A psychologist’s guide for parents, care-givers and health care practitioners to the emotional challenges facing children and their parents today

Current research shows that certain childhood mental disorders are diagnosed more frequently today than in previous generations. Many of today’s children and teenagers are more unhappy, anxious and distressed than young people used to be. In this highly informative book, child psychologist Jenny Perkel explores in depth why this might be so, highlighting what modern-day South African children and adolescents are experiencing and the environment in which they are being raised.

Children in Mind presents a broad range of up-to-date findings from psychological, neurobiological, genetic, psychiatric, sociological and epidemiological research related to the diagnosis and treatment of children’s mental health problems. Theoretically informed but not theoretically dense, the book cites both local and international studies to increase awareness and understanding of children’s mental health.

Perkel discusses a broad spectrum of issues faced by today’s children and adolescents: the Covid-19 pandemic, the influence of electronic media, diverse family structures, stress and trauma, and difficult socio-economic circumstances. While offering no easy answers or formulaic solutions to the problems of troubled children, she shows how to think about children’s mental well-being in today’s South Africa.

Children in Mind is an invaluable resource for all those who work with troubled children and adolescents: psychologists, social workers, counsellors, educators and parents. The author’s informed and compassionate approach will help equip professionals and parents to help young people navigate complex issues and make adjustments in their behavior in order to live more balanced and happier lives.

So, you’re having a teenager? Congratulations/commiserations.

Worried about drugs? We recommend Valium, wine and HRT. Happy you survived the toddler tantrums? Let us introduce you to the eye roll, the cold shoulder and the incoherent mumble.

On the bright side, you’ve reduced your need for Google – your adolescent is now able to frequently correct, hector and lecture you with their strong opinion on everything. And if you feel tired, you’re not imagining it. Teen years are like dog years: for every year your teen ages, you age seven. You need a survival guide for the testing times ahead.

Friends, next-door neighbours and fellow mums of teens Sarah Macdonald and Cathy Wilcox have lived through it all and produced this straight-talking, not entirely sarcastic, informative guide to what for many parents are the most challenging – but interesting and exciting – years in the role.

From A is for Argumentative, Awkward and Angst, to Z is for Zits and Zzzzzs.

If you have read a few baby books or searched the Internet for parenting tips you have most likely stumbled across the mythical Unicorn Baby. This is the baby who feeds every four hours and sleeps through the night, sits at six months, pees pure gold and poops rainbows.

Whether this baby exists or not does not matter. What matters is this: you did not get this baby. If you are looking to answer the question: “Is my baby normal?” then you are in the right place.

The Unicorn Baby is an honest and hilarious account of parenting. Roxanne uses her professional experience as an Occupational Therapist to identify and debunk ten modern parenting myths that cause all kinds of anxiety for new parents and often leads them down the wrong parenting paths. For example:

• Myth: You need to get your baby into the perfect routine Reality: There is no such thing as the perfect routine
• Myth: You should only feed your baby every four hours Reality: You should practice responsive feeding, not scheduled feeding
• Myth: You must teach your baby to sleep through the night Reality: There is no magic formula that will make your baby sleep through the night, no matter what you do.
• Myth: Your baby grows and develops every day Reality: Your baby will grow and develop in leaps and spurts

A mother of small children trusts her 'gut feelings' and it saves her life.

A young dad is able to grieve for his lost baby – using a song.

What if there were parts of our minds which we never use, but if awakened, could make us so much happier, connected and alive? What if awakening those parts could bring peace to the conflicts and struggles we all go through?

From the cutting edge, where therapy meets neuroscience, Steve Biddulph explores the new concept of 'supersense' – the feelings beneath our feelings – which can guide us to a more awake and free way of living every minute of our lives. And the Four-storey Mansion, a way of using your mind that can be taught to a five-year-old, but can also help the most damaged adult.

In Fully Human, Steve Biddulph draws on deeply personal stories from his own life, as well of those of his clients, and from the frontiers of thinking about how the brain works with the body and the wisdom of the `wild creature' inside all of us. At the peak of a lifetime's work, one of the world's best-known psychotherapists and educators shows how you can be more alive, more connected. More FULLY HUMAN.

