Child Care

The 8 Keys to End Bullying Activity Book for Kids & Tweens is designed to be both useful and fun. There are quizzes, experiments, questions, and answers mixed in with games, puzzles, journaling challenges, and real-life stories that teach kids how to:

Organized around the groundbreaking principles of 8 Keys to End Bullying, 8 Keys to End Bullying Activity Program for Kids & Tweens builds key social-emotional skills in readers ages 8-12, empowering them to cope with conflict and end bullying in their communities and schools. Younger kids can complete the activities with a parent or teacher's guidance, while older kids can complete the activities independently. These simple activities cultivate (1) assertiveness, emotion management, and friendship skills in kids vulnerable to bullying, (2) problem-solving skills for kids who witness bullying, and (3) empathy and kindness skills in kids who are likely to bully their peers. The book is available individually or as a set with The 8 Keys to End Bullying Activity Book Companion Guide for Parents & Educators

Between the ages of twelve and twenty-four, the brain changes in important and, at times, challenging ways. In Brainstorm, Dr. Daniel Siegel busts a number of commonly held myths about adolescence--for example, that it is merely a stage of "immaturity" filled with often "crazy" behavior. According to Siegel, during adolescence we learn vital skills, such as how to leave home and enter the larger world, connect deeply with others, and safely experiment and take risks.

Drawing on important new research in the field of interpersonal neurobiology, Siegel explores exciting ways in which understanding how the brain functions can improve the lives of adolescents, making their relationships more fulfilling and less lonely and distressing on both sides of the generational divide.

Discover the proven ways parents can help their children learn, overcome adversity, get along with others, and become independent--while you relax and enjoy being a parent

How do children thrive? As a parent, you probably think about this all the time. You want your children to have happy, healthy, and meaningful lives--but what's the best way to support them? In How Children Thrive, developmental pediatrician and parent Dr. Mark Bertin provides a positive, simple, and empowering approach for raising children of all ages. Bringing together mindfulness, new science on brain development, and the messy reality of being a parent, Dr. Bertin has a created a breakthrough guide that will help children--and their parents--flourish.
Research has shown that the key to raising resilient, kind, and independent children lies in executive function, our mental capacity to manage just about everything in life. Despite its wonky, overly scientific name, there is nothing complicated about building executive function, Dr. Bertin writes. It's actually a lot more straightforward and less anxiety-provoking than most of the parenting advice out there. Through concise, easily applied chapters, Dr. Bertin provides simple strategies for helping your children develop healthy EF while taking care of yourself and enjoying your family. Highlights include:

Mindfulness--how it directly builds EF and how to incorporate mindful practices for the whole family
- The importance of free play, the science behind it, and how to encourage more of it
- Technology--how much is too much? At what age is screen time OK? Help your kids have a healthy relationship with media.
- Create simple routines that support independence around homework, nutrition, sleep, friendships, and more
- Age-appropriate advice for toddlers, teens, and even your twenty-somethings
- Limits and discipline: How to determine--and stick with--consequences for unwanted behavior
- Understand markers for whether your child is developmentally on track or if extra support might be needed
- Find the advice you need when you need it with short, independent chapters full of concrete practices
- Bring more calm, ease, and joy to your parenting while taking care of yourself--even when family life gets chaotic
- Give yourself permission to make mistakes and adapt along the way
The pressure to be the perfect parent is overwhelming, writes Dr. Bertin, but the truth is the job is too challenging and varied to ever be done to perfection. With compassion and reassurance, Dr. Bertin presents a relaxed, instinctual, and evidence-based approach to raising children who thrive.

To a four-year-old watching bulldozers at a construction site or chasing butterflies in flight, the world is awash with promise. Little children come into the world hardwired to learn in virtually any setting and about any matter. Yet in today's preschool and kindergarten classrooms, learning has been reduced to scripted lessons and suspect metrics that too often undervalue a child's intelligence while overtaxing the child's growing brain. These mismatched expectations wreak havoc on the family: parents fear that if they choose the "wrong" program, their child won't get into the "right" college. But Yale early childhood expert Erika Christakis says our fears are wildly misplaced. Our anxiety about preparing and safeguarding our children's future seems to have reached a fever pitch at a time when, ironically, science gives us more certainty than ever before that young children are exceptionally strong thinkers.
In her pathbreaking book, Christakis explains what it's like to be a young child in America today, in a world designed by and for adults, where we have confused schooling with learning. She offers real-life solutions to real-life issues, with nuance and direction that takes us far beyond the usual prescriptions for fewer tests, more play. She looks at children's use of language, their artistic expressions, the way their imaginations grow, and how they build deep emotional bonds to stretch the boundaries of their small worlds. Rather than clutter their worlds with more and more stuff, sometimes the wisest course for us is to learn how to get out of their way.
Christakis's message is energizing and reassuring: young children are inherently powerful, and they (and their parents) will flourish when we learn new ways of restoring the vital early learning environment to one that is best suited to the littlest learners. This bold and pragmatic challenge to the conventional wisdom peels back the mystery of childhood, revealing a place that's rich with possibility.