At the age of forty, with no particular musical background, he took up the cello. His touching and hilarious account of his passionate second career demolished the myth that one must start an instrument (or a sport, or a language) in early childhood, and will inspire any reader who dreams of taking up a new skill.

    Nothing makes one more keenly aware of health risks lurking in the everyday world than becoming a parent. Most know the importance of using cabinet locks and child gates, but research is showing many more ways we need to be childproofing our homes. Tens of millions of American children now face chronic diseases and illnesses including cancer, autism, asthma, birth defects, ADD/ADHD, allergies, learning and developmental disabilities, as well as a host of lesser but disruptive ailments. And the growing research points to much of the increases on unseen threats wrought by exposure to chemicals in everyday products like cleaning supplies, beauty care and cosmetics, home furnishings, plastics, some foods and toys as contributing to these ailments. With that in mind, the non-profit organization Healthy Child Healthy World offers parents a definitive guide to creating a healthy, nontoxic, and environmentally sound home. Filled with easy steps and simple solutions to improve family living without wreaking havoc on schedules or budgets, this book includes inspiring ideas for safe, eco-friendly cleaning methods, choosing healthier food, pet and garden care, nursery and home building materials, plus extensive tips for energy saving and family fun. With contributions from environmental science and public-health experts such as Dr. Phil Landrigan, Dr. Harvey Karp and Dr. Alan Greene, as well as many celebrity supporters (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Brooke Shields, Tobey Maguire, Sheryl Crow, Vanessa Williams, and Tom Hanks), Healthy Child Healthy World is the essential guidebook for parents wanting to go green.

    He explores what parents, teachers, and employers must do to develop the capacities of young people to become innovators. In profiling compelling young American innovators such as Kirk Phelps, product manager for Apple’s first iPhone, and Jodie Wu, who founded a company that builds bicycle-powered maize shellers in Tanzania, Wagner reveals how the adults in their lives nurtured their creativity and sparked their imaginations, while teaching them to learn from failures and persevere. Wagner identifies a pattern—a childhood of creative play leads to deep-seated interests, which in adolescence and adulthood blossom into a deeper purpose for career and life goals. Play, passion, and purpose: These are the forces that drive young innovators. Wagner shows how we can apply this knowledge as educators and what parents can do to compensate for poor schooling. He takes readers into the most forward-thinking schools, colleges, and workplaces in the country, where teachers and employers are developing cultures of innovation based on collaboration, interdisciplinary problem-solving, and intrinsic motivation. The result is a timely, provocative, and inspiring manifesto that will change how we look at our schools and workplaces, and provide us with a road map for creating the change makers of tomorrow. Creating Innovators will feature its own innovative elements: more than sixty original videos that expand on key ideas in the book through interviews with young innovators, teachers, writers, CEOs, and entrepreneurs, including Thomas Friedman, Dean Kamen, and Annmarie Neal. Produced by filmmaker Robert A. Compton, the videos are embedded into the ebook edition in video-enabled eReaders and accessible in this print edition via QR codes placed throughout the chapters or via www.creatinginnovators.com.

    Jackie Mize--who was told it was impossible for her to have a baby and who is now the mother of four beautiful children--provides readers with a supernatural answer. Filled with powerful and intimate scriptural prayers, this little book gives readers a way to come before Father God in faith with issues from having a difficult time getting pregnant to joyfully cradling that precious gift from God in their arms. By taking an expectant mother--or a women who desperately wants to be expecting--through God's promises for her and her baby's future, Prayers and Promises for Supernatural Childbirth is a bundle of joy that delivers hope and encouragement, while chasing away doubts and fears. Specific issues covered in the scriptural prayers include: fulfillment over barrenness; the threat of miscarriage; a joyful delivery day; and dedicating one's baby to God.