From the bestselling author of Raising Boys.

Annabel Karmel brings you a mouth-watering batch of never before seen recipes featuring delicious ingredients with serious nutritional credentials. With beautiful photographs and fresh design, this is an essential book for every modern parent. Chapters range from Fifteen Minute Meals to Healthy 'Fast Food', via Holiday Cooking with Kids and Lunchbox Snacks, and fresh, easy and modern dishes include Quinoa Chicken Fingers, Crispy Baked Cod, The Best Buttermilk Pancakes and Carrot Cake Balls.

The chapters are designed to make choosing a fuss-free dish simple. Many recipes include swap-outs to cater for those with food allergies, intolerances or particularly fussy eaters! There is a huge range of meat-free and vegan meal options as well as recipes including meat and fish.

Real Food for Kids offers everything today's parents are looking for once their babies are ready to start joining in with family mealtimes. Each dish is designed to be enjoyed by the whole family, while remaining simple, healthy, and not too salty or sugary for young children.

My reis, eers as pleegma en later as aanneemma, was nie een waarop iemand my kon voorberei nie. Rooiletterkind is my poging om hierdie reis so eerlik as moontlik te ondersoek, vanaf die vertrekpunt een oggend voor ’n kerkdiens tot by ’n handgemaakte Moedersdagkaartjie meer as vyf jaar later.

Wat maak jy met ’n kind wat aanhou om teen jou liefde te baklei? Hoe help jy haar deur die slaggate van die lewe as jyself nooit daardeur is nie?

Dit is maar net twee van die vele vrae wat ek myself onophoudelik moes vra terwyl ek verbete vasklou aan ’n rooiletterdatum, ’n halsstarrige kind en ’n hart wat gereeld uit my borskas geruk word.

Saam met ons eie verhaal was daar egter ook ander stories wat vertel moes word — stories van ons kind se herkoms, van gebrokenheid en straatmense en kriminele en ’n drughuis sonder reëls of taboes.

FULLY REVISED AND UPDATED 6TH EDITION OF THE WORLD'S BESTSELLING PREGNANCY GUIDE.

'My best friend during my pregnancy' Mariella Frostrup

With 18.5 million copies in print, What to Expect When You’re Expecting is read by 93 per cent of women who read a pregnancy book and was named one of the ‘Most Influential Books of the Last 25 Years’ by USA Today.

This cover-to-cover new edition is filled with must-have information, advice, insight, and tips for a new generation of parents.

With Heidi Murkoff's trademark warmth, empathy, and humour, What to Expect When You're Expecting answers every conceivable question expectant parents could have, including dozens of new ones based on the ever-changing pregnancy and birthing practices, and choices they face.

Advice for partners is fully integrated throughout the book.

All medical coverage is completely updated for the UK, including the latest on prenatal screening and the safety of medications during pregnancy, as well as a brand-new section on postpartum birth control.

Current lifestyle trends are incorporated, too: juice bars, raw diets, e-cigarettes, push presents, baby bump posting, the lowdown on omega-3 fatty acids, grass-fed and organic, health food fads, and GMOs. Plus expanded coverage of IVF pregnancy, multiple pregnancies, breastfeeding while pregnant, water and home births, and caesarean trends (including VBACs and ‘gentle caesareans’).

The best pregnancy guide just got even better.

Sy sal notas maak oor haar kinders, besluit 'n vrou voor haar jongste se geboorte. “Voor ek vergeet. Voor hulle groot is, weg, in 'n oogwink.” Sy lê oomblikke vas: die vrae sonder antwoorde, gebedjies, 'n eerste wisseltand, sywurms, huisvergaderings, die huiskat wat kleintjies kry en drome van eendag.

Sing, Mamma, Sing is haar opgaaf van die frustrasie, weekheid, verwondering, trots en benoudheid wat elke ma ken. Dis haar kennismaking met ouers se grootste vrees en verlies wanneer die jongste op byna agt en dertig sterf.

