"An invaluable resource for parents and caregivers," this important, empathetic guidebook offers practical steps for managing children's health (Emily Oster, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Cribsheet and Expecting Better).
Any parent who has ever walked out of a concerning appointment with their child's doctor or teacher has experienced a heady mix of emotions--fear, love, confusion, concern, sadness, and perhaps even anger. While every parent hopes for a healthy child, the reality is that children face many common challenges, including medical issues like ADHD, asthma, food allergies, feeding issues, learning disabilities, anxiety and depression, and developmental delays, throughout their formative years. As the role of a parent becomes one of a caregiver, it can be overwhelming for parents and children alike, particularly if money, time, access, or any combination of those are in short supply. As a balm, Dr. Kelly Fradin offers Advanced Parenting, based on her experience as a complex-care pediatrician. In this crucial guide, parents will find empathy and support as well as evidence-based practical guidance. Of greatest import is the need for tools with which to manage the emotional stress that comes from having a child who deviates from the norm, as well as coping with uncertainty and navigating the business of care. Readers will discover ways to optimize the outcomes for their family and make their day-to-day life easier. Advanced Parenting will help families from the beginning of their journey, helping parents to decide when a child needs help, accepting the implications of a challenge, obtaining a correct diagnosis, learning about the issue, building a treatment team and coming up with a comprehensive plan. Dr. Fradin explores how a child struggling can affect the entire family dynamic including the parent's relationships and the siblings overall well-being, and with her experience as a complex care pediatrician, she will help parents avoid common mistakes. Parents will feel seen, supported, and better prepared to be both a parent and a caregiver.In our mothers' day there were good mothers, indifferent mothers, and occasionally, great mothers. Today we have only Bad Mothers: If you work, you're neglectful; if you stay home, you're smothering. If you discipline, you're buying them a spot on the shrink's couch; if you let them run wild, they will be into drugs by seventh grade. Is it any wonder so many women refer to themselves at one time or another as a "bad mother"? Writing with remarkable candor, and dispensing much hilarious and helpful advice along the way--Is breast best? What should you do when your daughter dresses up as a "ho" for Halloween?--Ayelet Waldman says it's time for women to get over it and get on with it in this wry, unflinchingly honest, and always insightful memoir on motherhood in today's world.
A Reader's Digest "25 Funniest Books of All Time"
"Nothing has driven home a certain truth about my generation, which is approaching the apex of its childbearing years, quite like this."
--The New Yorker
"A parenting zeitgeist"
--Washington Post
"A hilarious take on that age-old problem: getting the beloved child to go to sleep."
--National Public Radio
"A new Bible for weary parents"
--New York Times
"Resonates powerfully with almost everyone"
--Boston Globe
"This children's book parody earns its place on the list by being a much-needed bit of catharsis that every parent needs."
--Fatherly, one of the 10 Best Parenting Books of the Decade
"Go the F**k to Sleep challenges stereotypes, opens up prototypes, and acknowledges that shared sense of failure that comes to all parents who weary of ever getting their darling(s) to sleep and briefly resuming the illusion of a life of their own."
--Midwest Book Review
Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland. Profane, affectionate, and radically honest, California Book Award-winning author Adam Mansbach's verses perfectly capture the familiar--and unspoken--tribulations of putting your little angel down for the night. In the process, they open up a conversation about parenting, granting us permission to admit our frustrations, and laugh at their absurdity.
With illustrations by Ricardo Cortes, Go the F**k to Sleep is beautiful, subversive, and pants-wettingly funny--a book for parents new, old, and expectant. You probably should not read it to your children.
Seriously, Just Go to Sleep, a children's book inspired by Go the F**k to Sleep and appropriate for kids of all ages, is also available, as well as Seriously, You Have to Eat for finicky ones everywhere!
A laugh-out-loud debut novel for anyone who's tried to live the perfect life--and learned the hard way there's no such thing.
Holly Banks could not have made a worse first impression on the seemingly perfect moms in her new affluent community, the Village of Primm. Turns out wearing pink piggy pajama bottoms while dropping off her kindergartener late to the first day of school wasn't her best look.
Not to mention Holly's worried her husband may be having an affair, she can't get her daughter to stop sucking her thumb, her hard-won film degree is collecting dust, and to top it all off, the power-hungry PTA president clearly has it in for her...
To make matters even worse, Holly's natural eye for drama lands her smack-dab in the middle of a neighborhood mystery--right as her own crazy mother shows up in Primm "to help." Through it all, Holly begins to realize her neighbors may be just as flawed as--and even wackier than--she is, leaving her to wonder: Is there such a thing as a perfect mom?
