Connected Parenting

A child and family therapist for more than 20 years offers a groundbreaking, counterintuitive parenting approach to create deep, empathic bonds with problem children.

When a child is acting out, parents often respond with anger. But there is a better way. Drawing on twenty years of experience as a child therapist, Jennifer Kolari explains that children act up when they feel an adult does not understand their concerns. The answer is parenting with empathy, which Kolari helps parents implement via her proven CALM technique: Connect emotionally match the Affect of the child Listen to what your child is saying Mirror their emotion back to show understanding With this simple strategy, parents can connect with their child in any situation to reduce anxiety, de-escalate tantrums instantly and increase self-esteem. Insightful and empowering, Connected Parenting is filled with step-by-step advice and examples from families that have been transformed, often within weeks. It will bring out the best in you—and your child.

There Is Hope for Every Child, Every Parent, and Every Family Parenting under the best of circumstances can be difficult. And raising children who have come to your home from “hard places,” who have their own set of unique needs, brings even more challenges. You may have discovered that the techniques that worked with your birth children are not working with your adopted or foster child. Renowned child-development expert Dr. Karyn Purvis gives you practical advice and powerful tools you can use to encourage secure attachment in your family. You will benefit from Karyn’s decades of clinical research and real-world experience. Coauthor Lisa Qualls demonstrates how you can successfully implement these strategies in your home, just as she did in hers. You will learn how to simplify your approach using scripts, nurture your child, combat chronic fear, teach respect, and develop other valuable tools to facilitate a healing connection with your child. The Connected Parent will help you lovingly guide your children and bring renewed hope and restoration to your family.

An essential guide for parents navigating the new frontier of hyper-connected kids. Today's teenagers spend about nine hours per day online. Parents of this ultra-connected generation struggle with decisions completely new to parenting: Should an eight-year-old be allowed to go on social media? How can parents help their children gain the most from the best aspects of the digital age? How can we keep kids safe from digital harm? John Palfrey and Urs Gasser bring together over a decade of research at Harvard to tackle parents' most urgent concerns. The Connected Parent is required reading for anyone trying to help their kids flourish in the fast-changing, uncharted territory of the digital age.

The author believes that every child's greatest emotional need is to have a strong emotional bond with at least one adult. When we have a bond with a child we have influence with a child. The author teaches us that when we strengthen our parent-child bond we meet the child's need for connection and our need for influence.--From back cover.

A Powerful Approach to Bringing God's Grace to Kids Did you know that the way we deal (or don't deal) with our kids' misbehavior shapes their beliefs about themselves, the world, and God? Therefore it's vital to connect with their hearts--not just their minds--amid the daily behavior battles. With warmth and grace, Jim and Lynne Jackson, founders of Connected Families, offer four tried-and-true keys to handling any behavioral issues with love, truth, and authority. You will learn practical ways to communicate messages of grace and truth, how to discipline in a way that motivates your child, and how to keep your relationship strong, not antagonistic. Discipline is more than just a short-term attempt to modify your child's actions--it's a long-term investment to help them build faith, wisdom, and character for life. When you discover a better path to discipline, you'll find a more well-behaved--and well-believed--kid.

Imagine that there is a medication you could administer to your teens that would help regulate their moods, increase their sense of trust, and improve their overall brain function. Imagine, moreover, that it’s free, has no negative side effects, and helps to boost the immune system. And it’s available in an unlimited supply. It sounds too good to be true, but in You’re Ruining My Life! Jennifer Kolari shows how her unique approach to parenting can have all these effects and more. Kolari’s CALM technique is based on the therapeutic strategy of mirroring . Used regularly, it can strengthen the parent–child bond and build emotional independence. Kolari provides information, advice, sample conversations, and anecdotal examples to show how parents can turn what they have learned into everyday practices that help them to reconnect with their teens so they can spend more time enjoying each other—and less time at war.

You Can Effectively Parent an Adopted or Foster Child Parenting under the best of circumstances is difficult, but because of their unique needs, raising children from hard places brings additional challenges. You might discover that traditional techniques that may have worked for you with your birth children are not working with your adopted or foster child. Renown child development expert Dr. Karyn Purvis will give you practical advice and powerful tools you can use to encourage secure attachment in your child, just as she did for coauthor Lisa Qualls. You will benefit from Karyn’s decades of research and understanding, plus Lisa’s hands-on experience and successful implementation of the strategies shared in this book. You will learn how to simplify your approach using scripts, nurture your child, combat chronic fear, teach respect, and develop other valuable skills to add to your parenting toolbox. The Connected Parent will help you lovingly guide your children and bring renewed hope and healing to your family.