Die boek sluit aan by die genre van die moeder-memoir en die subgenre van verlies.

As a teenager in today’s crazy online world, you may think you’ve got it all sussed out. But even YOU don’t know about all the legal pitfalls, hidden dangers and future implications of what you do, see and post online.

Selfies, Sexts And Smartphones is the book every teenager (and their parents) should read. It covers all of the major issues teenagers face in the digital age, including cyberbullying, sexting, addiction, internet safety, porn, anxiety, depression, privacy and reputation, and does so within a South African context. Accessible, informative and even fun, this book will help guide you to a happy, rewarding and, most importantly, safe online life.

Bounce: How to Raise Resilient Kids and Teens is an easy-to-read, effective guide that can make an immediate difference to your parenting approach and your relationship with your children.

Based on years of experience as a parent and a parenting expert, it provides accessible information and advice, thoughtprovoking exercises and proven techniques. It explores issues that impact us all, including:

• What is resilience?
• Anxiety and depression
• Building resilience in our children by working on our own resilience
• Boundaries and gentle parenting
• Helping children through grief
• Parenting the anxious child
• Tips for divorced parents
• Childhood depression
• Highly sensitive children and resilience

Bounce will help you tackle this messy and beautiful journey of life and parenting in a very human way.

This is a joke book – a collection of real conversations I’ve had with my offspring, or that they’ve had with me, mostly against my will. I started keeping records for my own entertainment when they began to talk properly.

Two-year-old: What’s that?
Me: My nipple.
Two-year-old: Is it dead?

I regretted teaching them to speak once pre-adolescence and Covid lockdowns arrived – life phases with equivalent survival strategies and effects.

Nine-year-old: Good news! While you were in your meeting, I finished your puzzle!
Me: …
Nine-year-old: I could see it was too hard for you.

Thirteen-year-old: I don’t like boys.
Me: Okay.
Thirteen-year-old: I like cats.
Me: Okay!
Thirteen-year-old: So … not your daughter, then.

I hope it never ends. Life is a set-up, and parenting is the punchline. As my mother once said, ‘I hope one day you have children. And then we’ll see who’s laughing.’

The first 40 days after the birth of a child offer an essential and fleeting period of rest and recovery for the new mother. Based on author Heng Ou's own postpartum experience with zuo yuezi, a set period of "confinement," in which a woman remains at home focusing on healing and bonding with her baby, The First Forty Days revives the lost art of caring for the mother after birth. As modern mothers are pushed to prematurely "bounce back" after deliver ing their babies, and are often left alone to face the physical and emotional challenges of this new stage of their lives, the first forty days provide a lifeline-a source of connection, nourishment, and guidance. The book includes 60 simple recipes for healing soups; replenishing meals and snacks; and calming and lactation-boosting teas, all formulated to support the unique needs of the new mother. In addition to the recipes, this warm and encouraging guide offers advice on arranging a system of help during the post partum period, navigating relationship challenges, and honoring the significance of pregnancy and birth. The First Forty Days, fully illustrated to feel both inspiring and soothing, is a practical guide and inspirational read for all new mothers and mothers-to-be-the perfect ally during the first weeks with a new baby.

A baby record journal for parents with a sense of humour.

Parenthood is filled with heart-warming milestone moments that you’ll want to hold onto forever. But in the years to come, the memories that make you laugh will more likely be the time your child cut their own hair or when you wrapped their butt in a tea towel on an emergency trip to the supermarket because you forgot to buy nappies (just me?).

The First Time You Smiled offers a cool, inclusive, non-pastel-hued place for you to record the things you don’t want to forget. It’s proof that you were nailing this parenting lark, even when it felt like you were dropping all the balls, telling a story that has both you and your child in the starring roles. Because whatever your story looks like, it starts right here with you – and that is spectacular.

