinner, we did something a little different. Rather than announcing specific resolutions, …

BooKs On MondaY: HOW TO RAISE AN ADULT: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap & Prepare Your Kid for Success by Julie Lythcott-Haims

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By Leslie Lindsay  Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and GET THIS BOOK! It’s Malcolm Gladwell meets Paul Tough meets Madeline Levine in a fresh, timely take on raising excellent adults from former Stanford freshmen admissions dean and parent Julie Lythcott-Haims. Never preachy, and oh-so-relatable Lythcott-Haims is spot-on with her approach to parenting, over-parenting, and preparing your children for the adult world. Julie gets it–she’s a mom raising her two (now) teenaged children in Silicon Valley where it’s customary for kids to have most of what they want, thanks to high-powered and successful parents with seemingly endless resources. With compassion and empathy, Lythcott-Haims takes parents through the minefield of raising kids to be independent, and how that is, in fact, the best way to honor and support your children’s individuality. Brimming with research and laid out in a manner all parents can appreciate, HOW TO RAISE AND ADULT is a deeply informed narrative, which reads as if you’re chatting with a good friend over coffee. You’ll come across cringe-worthy anecdotes of parental over-involvement gathered …

Write On, Wednesday: Mom, Writer, Traveler Amy Fusselman talks about letting our kids create at parks, even if it’s a little ‘dangerous’ in SAVAGE PARK

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By Leslie Lindsay I’ll admit it: I hate to play. I think I am bad at it. It’s messy, it’s not always fun and many times it’s very abstract. So after reading Amy Fussleman’s SAVAGE PARK I realize I am not alone. At least from a parent/adult perspective. But not kids. And I now have a better grasp on how to worry less and play more. We’re lucky enough to have Amy with us today to answer a few questions about her latest book, SAVAGE PARK: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans who are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January 13th 2015). L.L.: Amy, thanks so much for hanging with us today. As I write this, my children—ages 9 and 7 are barking and squawking; they are creating a secret language which they may or may not recall or employ tomorrow. But they are having fun. And I have a moment to write. Which is my fun. Can you describe a bit about your process in writing SAVAGE …

Write on, Wednesay: Special Guest Heather Shumaker of “It’s OK NOT to Share”

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By Leslie Lindsay Today, I have  very special guest–Heather Shumaker, mom and author of It’s OK NOT to Share (Penguin/Tarcher, 2013).  This brand-new parenting book just hit the shelves this spring and is ranked #3 by Parents Magazine.  Heather and I met at the University of Wisconsin’s Writer’s Institute this past April.   Right away, I knew her message would resonate with me.  And then she graciously agreed to participate in an interview.  Here, she explains the writing process and some great tips and ideas for parenting.  Best yet–there’s a give-a-way!!  Complimentary copy of IT’s OKAY NOT TO SHARE is coming your way if you are the lucky one whose name is drawn at random.  (See end of post for details).  Without further adieu… L2:   Loving your book, Heather!  I just started reading it this week—outside—which is so refreshing after the long winter we’ve had here in the Midwest.  Not only is the weather sunny and warm—so is your writing style.  How do you weave in parenting topics in such a fun and joyful way?  At …

The Teacher is Talking: The Whole Brain Child

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By Leslie Lindsay The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson (image retrieved from Amazon.com on 8.7.12) I don’t know about you but I have about had it with summer vacation.  It’s not the heat or the long days that is driving me wild, it’s the constant fussing and bickering that comes from the tiny redheaded girls who call me mom.  So when I learned about this new parenting book, THE WHOLE BRAIN CHILD by Daniel J. Siegel, MD and Tina Payne Bryson, PhD I figured it couldn’t hurt.  The book promises you will be able “survive everyday parenting struggles and help your family thrive.”  I nodded in appreciation and flipped open the binding, inhaling that new-book smell I adore.  The audience: parents of children birth to 12 years.  It covers 12 basic principles a parent or devoted caregiver can give a child to help them become better at managing their own emotions, thus beoming a more well-balanced child.  Again, I nod in …

A Little Literacy, Please: Alice Wonders about Science & Fiction

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By Leslie Lindsay You have probably heard of her, too.  Alison Gopnik, a world-renown developmental psychologist who studied at the University of Oxford and now teaches at the University of California-Berkeley has penned such parenting books as The Scientist in the Crib (Harper, 2000) and The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life (Picador, 2010)   What you might not know is her favorite childhood books were Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.  As an empirical developmental psychologist, it was no wonder  (ha) that Ms. Gopnik identified with Alice’s character.  “I was Alice”  I shared her name, long hair, and dreamy absentmindedness.  I had a preference for logic and imagination over common sense.  I too, was bewildered by the blindness of grown-ups, esxpecially their failure to recognize that children were smarter than they were.”  Alison Gopnik continues to explain in All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book (Roaring Book Press, 2009) that Alice in Wonderland is the link between logic …