Book Recommendations
On Parenting:
Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy
"Drawing on facts, statistics, and humor, Lenore Skenazy convincingly argues that this is one of the safest periods for children in the history of the world, reiterating that mostly, the world is safe and mostly, people are good."
The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction by Meghan Cox Gurdon
“A Wall Street Journal writer’s conversation-changing look at how reading aloud makes adults and children smarter, happier, healthier, more successful and more closely attached, even as technology pulls in the other direction.”
Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
“The book is all about ‘the great rewiring’ of American kids - the effect smartphones has had on Gen Z. He establishes once and for all the data and evidence that shows how the social media experiment has impacted an entire generation. The data shows that it is the OVERWHELMING CAUSE of the youth mental health crisis.”
Screen Schooled: Two Veteran Teachers Expose How Technology Overuse Is Making Our Kids Dumber by Joe Clement and Matt Miles
“The authors lift the veil on what’s really going on in schools: teachers who are often powerless to curb cell phone distractions; zoned-out kids who act helpless and are unfocused, unprepared, and unsocial; administrators who are influenced by questionable science sponsored by corporate technology purveyors. They provide action steps parents can take to demand change and make a compelling case for simpler, smarter, more effective forms of teaching and learning.”
The Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
“Last Child in the Woods is the first book to bring together a new and growing body of research indicating that direct exposure to nature is essential for healthy childhood development and for the physical and emotional health of children and adults.”
Trauma-Informed Social-Emotional Toolbox for Children & Adolescents: 116 Worksheets; Skill-Building Exercises to Support Safety, Connection; Empowerment by Lisa Weed Phifer and Laura Sibbald
Voice Lessons for Parents: What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Listen by Wendy Mogel
"Most parents are perfectly fine communicators—unless they’re talking to their children. Then, too often, their pitch rises, and they come across as pleading, indignant, wounded, outraged. In tone and body language they signal, I can’t handle it when you act like a child."
On Strengthening Family Life:
The Village Effect by Susan Pinker
"Susan Pinker explores the impact of face-to-face contact from cradle to grave, from city to Sardinian mountain village, from classroom to workplace, from love to marriage to divorce. Her results … challenge many of our assumptions. Most of us have left the literal village behind, and don’t want to give up our new technologies to go back there. But, as Pinker writes so compellingly, we need close social bonds and uninterrupted face-time with our friends and families in order to thrive—even to survive."
The Intentional Family: Simple Rituals to Strengthen Family Ties by William J. Doherty
“Doherty offers a myriad of simple yet effective methods for opening regular channels of communication between parents and their children, husbands and wives…. Clearly presented and engagingly written, here are proven and indispensable strategies for reviving a lost sense of family — useful guidelines that will help us make the most of our most important relationships.”
Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Myla Kabat-Zinn, Jon Kabat-Zinn
“Everyday Blessings remains one of the few books on parenting that embraces the emotional, intuitive, and deeply personal experience of being a parent, applying the groundbreaking “mind/body connection” expertise from global thought-leader, Jon Kabat-Zinn and his wife, Myla Kabat-Zinn.”
When Parents Part: How Mothers and Fathers Can Help Their Children Deal with Separation and Divorce by Penelope Leach
“Drawing on the latest scientific findings, as well as on many years of professional and personal work with children, Penelope Leach describes how parents can minimize the impact of separation and divorce on children through the six stages of a child’s life, from infancy to adulthood.”
On Youth Sports:
The Most Expensive Game in Town: The Rising Cost of Youth Sports and the Toll on Today’s Families by Mark Hyman
“Examining the youth sports economy from many sides—the major corporations, the small entrepreneurs, the coaches, the parents, and, of course, the kids—Hyman probes the reasons for rapid changes in what gets bought and sold in this lucrative marketplace. He reveals the effects on kids and profiles the individuals and communities bucking this destructive trend of commercialization.
On Technology:
Assassination Generation: Video game, aggression, and the psychology of killing by Col. David Grossman
"The author “reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicide — and what we must do about it.”