Addiction-Proof Your Child: a Realistic Approach to Preventing Drug, Alcohol and Other Dependencies. Stanton Peele, $19.95

A renowned addiction expert, Dr. Stanton Peele believes that it is normal for teens to experiment with drugs and alcohol, and that the majority will not become addicts or ruin their lives if they are armed with real-life motivators. Addiction-Proof Your Child shows parents how to instill these qualities and teach kids the decision-making skills and values they need. In a world where binge drinking, drug abuse, eating disorders, and Internet gambling and pornography are all too common, children and teens need to have deeply-rooted values and strengths rather than a mantra, to avoid the ever-growing presence of addiction. “Just say no” is just not enough.

afterbirth: stories you WON’T read in a parenting magazine. Edited by Dani Klein Modisett, $17.99

Afterbirth reveals the unvarnished truth about parenting – how it’s full of idiotic situations, moments of darkness and why I can be dangerous to tell people what you really think about being a parent. Sparing no one — particularly themselves — these contributors are funny, dark and relentlessly honest.

Alpha Girls: Understanding the New American Girl and How She is Changing the World. Dan Kindlon, $32.95

From the bestselling coauthor of Raising Cain, an in-depth look at the emotional lives of boys comes an inspired look at the "young woman who is destined to be a leader. She is talented, highly motivated, and self-confident."

These alpha girls, as Kindlon calls them, are a post-feminist cohort who has grown up with an internalized sense of emancipation that was lacking in previous generations. In addition to providing an inside look into the alpha girls' lives, and the feminist tradition which they inherit, Kindlon's work explores the relationships alpha girls have with the men in their lives - fathers and boyfriends, mostly-particularly in collegiate and post-collegiate life. Alpha Girls is powerful reading for anyone looking to understand the upcoming generation's driven, confident young women.

The Baby Bond: the New Science Behind What’s Really Important When Caring for Your Baby. Linda Folden Palmer, $20.50

Meticulously researched, this authoritative and persuasive guide to attachment parenting reveals the many little-known advantages that only a responsive, nurturing parenting style can provide:

• Surprising evidence on the benefits of breastfeeding
• How attentiveness and touch impacts permanent brain development in infants
• Under-reported facts about how to reduce colic, food allergies, and illness
• Why sharing sleep is both safe and natural

This warmly presented book is a rare overview of information too often missing from parenting circles, pediatric offices, and financially motivated product promotions.

The Balanced Mom: Raising Your Kids Without Losing Yourself. Bria Simpson, $15.95

In The Balanced Mom, Bria Simpson, a life coach and mother of three shows busy moms how to meet the challenges of motherhood, while still making time to find balance and fulfillment. Dozens of simple tips help you create the time and space you need to reconnect with yourself and by extension, help your children develop a greater sense independence and self-worth.

The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children. Wendy Mogel, $17.50

A practical and refreshing antidote to anxious over-parenting, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee is itself a blessing — pointing the way to raising self-reliant, compassionate and ethical children.

The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood. Ellen Handler Spitz, $17.50

In this remarkable book, Ellen Handler Spitz shows how to promote children’s creative and emotional growth by making the most of the unlimited possibilities of everyday experiences. Through delightful anecdotes about real children and their treasures, bedrooms, play spaces, music, scary things, and birthday parties, The Brightening Glance will inspire you to create a life of wonder, inventiveness, and cultural enrichment for your child.

Calm and Compassionate Children: a Handbook. Susan Usha Dermond, $19.95

Building on such inherent qualities as open-heartedness and trust, parents and teachers can help children develop empathy and integrity as they grow. From nature walks to conscious quiet time to tips on daily routines, Calm and Compassionate Children provides practical guidance to help grown-ups model behavior and suggests ninety activities to foster children’s concentration, joy, kindness and love.

