Researchers at Minneapolis-based Search Institute have identified 40 Developmental Assets that all kids need in their lives—good things like family support, a caring neighborhood, and resistance skills. Communities across the nation have embraced the book’s quick-read, commonsense suggestions for helping kids lead healthy, productive, positive lives and stay out of trouble. This revised and updated third edition draws on findings from a 2010 survey of about 90,000 kids (grades 6–12) from communities across the United States. The new data confirms the power of Developmental Assets in young people’s lives, reflecting updated levels of assets young people experience as well as the power that assets have to prevent high-risk behaviors and increase thriving behaviors.

Why do some children succeed while others fail? The story we usually tell about childhood and success is the one about intelligence: success comes to those who score highest on tests, from preschool admissions to SATs. But in How Children Succeed, Paul Tough argues that the qualities that matter most have more to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, conscientiousness, optimism, and self-control. How Children Succeed introduces us to a new generation of researchers and educators who, for the first time, are using the tools of science to peel back the mysteries of character. Through their stories—and the stories of the children they are trying to help—Tough traces the links between childhood stress and life success. He uncovers the surprising ways in which parents do—and do not—prepare their children for adulthood. And he provides us with new insights into how to improve the lives of children growing up in poverty. Early adversity, scientists have come to understand, not only affects the conditions of children’s lives, it can also alter the physical development of their brains. But innovative thinkers around the country are now using this knowledge to help children overcome the constraints of poverty. With the right support, as Tough’s extraordinary reporting makes clear, children who grow up in the most painful circumstances can go on to achieve amazing things. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book has the potential to change how we raise our children, how we run our schools, and how we construct our social safety net. It will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.

Raise Your Kids to Succeed: What Every Parent Should Know describes what parents can do to be effective and help their children succeed, both in school and in life. Part I opens with some big, foundational questions, including the need for parents to realize their own importance. It goes on to discuss how to create a family mission statement, the importance of creating family traditions and rituals, and the pivotal need to model good behavior. Part II starts by exploring ways to let your kids know the importance you attach to education. It stresses the importance of really listening to your kids, reading to them, getting outside with them to enjoy nature, and teaching them life skills. Part III explores ways for you to be present at your child’s school and to be an advocate for your child. It also focuses on the issue of bullying and how to counter a toxic, sexualized and violent culture. Raise Your Kids to Succeed will help your children succeed and reach all of the dreams that you have for them—and, more important, the ones they have for themselves.

In his international bestseller How Children Succeed, Paul Tough introduced us to research showing that personal qualities like perseverance, self-control and conscientiousness play a critical role in children’s success. Now, in Helping Children Succeed, he outlines the practical steps that adults – from parents and teachers to policymakers and philanthropists – can take to improve the chances of every child, however adverse their circumstances. And he mines the latest research in psychology and neuroscience to show how creating the right environments, both at home and at school, can instil personal qualities vital for future success.

Outlines simple, counterintuitive approaches to raising happy, healthy, and successful children through parental demonstrations of respectful examples and child-directed activities that facilitate early independence and problem-solving skills.

Many parents are not sure of what to say and do to help their children improve their social interactions. Social Rules for Kids - The Top 100 Social Rules Kids Need to Succeed helps open the door of communication between parent and child by addressing 100 social rules for home, school, and the community. Using simple, easy-to-follow rules covering topics such as body language, manners, feelings and more, this book aims to make students lives easier and more successful by outlining specific ways to interact with others on a daily basis.