Ready Child

Recommended Reading

   1. No : Why Kids - of All Ages - Need to Hear It and Ways Parents Can Say It - David Walsh, PhD

The title says it all.  This book helps adults understand the importance of setting limits, provides research data on parenting issues, and gives practical advice on how to help children succeed by not giving them everything they think they need.

   2. Helping Teens Handle Tough Experiences: Strategies to Foster Resilience  - Jill R. Nelson, Ph.D. and Sarah Kjos, M.Ed.

Twenty teen issues ranging from addiction to eating disorders to self-injury are tackled in practical, readable, usable fashion in this new book by a pair of North Dakota's own.  The advice is modeled on the 40 Developmental Assets developed by the Search Institute.

   3. Parenting With Love and Logic - Foster Cline, MD and Jim Fay

Cline and Fay state that "If children were meant to run the home, they would have been born larger."  They further assert that the best way to help kids succeed in life is to allow them to fail with love and let significant learning opportunities (SLO's) do the teaching.

   4. The Last Dropout - Bill Milliken

The Last Dropout is a must-read for school professionals who are concerned about at-risk students.  Milliken's most powerful assertion is that the dropout epidemic in America is not a child problem, it is an adult problem and can only be properly addressed by caring, committed adults.

   5. Ask Supernanny - Jo Frost

Star of the ABC television show Supernanny, Jo Frost has become one of the foremost experts on parenting and child development.  She provides highly effective tips on such topics as getting kids to stay in bed, having pleasant mealtimes, dealing with unacceptable behavior, and giving children positive feedback.

   6. The Intentional Family - William J. Doherty, PhD

The concept of family ritual is explored and encouraged in this excellent selection.  Doherty believes that rituals such as family meals and daily story times can restore the sense of strength that seems to have been lost in American families.

   7. The Mentor's Guide to Promoting Resiliency - Horacio Sanchez

Sanchez details the positive and negative effects of various experiences on children's brains, outlines factors that affect positive life outcomes, and gives numerous suggestions on how adults can help kids overcome obstacles and succeed in life.  This is a very quick read (122 pages).

   8. Parenting on Purpose: Red Yellow Green Framework for Respectful Discipline - Ada Alden, Ed.D.

The Red, Yellow, green Framework is a way to think about parenting in order to raise a cared for self-reliant child.  This simple, but effective way of thinking provides parents a way to deliver direct and clear messages, establish necessary rituals and routines, and communicate family values, beliefs and expectations.  This is another quick read and is very practical.