Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul


Stuart M. Brown Jr. - 2009
    Or the blissful abandon of a golden retriever racing with glee across a lawn. This is the joy of play. By definition, play is purposeless and all-consuming. And, most important, it’s fun. As we become adults, taking time to play feels like a guilty pleasure—a distraction from “real” work and life. But as Dr. Stuart Brown illustrates, play is anything but trivial. It is a biological drive as integral to our health as sleep or nutrition. In fact, our ability to play throughout life is the single most important factor in determining our success and happiness. Dr. Brown has spent his career studying animal behavior and conducting more than six thousand “play histories” of humans from all walks of life—from serial murderers to Nobel Prize winners. Backed by the latest research, Play explains why play is essential to our social skills, adaptability, intelligence, creativity, ability to problem solve, and more. Play is hardwired into our brains—it is the mechanism by which we become resilient, smart, and adaptable people. Beyond play’s role in our personal fulfillment, its benefits have profound implications for child development and the way we parent, education and social policy, business innovation, productivity, and even the future of our society. From new research suggesting the direct role of three-dimensional-object play in shaping our brains to animal studies showing the startling effects of the lack of play, Brown provides a sweeping look at the latest breakthroughs in our understanding of the importance of this behavior. A fascinating blend of cutting-edge neuroscience, biology, psychology, social science, and inspiring human stories of the transformative power of play, this book proves why play just might be the most important work we can ever do.

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood


Jennifer Senior - 2014
    Award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior now asks: what are the effects of children on their parents?"All Joy and No Fun is an indispensable map for a journey that most of us take without one. Brilliant, funny, and brimming with insight, this is an important book that every parent should read, and then read again. Jennifer Senior is surely one of the best writers on the planet."-Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on HappinessIn All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior isolates and analyzes the many ways in which children reshape their parents' lives, whether it's their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies, their friendships, or their internal senses of self. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear. Recruiting from a wide variety of sources-in history, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology-she dissects both the timeless strains of parenting and the ones that are brand new, and then brings her research to life in the homes of ordinary parents around the country. The result is an unforgettable series of family portraits, starting with parents of young children and progressing to parents of teens. Through lively and accessible storytelling, Senior follows these mothers and fathers as they wrestle with some of parenthood's deepest vexations-and luxuriate in some of its finest rewards.Meticulously researched yet imbued with emotional intelligence, All Joy and No Fun makes us reconsider some of our culture's most basic beliefs about parenthood, all while illuminating the profound ways children deepen and add purpose to our lives. By focusing on parenthood, rather than parenting, the book is original and essential reading for mothers and fathers of today-and tomorrow.

The Victorious Attitude


Orison Swett Marden - 1997
    To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 0766127435.

The Little Book of Thinking Big


Richard Newton - 2014
    What have you got to lose? If you aim for the stars you might just get there. Sometimes it pays off to think BIG and Richard Newton is here to get us thinking on a bigger scale than we ever imagined.With the right thinking tools and the right approach you can release your inspiration and creativity, reset your ambition and direct your attention to the things that truly matter to you. And that can change your life.Short and punchy with quick tips and inspiring graphics, The Little Book of Thinking Big will have your imagination, creativity and determination firing on all cylinders. You'll come away with a set of BIG goals to fuel and drive your BIG life.Here's where it starts. This is a reset button. Push it.Think bigger.

Transforming the Difficult Child Workbook: An Interactive Guide to the Nurtured Heart Approach: For Parents, Teachers, Practitioners and All Other Caregivers


Howard Glasser - 2008
    This workbook was designed to provide the inspiring opportunity to experience the same exciting experiences of success with your children and transform them to a truly GREAT child.

An Introduction to Group Work Practice


Ronald W. Toseland - 1984
    Students will receive a grounding in areas that vary from treatment to organizational and community settings. This edition also includes of new case studies, practice examples and guiding principles.

Teaching Johnny to Think: A Philosophy of Education Based on the Principles of Ayn Rand's Objectivism


Leonard Peikoff - 2014
    

The Elephant and the Twig: The Art of Positive Thinking - 14 Golden Rules to Success and Happiness


Geoff Thompson - 2000
    It aims to help you to take the plunge to realize your potential, so that you do not have to remain stuck in a social and lifestyle rut as if there is no alternative.