The book Fertility SOS by Daminda Senekal-Griessel is for anyone who may be frustrated, at a loss and feeling unsure if having children is a realistic option. If you desire to start a family, but experience unexplained infertility, Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), recurrent miscarriages, secondary infertility, or male factor infertility, then this book will give you a unique insight into understanding why this may be happening and how to solve it.

Infertility is not uncommon nowadays, with up to 20% of couples having difficulty conceiving. Male infertility is at an all-time high, with a 35 to 50 percent share of overall cases. Over-the-counter drugs, chronic medications, inadvertent exposure to dangerous pollutants, epigenetics, blood types and nutrition deficiencies, are some of the causes of infertility. Infertility also has significant negative social consequences for women who face social humiliation, mental anguish, sadness, anxiety, and low self-esteem because of their infertility. As a result, many of these women will go on to develop mental health problems. Increasing maternal age is linked to a higher incidence of miscarriage, which is assumed to be caused by low egg quality, which leads to chromosomal (genetic) abnormalities. In certain cases, the mother or father may have a minor genetic abnormality, but the baby may be more seriously damaged, resulting in miscarriage.

Assisted reproduction like IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) for example continues to remain inaccessible and unaffordable for most couples, especially in the current economic conditions we experience. Thus, people are increasingly turning towards more affordable, natural yet effective therapeutic assistance. It all starts with understanding your own health, what factors may be affecting your ability to conceive, and taking the appropriate steps to ensure a successful pregnancy. Following the guidance provided, will result in optimum fertility, fertilisation and optimal preparation of the uterus for implantation.

Not only do genes play a large role, but some medications can cause infertility and increase the risk of miscarriage. Couples will learn how to increase the health of eggs and sperm, and understand other variables such blood types, PH levels, mucous, hidden PCOS, and many other factors, influencing chances of procreating. Male infertility is also on the rise, so it is important to consider both partners potential influencing factors.

In addition to the book, FertilitySOS is launching Fertility Health Coaching sessions to offer guidance to couples struggling with infertility. By making use of the fertility coaching sessions, couples will achieve their goal to get their bodies into optimal reproductive health, with a tailored personal plan. The Fertility Health coach will uncover the possible root causes of individual cases of infertility.All sessions are available online www.fertilitysos.com

The perfect gift for expecting parents, the classic and hilarious Safe Baby Handling Tips is back with three times as many tips to keep you laughing while caring for your newborn.

Worried about protecting your baby from the abundant harm of everyday living? Authors David and Kelly Sopp have you covered with Safe Baby Handling Tips, which offers laugh-out-loud guidance on baby care for anyone overwhelmed and befuddled-i.e., everyone-when it comes to caring for their new bundles of joy. With dozens of handling tips, readers will learn everything they need to keep their child alive and thriving beyond the first year. No, you can't stow them in the overhead compartment on flights. During playtime, babies prefer peek-a-boo to chess. And using a bath towel is far more safe and effective than putting your kiddo in the dryer. Beyond the safety tips, this handy guide also walks you through the many changes in lifestyle you'll face and keeps you on your toes with child-rearing quizzes.

Why make everything up as you go along when this gifty, indispensable guide can show you how to be a little less incompetent as parents? You'll laugh, you'll cry (from sleep deprivation), and your baby will be safer for it.

This parenting classic is as relevant today as it was when it was first published, shining a light on one of the most misunderstood trends of our time: how the influence of peers, magnified by social media and video game culture, is replacing parents in the lives of children, and what parents can do about it.

Children take their lead from their friends: Being “cool” matters more than anything else. Shaping values, identity, and codes of behavior, peer groups are often far more influential than parents. But this situation is far from natural, and it can be dangerous—it undermines family cohesion, interferes with healthy development, and fosters a hostile and sexualized youth culture. Children end up becoming conformist, anxious, and alienated.

In Hold On to Your Kids, acclaimed physician and bestselling author Gabor Maté joins forces with psychologist Gordon Neufeld to pinpoint the causes of this breakdown and offer practical advice on how to “reattach” to your children and earn back their loyalty and love.