From one of Canada’s most inspiring and gifted sports heroes, an urgently needed guide to getting our kids active and healthy … Child’s Play is a call for action, a guide to reconnecting with our kids, and a blueprint for building safe, supportive communities and healthy schools. Above all, it’s a book of simple ideas for parents desperate for change.

Raising confident, motivated, and caring children is a parent’s greatest challenge. Drawing on her own extensive research on children and parents, Terri Apter has created a guide based on “emotional coaching”—learning to respond appropriately to a child’s feelings—that helps parents raise children to solve problems, to be socially active and understand others, and to manage emotions, all of which are crucial to developing confidence and functioning successfully in society. Hugely insightful, reassuring, and accessible, The Confident Child is a truly necessary parenting guide.

With just the simple tools around you—your imagination, basic art supplies, household objects, and natural materials—you can transform your family life, and have so much more fun!

Perfect for all families, the wide range of projects presented here offers ideas for imaginative play, art and crafts, nature explorations, and family celebrations. This book embraces a whole new way of living that will engage your children’s imagination, celebrate their achievements, and help you to express love and gratitude for each other as a family.

Deeno's Dream Journeys in the Big Blue Bubble: a Relaxation Programme to Help Children Manage their Emotions . Julia Langensiepen, Illustrated by Gerry Turley, $29.95

Deeno's Dream Journeys in the Big Blue Bubble is a fun and easy-to-use guide to a special relaxation technique for children. Adapted from the system of Autogenics, the six-week programme uses positive affirmations and guided imagery to help children manage their emotions, let go of anxiety and feel calm and confident. Separate introductions for parents, teachers and other professionals provide advice on how best to use the technique, whether at home, at school, or elsewhere. There is also a children's introduction, which introduces Deeno and explains the technique in accessible terms.

Digestive Wellness for Children is a primer for all parents who are interested in learning about, and actively supporting, their children’s digestive health. It provides practical instructions for keeping children healthy, for healing them when they aren’t, and for feeding them healthful foods that will provide the nutrients they need to stay well and strong from infancy through the teen years.

Successful attorney Cameron Stracher has it all — and is never home to enjoy it. So he makes a bold decision — for the next year he will be home by 6:00 p.m. at least five days a week to sit down to a family dinner with his wife and kids, and he’ll share the cooking and shopping duties. What follows is a journey to the heart of what matters most.

Parents have long been bombarded with conflicting advice on how to bring up their babies: from Locke, Rousseau, and Truby King to Spock, Penelope Leach and Gina Ford. Behaviourist warnings in the 1920s about physical contact ('Never hug and kiss them. Never let them sit in your lap') swung to Jean Liedloff's 'continuum concept' that babies should be wrapped round mum and fed on demand. Who is right and who is wrong?

In this updated edition of her classic account of how and why the experts' advice has changed with changing times, Christina Hardyment analyses the anxieties of our own age and gives parents much-needed confidence in their own ability to choose the advice that best suits them and their babies.

E Is for Ethics: How to Talk to Kids About Morals, Values and What Matters Most. Ian James Corlett, $24.99

Teaching your children values, life skills, and ethics can be difficult for many parents.  These 26 simple, clear, original, stories for you to read aloud with your child are fun and entertaining tales that serve a deeper purpose — to teach tact, understanding, and responsibility.

Parents will find guidance and inspiration in Encouraging your Child's Spiritual Intelligence. Dr. Painton's thoughtful quizzes and advice provide added support and insight throughout the book. Adults will rediscover their spiritual connections and become valuable spiritual partners with their children.

Equally Shared Parenting: Rewriting the Rules for a New Generation. Marc and Amy Vachon, $30.00

Equally Shared Parenting arms readers with the tools to create a balanced life that is rarely experienced by the parents of young children-an evolution that goes beyond the involved dad married to the working mom. This is a lifestyle in which couples create their own model as parenting partners, equals and peers. Every couple gets to write the rules that work for them.