Hope for the Heart of the Homeschool Mom: Encouragement for the Days When Sanity is Limited


Jamerrill Stewart - 2015
    Encouragement. Sanity. On any number of homeschooling days, I've needed all three. It's not that homeschooling is an unwanted chore. Homeschooling my children is one of my greatest joys. It's a privilege. I'm so incredibly blessed by this undertaking. And I'm challenged. I'm pulled. I'm stretched. I'm growing. I'm finding my reheated coffee in the microwave at 2 p.m. wondering where the morning went. Trying hard to soak up the sweet and sacred moments with these souls and miss stepping on the Lego pile in the process. Friend, I'm sure you've felt the same. The pages of Hope for the Heart of the Homeschool Mom is a collection of encouragement to prayerfully strengthen your soul for this God-given journey. A journey that's beyond stretching and beyond worth it.

Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone


Mark Goulston - 2009
    Just Listen does this by providing simple but powerful techniques readers can use to really get through to people. You’ll learn how to: make a powerful and positive first impression; listen effectively; make even a total stranger (potential client) feel understood; talk an angry or aggressive person away from an instinctual, unproductive reaction and toward a more rational mindset; and achieve buy-in--the linchpin of all persuasion, negotiation, and sales. Whether they're coworkers, friends, strangers, or enemies, the first make-or-break step in persuading anyone to do anything is getting them to hear you out. With this groundbreaking book, readers will be able to master the fine but critical art of effective communication.

Raising a Gifted Child: A Parenting Success Handbook


Carol Fertig - 2004
    This book offers a large menu of strategies, resources, organizations, tips and suggestions for parents to find optimal learning opportunities for their kids, covering the gamut of talent areas, including academics, the arts, technology, creativity, music and thinking skills.The focus of this definitive resource is on giving parents the tools needed to ensure that their gifted kids are happy and successful both in and out of school. Additional topics covered include information on volunteering at your child's school, different school options and specialty programs for gifted kids, tips for handling special circumstances and strategies for finding the best resources for parents on the Web. This easy-to-read book is sure to be a favorite of parents of gifted kids for years to come!Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented 2009 Legacy Book Award Winner - Parenting

Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World


Jane McGonigal - 2010
    The average young person in the UK will spend 10,000 hours gaming by the age of twenty-one. What's causing this mass exodus? According to world-renowned game designer Jane McGonigal the answer is simple: videogames are fulfilling genuine human needs. Drawing on positive psychology, cognitive science and sociology, Reality is Broken shows how game designers have hit on core truths about what makes us happy, and utilized these discoveries to astonishing effect in virtual environments. But why, McGonigal asks, should we use the power of games for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking exploration of the power and future of gaming, she reveals how gamers have become expert problem solvers and collaborators, and shows how we can use the lessons of game design to socially positive ends, be it in our own lives, our communities or our businesses. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality is Broken sends a clear and provocative message: the future will belong to those who can understand, design and play games.

Whole Child, Whole Parent


Polly Berrien Berends - 1975
    This fourth edition includes new material for contemporary parents on anger, children's dreams, maintaining individual and family life, marital as well as parental life, and many new personal anecdotes. It is the perfect guide "not merely for parents who want to raise their children in the best manner possible, it is for all people, including adults who want to raise themselves." (M. Scott Peck, from the foreword).Whether exploring love and discipline or bedtime and storybook reading, Berends shows the practical relevance of spiritual insights to the most ordinary parental tasks.

Raising Girls Who Like Themselves


Kasey Edwards - 2021
    Packed with practical, evidence-based advice, it is the indispensable guide to raising a girl who is happy and confident in herself.Free of parental guilt and grounded in research, Raising Girls Who Like Themselves is imbued with the warmth and wit of a mum and dad who are in the same parenting trenches as you, fighting for their daughters’ futures.

If the Buddha Had Kids: Raising Children to Create a More Peaceful World


Charlotte Kasl - 2012
    . . series continues with some Zen wisdom for frantic parentsIn an age when so many kids seem to be glued to video games and eating fast food dinners on the way to a soccer game, author Charlotte Kasl urges parents to step back and examine what is important in their lives, and to take the time to truly get to know their children. Using spiritual guidelines as well as practical advice, Kasl encourages parents to raise their children to be peacemakers in a turbulent world. Like her previous Buddha titles, If the Buddha Had Kids includes exercises for readers to apply to their own lives, and is filled with wonderful quotes that will inspire readers and keep them coming back to this book for advice as their children grow older.