    . . you will be wowed and awed by [Dr. Shefali]." —Oprah WinfreyNew from the New York Times bestselling author of The Conscious Parent comes a radically transformative plan that shows parents how to raise children to be their best, truest selves.What if...?What if I told you that you can put an end to all of your parenting struggles?That you can learn to parent without fear or anxiety?That you can end conflict with your children?That you can create close and connected relationships within your family?…Would you accept this invitation to a revolution in parenting?We all have the capacity to raise children who are highly resilient and emotionally connected. However, many of us are unable to because we are blinded by modern misconceptions of parenting and our own inner limitations. In The Awakened Family, I show you how you can cultivate a relationship with your children so they can thrive; moreover, you can be transformed to a state of greater calm, compassion and wisdom as well.This book will take you on a journey to transcending your fears and illusions around parenting and help you become the parent you always wanted to be: fully present and conscious. It will arm you with practical, hands-on strategies and real-life examples from my experience as a parent and clinical psychologist that show the extraordinary power of being a conscious parent.Everyone in your family is ready to be awakened.Will you take this journey with me?—Shefali

    This is must-reading for everyone who cares about America’s fate in the 21st century.” — Judy Woodruff, Senior Correspondent for The PBS NewsHour Families and Work Institute President Ellen Galinsky (Ask the Children, The Six Stages of Parenthood) presents a book of groundbreaking advice based on the latest research on child development.There are hundreds of books that give parents advice on everything from weaning to toilet training, from discipline to nutrition. But in spite of this overwhelming amount of information, there is very little research-based advice for parents on how to raise their children to be well rounded and achieve their full potential, helping them learn to take on life's challenges, communicate well with others, and remain committed to learning. These are the "essential life skills" that Ellen Galinsky has spent her career pursuing, through her own studies and through decades of talking with more than a hundred of the most outstanding researchers in child development and neuroscience. The good news is that there are simple everyday things that all parents can do to build these skills in their children for today and for the future. They don't cost money, and it's never too late to begin.In Mind in the Making, Ellen Galinsky has grouped this research into seven critical areas that children need most: (1) focus and self control; (2) perspective taking; (3) communicating; (4) making connections; (5) critical thinking; (6) taking on challenges; and (7) self-directed, engaged learning. For each of these skills, Galinsky shows parents what the studies have proven, and she provides numerous concrete things that parents can do—starting today—to strengthen these skills in their children. These aren't the kinds of skills that children just pick up; these skills have to be fostered. They are the skills that give children the ability to focus on their goals so that they can learn more easily and communicate what they've learned. These are the skills that prepare children for the pressures of modern life, skills that they will draw on now and for years to come.

    What should they do when faced with their inconsolably sobbing, screaming or panic-stricken children ? What should they say to Paul who has lost his daddy ? to Mary who has cancer ? or to Simon whose parents are divorcing ? Here’s a book giving concrete insights illustrated by examples from everyday family life which will help you accompany your child towards autonomy, reconnect with your own childhood and gain greater harmony within the family circle.

    The behaviors are not created from a place of fear or even traditional discipline, but from 20 simple principles parents can implement in a variety of circumstances from infancy to young adulthood. Following these principles parents can positively impact the behavior of their children, enhance the parent-child relationship, increase their parenting-esteem, and promote lifelong relational skills in their children. The principles come from the perspectives of children, and have an inherent simplicity that is focused on the parent-child relationship. Following these child-centered principles fosters parent-child relationships based in love and respect.

    In this inspiring and enlightening book, Heather Shumaker describes her quest to nail down “the rules” to raising smart, sensitive, and self-sufficient kids. Drawing on her own experiences as the mother of two small children, as well as on the work of child psychologists, pediatricians, educators and so on, in this book Shumaker gets to the heart of the matter on a host of important questions. Hint: many of the rules aren’t what you think they are!The “rules” in this book focus on the toddler and preschool years—an important time for laying the foundation for competent and compassionate older kids and then adults. Here are a few of the rules:    • It’s OK if it’s not hurting people or property    • Bombs, guns and bad guys allowed.    • Boys can wear tutus.    • Pictures don’t have to be pretty.    • Paint off the paper!    • Sex ed starts in preschool    • Kids don’t have to say “Sorry.”    • Love your kid’s lies. IT’S OK NOT TO SHARE is an essential resource for any parent hoping to avoid PLAYDATEGATE (i.e. your child’s behavior in a social interaction with another child clearly doesn’t meet with another parent’s approval)!