Equally Shared Parenting clearly outlines the benefits and challenges of equal parenting, covering everything from child-rearing practices, career, and home, to self, money, and society. It presents both the philosophy behind this lifestyle and the everyday steps needed to achieve and maintain it, regardless of income bracket, lifestyle choices, or profession.

Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children without Going Nuts with Worry. Lenore Skenazy, $17.95

When Lenore Skenazy wrote a newspaper column about letting her nine-year-old ride the subway alone in New York City, little did she realize that the response would spark a national movement. Her outspoken, commonsense approach to parenting galvanized a huge wave of supporters—and a counterstorm of protest from others who dubbed her "America's Worst Mom."

In this funny, fed-up book, Lenore encourages parents to let their kids be kids. She's all for helmets and car seats but insists children do not need a security detail every time they go outside. Armed with stories, wisecracks, and a battery of facts, she gleefully punctures modern-day myths about rampant kidnapping, marauding germs, and poisoned Halloween candy. After exposing where these worries come from, she gives tips on how to break free.

The book reads like a conversation with your funniest, most honest friend. Readers will find themselves laughing out loud while shedding their fears. For anyone who remembers the days of walking to school, playing outside, or eating a kernel of unwrapped candy corn—and longs to bring them back to childhood—this book is a must-read.

A Good Childhood: Searching for Values in a Competitive Age. Richard Layard & Judy Dunn, $25.00

A Good Childhood looks at the state of childhood today and provides striking and imaginative proposals for how it could be better for all children, giving them what they need to flourish.

In this inspiring book, based on 30 years of research and practice, Dr. Stanley Greenspan redefines the qualities of an emotionally and intellectually healthy child and identifies the ways that parents can help their children develop each quality. The qualities that make us call a child a “great kid,” such as empathy, curiosity, and logical thinking, are fundamental and underlie all the academic, athletic, and social talents that a child might develop. We are not born with these traits, Greenspan demonstrates, they come from experience, which suggests that each and every parent can encourage them and that each and every child can strive to acquire them.

Growing Up Global: Raising Children to be at Home in the World.  Homa Sabet Tavangar, $19.95

In today’s increasingly interconnected world, how do we prepare our children to succeed and to become happy, informed global citizens? In Growing Up Global, Tavangar shares with all of us her “parenting toolbox” to help give our children a vital global perspective.

Whether you’re mastering a greeting in ten different languages, throwing an internationally themed birthday party, or celebrating a newfound holiday, Growing Up Global provides parents and children with a rich, exciting background for exploring and connecting with far-flung nations they may have only heard about on television. Inside you’ll discover

• fun activities, games, and suggestions for movies, music, books, magazines, service activities, and websites for expanding your family’s worldview
• simple explanations that will help your children grasp the diversity of world faiths
• creative ways to gain geography literacy
• handy lists of celebrations and customs that offer a fascinating look at how people from different cultures around the world live everyday life

Growing Up Global is a book that parents, grandparents, and teachers can turn to again and again for inspiration and motivation as they strive to open the minds of children everywhere.

Happy Times Together. Jo England, $23.95

Being one of their children's first teachers gives parents a unique opportunity to discover the eagerness with which children learn, and the joy they feel when they are helping and part of a team. In Happy Times Together, parents will find twelve themes that will have them brainstorming, creating, laughing, cooking and partying with their kids. Each chapter is designed with a series of activities and recipes. The activities are packed with outrageous fun as well as being educational, and the recipes are delicious and easy to make (and eat!) as well as being nutritious, and each theme can be expanded into a party.

Happy Times Together is not about spending a lot of money, it's about spending quality time. So get together and create some happy times!

Healthy Mother, Healthy Child: Creating Whole Families from the Inside Out. Elizabeth Irvine, $21.95

ICU nurse, yoga instructor and mother Elizabeth Irvine offers practical tips and a positive philosophy that will help your entire family build physical and emotional health that will last a lifetime.