Drawing on evidence-based practices, here is an insight-packed and tip-filled plan for how to stop the parental meltdowns. Its compassionate, pragmatic approach will help readers feel less ashamed and more empowered to get their, ahem, act together instead of losing it. "Using a powerful combination of humor and reality checks, Naumburg helps parents unpack their unique stressors (we all have them) and find ways to stay calm even the most frustrating of family moments." --Katie Hurley, LCSW, author of No More Mean Girls and The Happy Kid Handbook
"By the end not only are you laughing out loud, but you've gained a sense of self-compassion and a concrete action plan."--Rebecca Schrag Hershberg, PhD, author of The Tantrum Survival Guide
In just two weeks, you'll feel your energy surge. In three months, you'll feel like a whole new person. It's time to regain the energy you've lost, so you can get back to the life you want to live.
Operating Instructions meets Glennon Doyle in this new book by famed NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly that is destined to become a classic--about the year before her son goes to college--and the joys, losses and surprises that happen along the way.
The time for do-overs is over. Ever since she became a parent, Mary Louise Kelly has said "next year." Next year will be the year she makes it to her son James's soccer games (which are on weekdays at 4 p.m., right when she is on the air on NPR's All Things Considered, talking to millions of listeners). Drive carpool for her son Alexander? Not if she wants to do that story about Ukraine and interview the secretary of state. Like millions of parents who wrestle with raising children while pursuing a career, she has never been cavalier about these decisions. The bargain she has always made with herself is this: this time I'll get on the plane, and next year I'll find a way to be there for the mom stuff. Well, James and Alexander are now seventeen and fifteen, and a realization has overtaken Mary Louise: her older son will be leaving soon for college. There used to be years to make good on her promises; now, there are months, weeks, minutes. And with the devastating death of her beloved father as well as a surprising turn in her marriage, Mary Louise is facing act three of her life head-on. Mary Louise is coming to grips with the reality every parent faces. Childhood has a definite expiration date. You have only so many years with your kids before they leave your house to build their own lives. It's what every parent is supposed to want, what they raise their children to do. But it is bittersweet. Mary Louise is also dealing with the realities of having aging parents, and that marriages change. This pivotal time brings with it the enormous questions of what you did right and what you did wrong. This chronicle of her eldest child's final year at home, of losing her father, as well as other curve balls thrown at her, is not a definitive answer--not for herself and certainly not for any other parent. But her questions, her issues, will resonate with every parent. And, yes, especially with mothers, who are judged more harshly by society and, more important, judge themselves more harshly. What would she do if she had to decide all over again? Mary Louise's thoughts as she faces the coming year will speak to anyone who has ever cared about a child, a parent or a spouse. It. Goes. So. Fast. is honest, funny, poignant, revelatory, and immensely relatable.The mothers on Manhattan's chic Upper East Side are highly educated, extremely wealthy, and very competitive. They throw themselves and all of their energy and resources into full-time child rearing, turning their kids into the unwitting pawns in a game where success is measured in precocious achievements, jam-packed schedules, and elite private-school pedigrees. Hannah Allen has recently moved to the neighborhood with her New York City-bred investment banker husband and their two-year-old daughter, Violet. She's immediately inundated by an outpouring of advice from her not-so-well-intentioned new friends and her overbearing, socially conscious mother-in-law, who coach her on matters ranging from where to buy the must-have $300 baby dress to how to get into the only pre-pre-preschool that counts. Despite her better instincts and common sense, Hannah soon finds herself caught up in the competitive whirl of high-stakes mothering.
Health and science journalist Chelsea Conaboy explodes the concept of "maternal instinct" and tells a new story about what it means to become a parent.