    Ames and Ilg, recognized worldwide as authorities on child behavior and development, offer parents practical advice and enlightening psychological insights on children this age.   What are two-year-old girls and boys thinking and feeling? How do they see others around them? With humor and compassion, the authors describe the general characteristics of these complex toddlers: their physical growth trends, their emotional and psychological maturation. Also included are insights into how two-year-olds behave with family and other children, and advice on how to handle them, as well as tings to avoid.  Included in this book: • A two-year-old’s view of the world—and himself • Bath and dressing routines • Sex differences • Stories from real life • A list of age-appropriate toys and books • A bibliography for parents  “Louise Bates Ames and her colleagues synthesize a lifetime of observation of children, consultation, and discussion with parents. These books will help parents to better understand their children and will guide them through the fascinating and sometimes trying experiences of modern parenthood.”—Donald J. Cohen, M.D., Director, Yale Child Study Center, Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology, Yale School of Medicine

    

    When faced with the meltdowns that toddlers are famous for, it can be difficult to know which toddler discipline techniques will best help your child grow into a stronger, kinder person. Toddler Discipline for Every Age and Stage delivers essential toddler discipline tools for dealing with day-to-day difficulties, and supporting your toddler as they learn the important lessons that will set them up for success.Written by child development expert Aubrey Hargis, Toddler Discipline for Every Age and Stage will help you understand your toddler’s behavioral challenges while fostering important life skills such as curiosity, respect, independence, and confidence. Drawing on Aubrey’s years of coaching parents through the rocky terrain of toddler discipline, as well as her own experience as a mother of two, Toddler Discipline for Every Age and Stage delivers proven toddler discipline techniques that will help you grow closer as parent and child during each stage of your toddler’s first formative years.Inside the pages of Toddler Discipline for Every Age and Stage you’ll find: An overview of your child’s development—including physical, cognitive, and social-emotional—and how this affects their behavior. Age-appropriate toddler discipline strategies that will help you manage common behavioral issues by building upon each stage of progress. Helpful toddler discipline sidebars and tips for dealing with tricky situations, guidance on how best to communicate with your child, and advice from parents who’ve been there. While child development is not a linear process, Toddler Discipline for Every Age and Stage provides you with a practical, effective toddler discipline toolkit for navigating the ups and downs of your little one’s toddlerhood and thereafter.

    It's even more important to get answers and advice to the most common health issues boys face from a trusted source. The American Medical Association Boy's Guide to Becoming a Teen is filled with invaluable advice to get you ready for the changes you will experience during puberty. Learn about these important topics and more: Puberty and what kinds of physical and emotional changes you can expect--from your developing body to your feelings about girls, The importance of eating the right foods and taking care of your body, Pimples, acne, and how to properly care for your skin, Your reproductive system--inside and out, Thinking about relationships and dealing with new feelings.

    Your "smart but scattered" 4- to 13-year-old might also have trouble coping with disappointment or managing anger. Drs. Peg Dawson and Richard Guare have great news: there's a lot you can do to help. The latest research in child development shows that many kids who have the brain and heart to succeed lack or lag behind in crucial "executive skills"--the fundamental habits of mind required for getting organized, staying focused, and controlling impulses and emotions. Learn easy-to-follow steps to identify your child's strengths and weaknesses, use activities and techniques proven to boost specific skills, and problem-solve daily routines. Helpful worksheets and forms can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. Small changes can add up to big improvements--this empowering book shows how. See also the authors' Smart but Scattered Teens and their self-help guide for adults. Plus, an academic planner for middle and high school students and related titles for professionals.