Featuring a host of celebration ideas, this remarkable guide addresses more conventional occasions, like holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, family dinnertime and nighttime prayer, as well as more unique experiences, like a teen’s first job, a women’s midlife journey, and moving an elder into assisted living. Through the art of simple ritual and ceremony, How to Bury a Goldfish allows readers to slow down, sit in silence and savor all of the precious moments that enrich our daily lives.

The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon, 25th Anniversary Edition. David Elkind, $16.95

With the first edition of The Hurried Child, David Elkind emerged as the voice of reason, calling our attention to the crippling effects of hurrying our children through life. He showed that by blurring the boundaries of what is age appropriate, by expecting or imposing too much too soon, we force our kids to grow up too fast, to mimic adult sophistication while secretly yearning for innocence. Since this book first appeared, new generations of parents have inadvertently stepped up the assault on childhood - in the media, in schools, and at home … the Internet, classroom culture, school violence, movies, television, and a growing societal incivility … In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the book, Dr. Elkind delivers important new commentary to put a quarter century of trends and change into perspective for parents today.

I Can Hear the Sun. Patricia Polacco, $8.99

Fondo's life is sad and lonely until he meets Stephanie Michele. She takes care of the geese who live on the shore of Lake Merritt, and when Fondo shows up there one day, she lets him help. But now the geese are preparing to fly south for the winter, and Fondo says that they've invited him to join them. Is hope enough to accomplish a miracle? Patricia Polacco masterfully intertwines themes of friendship, homelessness, and faith to create a beautiful modern myth.

I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper: Loving Your Marriage after the Baby Carriage. Trisha Ashworth & Amy Nobile, $24.95

A frank, yet encouraging look at marriage post-tots, I'd Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper examines the challenges of modern parenthood for married couples today and extends a loving hand so that mothers can step out of the madness, make the most of what they have, and learn to love their marriages as much as they love their husbands and kids.

As co-director of the Albany Free School, Chris Mercogliano has had remarkable success in helping a diverse population of youngsters find their way in the world. He regrets, however, that most kids' lives are subject to some form of control from dawn until dusk. Lamenting risk-averse parents, over-structured school days, and a lack of playtime and solitude, Mercogliano argues that we are robbing our young people of that precious, irreplaceable period in their lives that nature has set aside for exploration and innocent discovery, leaving them ill-equipped to face adulthood. The ‘domestication of childhood’ squeezes the adventure out of kids' lives and threatens to smother the spark that animates each child with talents, dreams, and inclinations.

There is plenty that those involved with children can do to protect their spontaneity and exuberance. We can address their desperate thirst for knowledge, give them space to learn from their mistakes, and let them explore what their place in the adult world might be.

Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years. Helen Neville, $29.95

This reassuring and practical guide explains what to expect at every developmental stage between birth and age 6. Pediatric nurse and parent educator Helen Neville walks parents and caregivers through three dozen topics common in the first six years of life. Accurate, reliable and authoritative, Is This a Phase looks at child development and temperament and how they affect the family.

The Joy of Family Traditions offers more than 400 fresh ideas and creative approaches to cultivating birthday, anniversary, holiday, and other rite-of-passage and seasonal traditions that strengthen personal bonds and reflect a family's individual style, spirituality, and values. This wonderful book:

• Inspires and instructs families on how to create, personalize, adapt, and preserve relevant traditions that reflect how we live today.
• Explores the historical, cultural, and often quirky origins of holidays, customs, and milestones, both uncommon and familiar.
• Includes holidays, holy days, annual events, once-in-a-lifetime occasions, and personal celebrations.

Just Because It Isn’t Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right: Teaching Kids To Think and Act Ethically. Barbara Coloroso, $22.00

In her now-classic ‘kids are worth it!’ Barbara Coloroso’s underlying parenting vision ascribed to parents the responsibility to teach the next generation how to think, not just what to think, so that they may grow into the best people they can be.

