Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with people all across America,(Not) Keeping Up with Our Parentsexplores how stagnant wages, debt, and escalating costs for tuition, health care, and home ownership are jeopardizing the finances and futures of today's educated middle class. Despite this sobering reality, Nan Mooney offers concrete ideas on how we can arrest this downward spiral.

How working parents can lead more purposeful lives, characterized by harmony, connection, and impact. Parents in today's fast-paced, disorienting world can easily lose track of who they are and what really matters most. But it doesn't have to be this way. As a parent, you can harness the powerful science of leadership in order to thrive in all aspects of your life. Drawing on the principles of his book Total Leadership--a bestseller and popular leadership development program used in organizations worldwide--and on their experience as researchers, educators, consultants, coaches, and parents, Stew Friedman and coauthor Alyssa Westring offer a robust, proven method that will help you gain a greater sense of purpose and control. It includes tools illustrated with compelling examples from the lives of real working parents that show you how to: Design a future based on your core values Engage with your children in fresh, meaningful ways Cultivate a community of caregiving and support, in all parts of your life Experiment to discover better ways to live and work Powerful, practical, and indispensable, Parents Who Lead is the guide you need to forge a better future, foster meaningful and mutually rewarding relationships, and design sustainable solutions for creating a richer life for yourself, your children, and your world. For more information, visit ParentsWhoLead.net.

Cultivate effective partnerships between parents and professionals through honest, respectful and skillful communication The authors draw upon the metaphor of "dance" to better understand the complexities and possibilities of forming partnerships between educators, administrators, early childhood providers, therapists, support staff, other professionals, and parents of children with disabilities. This revised edition of Do You Hear What I Hear? Parents and Professionals Working Together for Children With Special Needs is rich with stories, examples, and practical insights. This book, written from both the parent′s and the professional′s points of view, provides a developmental approach to understanding and forging positive adult relationships, while also providing concrete ways to advocate for children. The authors′ years of experience as successful consultants, trainers, and educators lends this helpful resource a deep sense of realism and compassion. They remind the reader of how essential the parent-professional partnership is—and why it IS a dance that matters. Key features include: Practical insights and evidence-based approaches to forming partnerships Easy-to-read, non-technical language that speaks to both the heart and the mind Sample letters and other forms of communication shared between professionals and parents Stories and examples of real-world conversations between parents and professionals Effective ways to handle difficult situations Rich with humor and heart, this highly readable book offers helpful steps for self reflection, personnel preparation, and parent-professional training. Educators and parents will find expert guidance for listening to each other′s music, trying out each other′s dance steps, and working toward a new dance that includes contributions from all—with the ultimate reward of seeing children achieve their highest potential.

Tips, stories, and strategies for the job that never ends. When it comes to being a working parent, there are no right answers to the tough questions you grapple with, from how to get your toddler out the door to supporting your teen through struggles with their peers to whether or not to accept that big promotion—and the extensive travel and long hours that come with it. But there are answers that are right for you and your family. The HBR Working Parents Series Collection assembles the ideas and strategies you need to help you get ahead—and get through the day. Included in this set are Managing Your Career, Getting It All Done, and Taking Care of Yourself. This compilation offers insights and practical advice from world-class experts on the topics that matter most to working parents including making decisions at home and at work that align with your priorities; navigating tradeoffs—and managing the feelings that come with them; developing strategies for managing both the details of your day and the long-term view of your career; finding time for personal development; and making career choices that work for you—and your family. The HBR Working Parents Series with Daisy Dowling, Series Editor, supports readers as you anticipate challenges, learn how to advocate for yourself more effectively, juggle your impossible schedule, and find fulfillment at home and at work. Whether you're up with a newborn or planning the future with your teen, you'll find the practical tips, strategies, and research you need to make working parenthood work for you.

From experienced therapist Ron Taffel--widely known for his popular parenting guides--this is a commonsense handbook for any mental health, education, or medical professional working with challenging kids and parents. Provided are concrete strategies for building rapport with stressed-out families, getting children and adolescents to talk about what really matters, spotting developmental and psychiatric problems before a crisis develops, and developing skills to strengthen kids' self-esteem and parents' effectiveness in setting limits. Illustrative case vignettes get to the heart of what is going wrong between youngsters and their parents and show how simple, concrete interventions can make a big difference. Also covered in depth are ways for professionals to handle their own emotional responses in highly charged situations.

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.