Conaboy expected things to change with the birth of her child. What she didn't expect was how different she would feel. But she would soon discover what was behind this: her changing brain. Though Conaboy was prepared for the endless dirty diapers, the sleepless nights, and the joy of holding her newborn, she did not anticipate this shift in self, as deep as it was disorienting. Mother Brain is a groundbreaking exploration of the parental brain that untangles insidious myths from complicated realities. New parents undergo major structural and functional brain changes, driven by hormones and the deluge of stimuli a baby provides. These neurobiological changes help all parents--birthing or otherwise--adapt in those intense first days and prepare for a long period of learning how to meet their child's needs. Pregnancy produces such significant changes in brain anatomy that researchers can easily sort those who have had one from those who haven't. And all highly involved parents, no matter their path to parenthood, develop similar caregiving circuitry. Yet this emerging science, which provides key insights into the wide-ranging experience of parenthood, from its larger role in shaping human nature to the intensity of our individual emotions, is mostly absent from the public conversation about parenthood. The story that exists in the science today is far more meaningful than the idea that mothers spring into being by instinct. Weaving the latest neuroscience and social psychology together with new reporting, Conaboy reveals unexpected upsides, generations of scientific neglect, and a powerful new narrative of parenthood.In this timely and necessary book, New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose dismantles two hundred years of unrealistic parenting expectations and empowers today's mothers to make choices that actually serve themselves, their children, and their communities
Close your eyes and picture the perfect mother. She is usually blonde and thin. Her roots are never showing and she installed that gleaming kitchen backsplash herself (watch her TikTok for DIY tips). She seamlessly melds work, wellness and home; and during the depths of the pandemic, she also ran remote school and woke up at 5 a.m. to meditate.
You may read this and think it's bananas; you have probably internalized much of it.
Journalist Jessica Grose sure had. After she failed to meet every one of her own expectations for her first pregnancy, she devoted her career to revealing how morally bankrupt so many of these ideas and pressures are. Now, in Screaming on the Inside, Grose weaves together her personal journey with scientific, historical, and contemporary reporting to be the voice for American parents she wishes she'd had a decade ago.
The truth is that parenting cannot follow a recipe; there's no foolproof set of rules that will result in a perfectly adjusted child. Every parent has different values, and we will have different ideas about how to pass those values along to our children. What successful parenting has in common, regardless of culture or community, is close observation of the kind of unique humans our children are. In thoughtful and revelatory chapters about pregnancy, identity, work, social media, and the crisis of the Covid-19 pandemic, Grose explains how we got to this moment, why the current state of expectations on mothers is wholly unsustainable, and how we can move towards something better.
- what to expect in the normal course of adolescent emotional development and when it's time to worry
- why teens (and adults) need to understand that mental health isn't about "feeling good" but about having feelings that fit the moment, even if those feelings are unwanted or painful
- strategies for supporting teens who feel at the mercy of their emotions so they can become psychologically aware and skilled at managing their feelings
- how to approach common challenges that come with adolescence, such as friction at home, spiking anxiety, risky behavior, navigating friendships and romances, the pull of social media, and many more
- the best ways to stay connected to their teens and how to provide the kind of relationship that adolescents need and want With clear, research-informed explanations alongside illuminating, real-life examples, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers gives parents the concrete, practical information they need to steady their teens through the bumpy yet transformational journey into adulthood.
-How to know if it's more than "just the baby blues"
-How to pump breastmilk on an airplane (or, if you must, in a bathroom)
-What military science knows about working through sleep deprivation
-Your new sixty-second get-out-of-the-house beauty routine
-How to turn your commute into a mini-therapy session
-Your daycare tour or nanny interview, totally decoded
--Jill Kargman, author of Sprinkle Glitter on My Grave and creator of Odd Mom Out Picture it--it's 8:30 p.m. You close the door to your child's room just as you hear your partner closing the dishwasher, and now it's time for an hour or two of glorious freedom. What do you do? Read the book you've been waiting to crack open all day? Chat on the phone with a friend, glass of wine in hand, or go out with pals and share a whole bottle? Or, like many modern parents, do you get caught up in chores, busywork, and social media black holes? In an original survey conducted for this book, 71 percent of parents said their free time didn't feel free at all, because they were still thinking about all the things they should be doing for their kids, their jobs, and their households. Rachel Bertsche found herself in exactly that bind. After dozens of interviews with scientists and parenting experts, input from moms and dads across the country, and her own experiments with her personal time, Rachel figured out how to transform her patterns and reconnect to her pre-kids life. In The Kids Are in Bed, other parents can learn to do the same, and learn to truly enjoy the time after lights-out.
In Time to Parent, the bestselling organizational guru takes on the ultimate time-management challenge--parenting, from toddlers to teens--with concrete ways to structure and spend true quality time with your kids.
Would you ever take a job without a job description, let alone one that requires a lifetime contract? Parents do this every day, and yet there is no instruction manual that offers achievable methods for containing and organizing the seemingly endless job of parenting. Finding a healthy balance between raising a human and being a human often feels impossible, but Julie Morgenstern shows you how to harness your own strengths and weaknesses to make the job your own. This revolutionary roadmap includes:
A unique framework with eight quadrants that separates parenting responsibilities into actionable, manageable tasks--for the whole bumpy ride from cradle to college.
Simple strategies to stay truly present and focused, whether you're playing with your kids, enjoying a meal with your significant other, or getting ahead on that big proposal for work.