Now, in this groundbreaking new book—a natural extension and a profound deepening of her original vision—Coloroso shows parents how to nurture their children’s ethical lives, from preschool through adolescence.

There can be no more necessary book for our times.We live in a world where children are so often given the message that the ends justify the means; where harmful, even violent behavior—in families, in communities, and around the world—goes unnoticed, unmitigated, and often unrepented; where children’s ethical education can come from a T-shirt slogan or bumper sticker, an Internet site, or the evening news; where rigid moral absolutism or moral relativism has replaced true ethical thinking. In a world such as ours, Just Because It’s Not Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right is an essential tool.

Rich in advice and anecdotes, Barbara Coloroso offers no less than an ethical vision, one rooted in deep caring, by which we and succeeding generations may not only live, but thrive.

Kids Are Worth It: Raising Resilient, Responsible, Compassionate Kids, Revised 2010. Barbara Coloroso, $22.00

Barbara Coloroso delivers a powerful message that good parenting begins by treating kids with dignity and respect, giving them a sense of power in their own lives and offering them opportunities to make decisions, take responsibility for their actions and to learn from their mistakes. Rejecting the quick-fix solutions of punishment and rewards, Coloroso shows how to use the very stuff of family life to help you guide your children to become self-disciplined, responsible, resilient and compassionate human beings.

Lighting Their Fires: Raising Extraordinary Children. Rafe Esquith, $31.00

In his bestselling book, Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire, readers were introduced to Rafe Esquith and his extraordinary students in Hobart Elementary School’s Room 56.

In his latest  book, Lighting Their Fires, Esquith shows that children aren’t born extraordinary; they become that way as a result of parents and teachers who instill values that serve them not just for school, but for the rest of their lives. Whether he is highlighting the importance of time management or offering a step-by-step discussion of how children can become good decision makers, Esquith shows how parents can equip their kids with all the tools they need to find success and have fun in the process. Using examples from classic films and great books, he stresses the value of sacrifice, the importance of staying true to oneself, and the danger that television can pose to growing young minds. Lighting Their Fires explains not just how to make our children great students, but how to make them thoughtful and honorable people.

Children are no strangers to cruelty and courage, to love and to loss, and in this unique book teacher and educational consultant Marietta McCarty reveals that they are, in fact, natural philosophers … Little Big Minds guides parents and educators in introducing philosophy to K-8 children in order to develop their critical thinking, deepen their appreciation for others, and brace them for the philosophical quandaries that lurk in all of our lives, young or old. Arranged according to themes including prejudice, compassion, and death and featuring the work of philosophers from Plato and Socrates to the Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King Jr., this step-by-step guide to teaching kids how to think philosophically is full of excellent discussion questions, teaching tips, and group exercises.

From the stars of TLC's critically acclaimed reality show Little People, Big World comes heartfelt advice to help today's families overcome life's obstacles together and grow closer in the process.

Living Sensationally: Understanding Your Senses. Winnie Dunn, $20.95

How do you feel when you bite into a pear… wear a feather boa… stand in a noisy auditorium… or look for a friend in a crowd?

It's likely that one of these situations would be pleasant for you, and perhaps one would be unpleasant. Some people will adore the grainy texture of a pear, while others will shudder at the idea of this texture in their mouths. Touching a feather boa will be fun and luxurious to some, and others will bristle at the idea of all those feathers brushing on the skin. Noisy, busy environments will energize some people, and will overwhelm others.

These different reactions reflect people's individual sensory patterns, which in turn affect the way we react to everything that happens to us throughout the day. Living Sensationally identifies four major sensory types: Seekers, Bystanders, Avoiders and Sensors. The author helps readers to find their own patterns and the patterns of those around them, and then offers suggestions for harnessing this knowledge to make their lives more in synch with their sensations.