By helping to reawaken our instincts, Neufeld and Maté empower parents to be what nature intended: a true source of enrichment, security, and warmth for their children.

Parenting is about to get easier--and a whole lot more effective…

In a time when so many children and young adults seem to be struggling, parents are looking for help in bringing up mentally healthy kids who are equipped to thrive. Finally, evidence-based help is now available for overwhelmed parents who are trying their best but feel like they’re falling short.

#1 New York Times bestselling author and neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen and child psychologist Dr. Charles Fay have teamed up to reveal what’s missing from most parenting books. It’s the fact that you need to address both the brain and the mind of your child (and yourself) in order to effectively raise good and strong humans.

In this groundbreaking book where neuroscience meets love and logic, parents are given practical tools to help children of all ages go from behavioral problems like defiance, meltdowns, and power struggles to being:

• Responsible, confident, kind, and resilient
• Better prepared to make good decisions
• More focused and motivated
• Better able to have healthy relationships, and more

Let Dr. Amen and Dr. Fay help you learn how to be the parent you've always dreamed you could be―and raise great kids who are on their way to reaching their full potential, including their best possible mental health.

Nikki Bush, a parenting expert, and Arthur Goldstuck, a technical commentator, will help parents get a handle on what’s happening in consumer technology. In this sensitive and insightful guide, they carve a path through the maze of terminology, dangers and opportunities to help parents navigate new spaces together with their children, with greater confidence.

In explaining the technology, they never ignore the human context: to place children’s use of technology in the context of the relationship between parents and their children.

The guide will ensure children are both safe and savvy in this fast-changing world, and the process starts with parents. For families to remain connected, both online and offline, and for young people to develop into responsible digital citizens, parents need to bridge the digital divide for their children.

n Noodsaaklike gids vir ouers om hul baba se eerste jaar met selfvertroue te hanteer. Meg Faure (arbeidsterapeut) en Ann Richardson (geregistreerde verpleegsuster en vroed vrou), ouerskapkenners en medeskrywers van die bekende Sense-reeks, bied ouers nou 'n bygewerkte en uitgebreide derde uitgawe van hulle hoogs suksesvolle ouerskaphan dleiding vir die eerste jaar. Ouers oral in die land beskou die boek as hulle Bababybel, en dit is maklik om te sien waarom dit een van Suid-Afrika se gewildste ouerskapboeke is. Koester jou baba spreek met 'n sagte dog praktiese benadering die belangrikste ouerskapkwessies van geboorte tot 12 maande aan.

Is your child ready for a smartphone? And are you ready to let them have one?

With so much negative attention surrounding smartphones, it's harder than ever to know when to give your child a phone - and how to support them when you do. Blending expertise with non-judgemental advice, Screensaver helps parents prepare for this modern milestone, addressing topics including:

• The right time to get a phone
• Choosing a phone and parental controls
• Open communication and tricky topics
• Finding a healthy balance

Digital wellness educator and coach Laura Wyatt-Smith empowers parents to make feel-good decisions for and with their child in the digital world. Friendly and authoritative, Screensaver is a reassuring guide to your family's smartphone journey.

The first evidence-based guide to empowering both children and parents to battle their anxiety.

Even before the pandemic, anxiety disorders were increasing in children and young people. As many parents know only too well, they have since increased exponentially, wreaking havoc on the emotional wellbeing of a whole generation. But is there anything parents can do to help their children, especially when they’re struggling to manage anxiety themselves? Absolutely – and this book will show you how.

Offering parents a clear, accessible roadmap from constantly fearing the next meltdown to a enjoying calmer, happier life for your entire family, Parenting Anxiety is full of expert, evidence-backed advice – not only to help children soothe their anxieties, but helping parents manage their own, too.

Written by Dr Meredith Elkins – a Harvard Medical School-trained paediatrician and anxiety specialist – the techniques in this book are grounded in cognitive behaviour therapy and backed up by scientific evidence, offering you reliable methods to strengthen your family’s anxiety-fighting abilities. Tackling one of the hardest issues facing families today with wisdom, warmth and humour, this is an essential handbook with advice that will help every modern parent.

