Back to School
Everyone—especially young children, teenagers and young adults—now reports higher levels of anxiety than ever before. Yet there’s no playbook for parenting today. From the climate crisis to gun violence to political upheaval to racism, parenting in these times means bearing witness to chronic levels of uncertainty amidst societal and planetary transformation. Many are succumbing to fears and despair by becoming cynical “Doomers” (those who are extremely pessimistic or fatalist about global problems such as climate change and pollution).
In Raising Anti‑Doomers, psychotherapist Ariella Cook‑Shonkoff reveals that Doomerism is nothing more than fear or despair gone wild. We have a choice in breeding this response further into our culture—or not. Her book helps parents help themselves, and in doing so, help children, and future generations. Ultimately, when we reset our parenting dials to respond to present day needs and circumstances, we breathe hope back into the world by raising resilient generations to come—this book offers that hope at a time when we are desperately in need.
Melissa Wirt recounts her journey and dozens of others in building a supportive “village” to transform oppressive, solitary motherhood into a connected—even joyful—endeavor.
Melissa Wirt thought she had everything—she’d built her own company and moved to a beautiful farm with her family. Then during a personal crisis, she realized that despite having created an online community reaching thousands of moms, she’d also somehow, become utterly isolated.
In I Was Told There’d Be a Village, Melissa leads us through the small changes she made to seek out connection. She also recounts how she talked to mothers from across the country, and soon saw that the beliefs keeping each of us parenting solo – I don’t have time; my life is too messy – were also keeping us from accessing our most powerful resource: each other. The stories she uncovered, combined with her own, became a foundation for slowly building back community.
That journey starts with an intentional shift from an isolation mindset to a village mindset. It might be as simple as smiling at the mom next to you at story-time or sending a quick text to a friend. But it can be much bigger, eventually growing into a thriving, supportive community. Motherhood shouldn’t be this hard, and it doesn’t have to be. Here, at last, is a roadmap for finding your village.
Raising kids in America is difficult—no federally supported parental leave, a lack of mental health support, a crushing combination of workplace pressure and aspirational parental perfection, and the fresh hell that is the playgroup Facebook page. But what if there was another way? Parenting—and specifically motherhood—looks wildly different across nations. Please Yell at My Kids is an around the world journey and a practical guide to rethinking parenting. What can we learn from Brazilian birth parties, Singaporean grandparents, and Danish babies sleeping soundly outside of coffee shops? And how can that be integrated into the lives of American readers? Journalist Marina Lopes travels around the globe, interviewing parents and caregivers to provide practical, actionable ways to change the way we view parenting in the United States.
At the heart of many global approaches to parenting lies one simple, and not so simple thing: community. In America, parenting is, at best, a dual mission. But globally, parenthood is more often a team sport. From guiding caregivers through how to define their own non-negotiable values, to navigating tricky conversations with their in-laws, Please Yell at My Kids provides readers with the tools to build a community of care in their own lives and find a newfound joy in parenting.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER!
From “The Gamer Educator”, an openminded guide to parenting alongside screens and gaming, offering practical solutions to managing your family’s screen time.
Parents are feeling mounting pressure to minimize screen time, but are struggling to do so in our technologically driven world. In contrast to the fear and pressure parents are facing, Ash Brandin’s Power On offers a calm and reassuring message that keeps the wellbeing of the whole family in mind. Power On powerfully reframes our current dialogue around technology, beginning with the morality placed on screen time and leisure, and the systemic factors contributing to it. Brandin replaces fear with empowerment, giving caregivers tools and strategies for safely incorporating tech into their children’s lives, guiding children to having a healthy relationship with screens, with easy to implement approaches such as:
·The ABCs of the Screentime Management Elements – Access, Behavior, Content
·The Managing Online Safety S.T.A.R. – Settings, Time, Ads/App Store, Restriction
·The N.I.C.E. Screentime Boundaries – Needs, Input, Consistent, Enforceable
·And several other sets of steps, tools, and strategies to understand, manage, and effectively utilize tech in parenting.
With today’s parenting advice being awash with unhelpful negative judgements on screens and little realistic actionable advice, Ash Brandin provides timely, realistic direction that will empower readers to find a balance with screen time that works for the entire family.