Living Sensationally provides practical sensory ideas for individuals, families and businesses. Armed with the information in Living Sensationally, people will be able to pick just the right kind of clothing, job and home and know why they are making such choices.

Bernie Siegel is a pediatric surgeon, father of five, grandfather of eight and the author of the bestselling book Love, Medicine and Miracles. In his newest book he brings a lifetime of compassionate experience to parents with his trademark wit, wisdom and thoughtful advice. A collection of wonderful insights and advice for parents of all ages, Love, Magic & Mudpies is a delightful blend of common sense and humour.

Mending the Broken Bond leads parents through a 90-day program of practical steps and action plans toward building—or rebuilding—a positive, loving, and healthy bond with their children. Whether parents are faced with toddlers throwing temper tantrums, ten-year-olds who prefer videogames to talking, or rebellious teenagers, Dr. Lawlis presents sound solutions to repair relationships and regain a meaningful and lasting connection with their children.

A best friend. A lost tooth. A first day of school. In engaging photos and text, this book highlights the milestones shared by children everywhere.

In addition to original writings from some of today's best-known children's authors and illustrators The Milestones Project comes packaged with a growth chart uniquely designed to track a child's physical growth as well as their development into an ethical human being. Stickers included with the book can be placed on the chart to encourage children toward their goals: "I told the truth." "I kept a promise." "I shared my toys."

A Moment’s Peace: a Mom’s Guide to Creating Calm Amidst the Chaos. Elizabeth Irvine, $21.95

Designed for those who may only have 10 minutes a day to call their own, this guide provides busy moms with the needed skills and techniques to create their own sense of peace and face daily challenges from a calm and grounded place. Maintaining that well-being comes from the inside, the guide teaches mothers to look at life with fresh eyes and to empower themselves to change the way they respond to their often chaotic and stressful environments. The step-by-step plans incorporate a series of relaxation techniques, hints for developing meaningful family rituals, instructions for gentle but powerful breathing, and body awareness skills that lay the groundwork for the development of peaceful moments that eventually lead to a life of steady, grounded calm.

Through her experience as an ICU nurse, mother of three, yoga instructor and author, Elizabeth Irvine believes we can create a healthier, happier way of being from the inside out and raise families who care—about themselves, about each other, and about the world around them.

Whether you are interested in starting a mother-daughter group in your own community or would simply like to ensure a close relationship with your daughter as she grows up, this groundbreaking book will show you the way.

Before you pack the boxes and hire a moving van, help make your family’s next move a positive experience with this helpful collection of experiences from families who have moved many times. Whether you are moving across town or across the world, Lori Collins Burgan offers practical advice that will make the changes more exciting and less scary for children — and their parents.

No Contest, which has been stirring up controversy since its publication in 1986, stands as the definitive critique of competition. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Alfie Kohn eloquently argues that our struggle to defeat each other — at work, at school, at play, and at home — turns all of us into losers.

Larissa is an only child, but she is not alone! See how big this only child's family is! This book shows that an only child can still have a very full family with different lifestyles and ethnicities represented in her world.

The greatest gifts that a child can receive are an opened mind, a caring heart, and ignited creativity. Children who develop a healthy balance of mind and spirit are better able to respond to life's challenges when given the tools to think and discover for themselves. Dr. Jenkins gives scores of age-appropriate activities that help children learn empathy, trust, forgiveness, growth, and inner peace.

Parenting for a Peaceful World. Robin Grille, $29.95

In Parenting for a Peaceful World, learn about nurturing your child’s emotional intelligence, and understand how your own childhood experiences have influenced your emotional make-up as an adult and the choices you make as a parent.

Although good advice for parents may be found in a variety of resources, Parenting: the Long Journey couples solid advice with encouraging words that can lead to an attitude and relationship approach that will last for the many years after the active parenting of children comes to a close and children enter into adulthood. Author Joe Rich’s advice is non-judgmental and his philosophical approaches like "parents are experts on themselves" and "aim for better not perfect" make the book very inviting to those faced with the challenges of parenting in today's world.

