Without going through the experience, no one can really know how it feels to have to look for a job. The pain and uncertainty of putting yourself out there, having to ask total strangers to take a chance on you, and the crushing defeat one feels when that dreaded rejection letter or email shows up. Even if you are completely qualified for the position, the lack of certainty can wear on you like nothing else. "Hunting" for a job simply isn't fun.In this book you will learn nine powerful ways to find and get jobs, even if your background includes some criminal activity. You may think there's no hope but if you read and follow these secrets, you will find that jobs are easier to find than you ever thought. "An incredibly powerful resource for finding a job, especially if you have a felony. I cannot recommend this book more highly. I found a job in record time using just a couple of these secrets"- John Klien - Former Inmate FCI Sheridan

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

New or experienced foster parents as well as grandparents and other relatives caring for a child forced from home by a crisis will find help and hope in Practical Tools for Foster Parents.More than half a million children today live in out-of-home care, and many have special problems. The need for well-trained, loving foster parents has never been greater. In this book, Boys Town® offers these committed foster parents the professional tools they need, not only to care for foster children but to actually help them get better.Our approach to foster care focuses on building relationships with children, teaching them skills, and empowering them by teaching self-discipline and self-control. Inside, foster parents will find effective, research-based solutions for these common concerns:•Building a warm, trusting relationship with a foster child who still may have a strong attachment to his or her original family.•Working with the foster child's parents, who may be uncooperative or even hostile.•Creating a safe environment for your foster child, you, and your family.•Respecting your foster child's ethnic and cultural background, while teaching the child skills to help him or her succeed in the larger world.•Learning how to handle "blow ups" and prevent and correct misbehavior while you stay calm.•Teaching your foster child how to stay under control, solve problems, and make good decisions, even when he or she is angry or frustrated.•Handling transitions when a foster child moves to another placement or returns home.

Research and experience show that children and adolescents who struggle with emotional, behavioral and social problems do improve when they learn prosocial skills. Social skill instruction, therefore, can be a vital component in the treatment planning for a child diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Teaching Social Skills to Youth with Mental Health Disorders is a guide for therapists, counselors, psychologists, educators, and other practitioners trying to help these youth get better.

This edited collection explores Positive Sociology of Leisure (PSL) as a subfield relating to leisure studies, sociology of leisure, and sociology of happiness. Defined as an area of research that examines social aspects of leisure life with a focus on the optimal functioning of relationship, group, community, organization, and other social units, PSL differs from more critical forms of sociology in that its starting point is social positives. The contributions draw on a range of diverse disciplinary backgrounds to consider various meanings of leisure across themes such as: ageing; sex, sexuality and family; community, youth, and education; and arts and creativity. Positive Sociology of Leisure will be a key reference within the field of sociology of leisure, as well as an important introductory book for those interested in leisure studies.

No Room for Bullies: From the Classroom to Cyberspace shatters popular myths about bullying to reveal its stark realities. You'll learn who's playing the intimidation game, and how they play it. From social exclusion, physical violence, and emotional backstabbing to sexual sleaze and cyberbullying. But this book takes you beyond problem recognition to proven solutions.Parents will find:*How to advocate for a child and work with the school when school bullying is a problem*Safe Internet-Surfing Contract for kids that lays down the law on Internet use at home*Helpful strategies on what to do when a child acts like a bully, is a bullying victim, or suffers from "bystander silence"School administrators will find:*Suggestions on how to measure the social climate of schools, including sample surveys to give to students, staff, and parents*A 12-point checklist on preventing problems in hallways, classrooms, and common areasTeachers will find:*Advice for creating and enforcing classroom rules, including an "Airport Rule" that gives students a sense of safety *Ideas to minimize the chaos that occurs during passing periods and in "unowned" areas like restrooms and hallwaysThe contributing authors include child psychologists, parent trainers, and teachers. Drawing on their years of experience, they tackle bullying from all the angles: the bully, the victim, the bystander, the teacher, the parent, and the environment.