From the acclaimed author of Losing Eden (“Powerful, beautifully written”—Anthony Doerr) an important, moving, passionate and passionately written inquiry—personal and scientific—into what happens—mentally, spiritually, physically, during the process of becoming a mother, from pregnancy and childbirth to early motherhood and what this profound process tells us about the way we live now.

In this important and ground-breaking, deeply personal investigation, Jones writes of the emerging concept of “matrescence” – the wholeness of becoming a mother.

Drawing on her own experiences of twice becoming a mother, as well as exploring the latest research in the fields of neuroscience and evolutionary biology; psychoanalysis and existential therapy; sociology, economics and ecology, Jones writes of the physical and emotional changes in the maternal mind, body, and spirit and shows us how these changes are far more profound, wild, and enduring than have been previously explored or written about.

Part memoir, part scientific and health reporting, part social critique, ecological philosophy, eco-feminism and nature writing, Matrescence is a kind of whodunnit, ferreting out with the most nuanced, searing and honest observations, why mothers throughout this heightened transition are at a breaking point, and what the institution of intensive, isolated motherhood can tell us about our still-dominant social and cultural myths.

Children develop strong brain connections and feel happy when they learn how to control their bodies, manage big overwhelming feelings and develop their thinking skills. These important skills come more easily for some than for others - which also means that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to parenting.

Filled with stories, examples and easy to understand analogies, Raising Happy Children will help you understand what is going on inside your child's developing body and brain as well as your child's true nature and how this affects the way he thinks, feels and behaves.

You'll also find lots of fun games you can play during your day-to-day interaction - crucial in the development of your child's ability to regulate his body and develop his thinking in the midst of big, overwhelming feelings. In this book, Lizanne also gives step-by-step ways to deal with some of the most common parenting struggles,as they relate to your unique child, such as: Meltdowns; Temper tantrums; Fears, anxieties and stress.

Once you understand your unique child, you'll be ready to set appropriate boundaries and put rituals and routines in place that will guarantee a calm, happy and deeply connected family.

In this moving narrative of resilience and pure love, three mothers share their experiences and learnings about life alongside autism

Kate Swenson, Adrian Wood and Carrie Cariello are from different parts of the country and backgrounds, but they were brought together by a singular experience: they are each a mother to a child with autism. Together they have shared laughter, tears, victories and the unconditional love that molds their lives.

Kate, Adrian and Carrie have children with very different autism profiles, and in Autism Out Loud they write about their unique experiences on a variety of topics, from diagnosis to caregiving, schooling and aging. Through their varied stories and lessons they’ve learned, these incredible women provide a glimpse of what to expect on the autism journey and show parents that they are not alone.

Written with honesty and heart, the stories within these pages serve as a reminder that even amid the storms of life, there is always hope and beauty to be found. A tribute to the unparalleled love of mothers, this inspiring book illuminates the joys, challenges and everyday miracles of life on the spectrum.

Popular parenting expert Dr Laura Markham has garnered a large and loyal readership around the world, thanks to her simple, insightful approach that values the emotional bond between parent and child. However, as any parent of more than one child knows, it's challenging for even the most engaged parent to maintain harmony and a strong connection when competition, tempers, and irritation run high. In this highly anticipated guide, Dr Markham presents simple yet powerful ways to cut through the squabbling and foster a loving, supportive bond between siblings, while giving each child the vital connection that he or she needs. Calm Parents, Happy Siblings presents hands-on, research-based advice on: Creating deep connections with each one of your children, so that each truly believes that you couldn't possibly love anyone else more. Fostering a loving family culture that encourages laughter and minimizes fighting. Teaching your children healthy emotional self-management and conflict resolution skills - so that they can work things out with each other, get their own needs met and respect the needs of others. Helping your kids forge a close lifelong sibling bond, as well as the relationship skills they will need for a life of healthy friendships, work relationships, and eventually their own family bonds.