Parenting Without Fear gives you the tools to confront your fears, rethink your goals and teach your children how to be independent, to persevere, to imagine and explore their world, and to develop compassion for others. Discover how to gain the confidence to trust your own judgment, and the courage to make choices about your children’s academic, social and athletic lives that reflect your family’s values and balance your needs with theirs.

Children grow up naturally, but parenting, in Beth Roy’s words, is a “learned activity”. In Parents’ Lives, Children’s Needs, Roy describes the developmental challenges facing parents at each stage of their child’s growth and offers concrete advice for a humane and gentle approach to parenting, that promotes growth and support for every member of the family.

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. Stuart Brown, $2.00

From a leading expert, a groundbreaking book on the science of play, and its essential role in fueling our intelligence and happiness throughout our lives. 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.

The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life. William Damon, $19.99

The Path to Purpose looks at youth who are thriving — highly engaged in activities they love and developing a clear sense of what they want to do with their lives — and youth who are still rudderless, at serious risk of never fulfilling their potential. What makes the difference? Based on in-depth interviews, Damon offers compelling portraits of the young people who are thriving.  He identifies the nine key factors that have made the difference for them, presenting simple but powerful methods that parents can employ in order to cultivate that energized sense of purpose in young people that will launch them on the path to a deeply satisfying and productive life.

The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back.  Kevin Salwen & Hannah Salwen, $29.95

The Power of Half is the fascinating story of how one family set out to make small difference in the world and ended up transforming themselves.

The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Healthier, Happier Children. David Elkind, $18.00

In modern childhood, free, unstructured play time is being replaced more and more by academics, lessons, competitive sports, and passive, electronic entertainment. While parents may worry that their children will be at a disadvantage if they are not engaged in constant, explicit learning or using the latest "educational" games, The Power of Play reassures us that unscheduled imaginative play goes far in preparing children for academic and social success. Through expert analysis of the research and powerful situational examples, David Elkind shows that, indeed, creative spontaneous activity best sets the stage for academic learning in the first place. An important contribution to the literature about how children learn, The Power of Play suggests ways to restore play's respected place in children's lives, at home, at school, and in the larger community. In defense of unstructured ‘down time’, it encourages parents to trust their instincts and resist the promise of the wide and dubious array of educational products on the market geared to youngsters.

As any parent or teacher knows, praising children can be tricky and how we phrase our praise can make the difference in how well the encouragement is heard. With two tip lists — one for parents and one for teachers — these books will help you to take advantage of the best opportunities for effective praise in everyday situations.

• Feel good about themselves without an artificial high.
• Cope with stress so they won't turn to drugs to relax.
• Respect their bodies so they will reject harmful substances.
• Have close family connections so they won't feel desperate to belong to a group.
• Take healthy risks (like outdoor adventures) so they won't need to take dangerous ones.

Respectful Parents, Respectful Kids: 7 Keys to Turn Family Conflict Into Family Co-operation. Sura Hart & Victoria Kindle Hodson, $19.95

• Set firm limits without using demands or coercion
• Achieve mutual respect
• Successfully prevent, reduce and resolve conflicts
• Empower your kids to open up, cooperate, and realize their full potential
• Successfully handle disagreements or problem behaviors
• Transform anger and conflict into cooperation and trust
• Create outstanding lifelong relationships with your children

• An easy to read, practical book, providing step-by-step guidance on how to react in every-day parenting situations
• Addresses the most popular and commonly recommended child-rearing techniques, endorsing some and challenging others
• An un-patronizing, refreshing alternative in child rearing philosophy

The ScreamFree Philosophy is about letting go of our need to manage others and learning to focus more — much more — on managing ourselves. This means learning to calm our own emotional reactivity. Whenever we get reactive — whether by screaming, cutting ourselves off, overcompensating for others, or taking things personally or defensively — we operate out of our anxiety. ScreamFree Living takes this reactivity very seriously and stresses that the number one step toward creating the types of relationships we truly crave is learning to calm down. The ScreamFree Parenting principles will lead parents of all ages (with kids of all ages) to create and enjoy the family relationships they've always craved — starting now.

