How Children Thrive

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.

Klein argues that adult success is often established in the developmental preschool years. She shares advice for parents on how to promote such success-driving positive attributes as resilience, self-regulation, and empathy.

An internationally renowned authority on children and divorce reveals the latest research-based strategies for helping children survive and thrive before, during, and long after their parents divorce. The breakup of a family can have an enduring impact on children. But as Dr. JoAnne Pedro-Carroll explains with clarity and compassion in this powerful book, parents can positively alter the immediate and long-term effects of divorce on their children. The key is proven, emotionally intelligent parenting strategies that promote children's emotional health, resilience, and ability to lead satisfying lives. Over the past three decades, Pedro-Carroll has worked with families in transition, conducted research, and developed and directed award- winning, court-endorsed programs that have helped thousands of families navigate divorce and its aftermath. Now she shares practical, research-based advice that helps parents: -gain a deeper understanding of what their children are experiencing -develop emotionally intelligent parenting strategies with the critical combination of boundless love and appropriate limits on behavior -reduce conflict with a former spouse and protect children from conflict's damaging effects -learn what recent brain research reveals about stress and children's developing capabilities Filled with the voices and drawings of children and the stories of families, Putting Children First delivers a positive vision for a future of hope and healing.

There’s more to student success than standards and test scores… Integrating Social and Emotional Learning into a curriculum has been shown to increase personal and school-wide growth. With lifelong success the goal over simply meeting academic thresholds, Teaching Kids to Thrive presents strategies, activities, and stories in an approachable way to develop responsible, self-motivated learners. Uniting social, academic, and self-skills this instrumental resource offers benefits to students such as: Using mindfulness strategies to help students tap their inner strengths Learning to self-regulate and control other executive brain functions Developing growth mindsets along with perseverance and resilience Cultivating a sense of responsibility, honesty, and integrity Encouraging a capacity for empathy and gratitude

'This book is really helping us. I recommend it!' Amy Schumer Why do some children thrive and others struggle? Leading toddler expert Dr Tovah P. Klein reveals why age two to five is the most crucial time for a child's brain development and how parents can harness this period to have a lifelong positive effect on their children's lives. Based on extensive research with toddlers, How Toddlers Thrive explains what is happening in children's brains and bodies at this age that makes their behaviour so turbulent, and why your reaction to their behaviour - the way you speak to, speak about and act towards your toddler - holds the key to a successful tomorrow and a happier today. With chapters on everyday routines, tantrums, managing change and avoiding toddler shaming, this smart and useful guide will inspire you to be a better parent.

Written by a pediatrician and based in proven-effective mindfulness techniques, this book will help you and your child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) keep calm, flexible, and in control. If you are a parent of a child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you probably face many unique daily challenges. Kids with ADHD are often inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive, since ADHD affects all of self-management and self-regulation. As a result, you might become chronically frustrated or stressed out, which makes caring for ADHD that much harder. In this book, a developmental pediatrician presents a proven-effective program for helping both you and your child with ADHD stay cool and collected while remaining flexible, resilient, and mindful. Bertin addresses the various symptoms of ADHD using non-technical language and a user-friendly format. In addition, he offers guidelines to help you assess your child's strengths and weaknesses, create plans for building skills and managing specific challenges, lower stress levels for both yourself and your child, communicate effectively, and cultivate balance and harmony at home and at school. If you are a parent, caregiver, or mental health professional, this book provides a valuable guide.

A powerful, neuroscience-based approach to revolutionize early childhood learning through natural creativity, strong human connections, spontaneous free play, and more. All children are born wired to learn and to love. As young children explore the world and interact with others, their brains can naturally develop in incredible ways. And yet, despite our best intentions, early education often fails to fully encourage this natural learning and empathy. The Natural Laws of Children draws on current research in childhood development to share powerful insights on how to enhance learning for all kids, regardless of income or access to resources. This book tells the story of Céline Alvarez’s pioneering work in early childhood education. Over three years in a low-income school, Alvarez’s students achieved exceptional results in math and reading, as well as outstanding social and emotional skills. The Natural Laws of Children shares, in a clear and accessible way, the main scientific principles that underpin human learning to revolutionize early childhood education by supporting strong human connections, spontaneous free play, and more.

Argues for the Universal Design for Learning, an individualized system of education that accounts for student variations, and provides strategies, tips, and tools for parents to help support their child's learning.