Clever tips to make the most of in-between time--Just 5-15 minutes of your undivided attention has a huge impact on kids.
Permission to take personal time without feeling guilty, and the science and case studies that show how important self-care is and how to make time for it.
One of Good Housekeeping's 20 Best New Fiction Books of 2020
Good Morning America Mother's Day in Quarantine Books to Buy
One of New York Post's Best Books of the Week in May 2020
PopSugars Most Exciting Books for May 2020
One of SheReads Most Anticipated Books of 2020 Delightful . . . Hilarious, cringe-worthy, and all too relevant. I ate this book up like a box of candy; you will too. --Tara Conklin, author of The Last Romantics All's fair in love and kindergarten admissions. At thirty-nine, Josie Bordelon's modeling career as the it black beauty of the '90s is far behind her. Now director of admissions at San Francisco's most sought after private school, she's chic, single, and determined to keep her seventeen-year-old daughter, Etta, from making the same mistakes she did. But Etta has plans of her own--and their beloved matriarch, Aunt Viv, has Etta's back. If only Josie could manage Etta's future as well as she manages the shenanigans of the over-anxious, over-eager parents at school--or her best friend's attempts to coax Josie out of her sex sabbatical and back onto the dating scene. As admissions season heats up, Josie discovers that when it comes to matters of the heart--and the office--the biggest surprises lie closest to home.
An intimate look at the love that built the Biden family and the delicate balancing act of the woman at its center.
How did you get this number? Those were the first words Jill Biden spoke to U.S. senator Joe Biden when he called her out of the blue to ask her on a date. Growing up, Jill had wanted two things: a marriage like her parents'--strong, loving, and full of laughter--and a career. An early heartbreak had left her uncertain about love, until she met Joe. But as they grew closer, Jill faced difficult questions: How would politics shape her family and professional life? And was she ready to become a mother to Joe's two young sons? She soon found herself falling in love with her three boys, learning to balance life as a mother, wife, educator, and political spouse. Through the challenges of public scrutiny, complicated family dynamics, and personal losses, she grew alongside her family, and she extended the family circle at every turn: with her students, military families, friends and staff at the White House, and more. This is the story of how Jill built a family--and a life--of her own. From the pranks she played to keep everyone laughing to the traditions she formed that would carry them through tragedy, hers is the spirited journey of a woman embracing many roles. Where the Light Enters is a candid, heartwarming glimpse into the creation of a beloved American family, and the life of a woman at its center.This powerful memoir from a #1 New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Medalist features poetry, letters, recipes, and other personal artifacts that provide an intimate look into his life and the loved ones he shares it with.
In a powerfully intimate and non-traditional (or "new-fashioned") memoir, Kwame Alexander shares snapshots of a man learning how to love. He takes us through stories of his parents: from being awkward newlyweds in the sticky Chicago summer of 1967, to the sometimes-confusing ways they showed their love to each other, and for him. He explores his own relationships--his difficulties as a newly wedded, 22-year-old father, and the precariousness of his early marriage working in a jazz club with his second wife. Alexander attempts to deal with the unravelling of his marriage and the grief of his mother's recent passing while sharing the solace he found in learning how to perfect her famous fried chicken dish. With an open heart, Alexander weaves together memories of his past to try and understand his greatest love: his daughters. Full of heartfelt reminisces, family recipes, love poems, and personal letters, Why Fathers Cry at Night inspires bravery and vulnerability in every reader who has experienced the reckless passion, heartbreak, failure, and joy that define the whirlwind woes and wonders of love.In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to Laurie Gelman's irreverent and hilarious (The New York Post) hit Class Mom, brash, lovable Jen Dixon is back with a new class and her work cut out for her in You've Been Volunteered
If you've ever been a room parent or school volunteer, Jen Dixon is your hero. She says what every class mom is really thinking, whether in her notoriously frank emails or standup-worthy interactions with the micromanaging PTA President and the gamut of difficult parents. Luckily, she has the charm and wit to get away with it--most of the time. Jen is sassier than ever but dealing with a whole new set of challenges, in the world of parental politics and at home. She's been roped into room-parenting yet again, for her son Max's third grade class, but as her husband buries himself in work, her older daughters navigate adulthood, and Jen's own aging parents start to need some parenting themselves, Jen gets pulled in more directions than any one mom, or superhero, can handle. Refreshingly down-to-earth and brimming with warmth, Dixon's next chapter will keep you turning the pages to find out what's really going on under the veneer of polite parent interactions, and have you laughing along with her the whole way.