The Secrets of Happy Families: Eight Keys to Building a Lifetime of Connection and Contentment. Scott Haltzman, $29.95

Research proves that happy families are good for health, longevity, peace of mind, productivity, and success. In The Secrets of Happy Families, psychiatrist Scott Haltzman offers an original approach to building family contentment that works for all families — two-parent, single-parent, blended, childless, or same-sex couple. He provides a “positive psychology” way of solving family problems through strategy and leadership, including knowing and accepting who you are, taking a leadership role in loving and united relationships, building a network of support in extended families and communities, and making quality time for fun, adventures, holidays, and rituals.

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier and More Secure Kids. Kim John Payne, $29.95

Simplicity Parenting teaches parents how to worry less — and how to enjoy more. For those who want to slow their children’s lives down but don’t know where to start, Payne offers both inspiration and a blueprint for change. By doing less and trusting more, parents can create a sanctuary that nurtures children’s identity, well-being, and resiliency as they grow — slowly — into themselves. A manifesto for protecting the grace of childhood, Simplicity Parenting is an eloquent guide to bringing new rhythms to bear on the lifelong art of parenting.

Avoiding the Short-Term Solutions That Lead to Long-Term Problems is what this gentle, practical and very thoughtful work offers parents. Following the quick fix solutions that many parents find themselves looking may not be the way to raise well-adjusted kids. Dr. Catherine A. Sanderson explains that the road to successful parenting is slow and steady. Filled with important lessons and helpful advice in everyday situations, this book demonstrates how to decrease parent-child struggles and how to enhance a child's emotional, psychological and physical well-being.

The Star Catchers: Stories for You to Read to Your Child to Encourage Calm, Confidence and Creativity. Snnr Civsrdi, et al, $19.50

The Star Catchers brings the benefits of mediation to a new generation — your children. Discover these twenty enchanting tales and see how they capture your child’s imagination, focus their minds, release their worries and help them to believe in themselves and trust the world around them.

Time-In Parenting. Otto Weininger, $16.95

Time-In Parenting explores the ways in which parents can share their own emotional control in order to teach children self-control, life and problem solving skills. These ‘time in’ sessions help children learn that their parents are not afraid of their emotions and know how to handle them, giving children a feeling of self-confidence and security.

How do we raise good children? How do we make good citizens? Tackling authoritarian rhetoric head-on, The War for Children’s Minds takes on neo-conservatives and religious and media commentators in a candid and controversial call for a liberal, philosophically informed approach to raising children. Rejecting accusations that liberal parenting is a Sixties hangover that entails an aimless ‘whatever’ attitude to morality, philosopher Stephen Law exposes the weaknesses of arguments calling for a return to authoritarian styles of moral education. He clearly shows that thinking for oneself does not mean that all moral points of view are equally good, or that we must reject faith in order to think freely. A staunch defense of the humane, liberal life, The War for Children’s Minds is a much-needed guide to an urgent moral conundrum.

We Generation: Raising Socially Responsible Kids. Michael Ungar, $19.99

Engaging and timely, this book is an invaluable resource for parents who want their children to become socially responsible and globally aware adults.

The World Needs Your Kid: How to Raise Children Who Care and Contribute.  Craig Kielburger & Marc Kielburger, with Shelley Page, $19.95

Everything you need to know about raising kids, lending a hand and changing the world. Inside this guide is a profound philosophy that encourages children and their parents to become global citizens. Drawing on life lessons and success stories, Marc and Craig Kielburger demonstrate how small actions make a difference in the life of a child and ultimately change the world.