Family is a fortress. Parental and sibling bonds are unshakable. The flourishing of loyalty and love is the desired blessing of every man and woman. But that perspective got lost somewhere. Family is trivial. Children just a consideration. They disorganize a couple's tidy life. They're messy, harmful to the environment, financially and physically exhausting. Chris and Wendy Jeub invite couples to reconsider this skewed perspective toward the blessing and heritage of children. They grapple with modern arguments like population control and the environment, but turn quickly to root hesitations like fear and family dysfunction. And they encourage you to following God's prodding to have and love another child, a most excellent calling indeed.

Compares the parenting advice of five well-known experts. Most parents lack the time, training, and other resources needed to consult the extensive research on parenting that has been produced by scientific study. Instead, many rely on advice from a few well-known authorities in popular books, newspaper columns, and other media. This work takes a critical look at the advice of five experts - Benjamin Spock, T. Berry Brazelton, James Dobson, Penelope Leach and John Rosemond - then compares that with the findings of hundreds of empirical studies on children. The focus is on major parenting problems, including persistent infant crying, toilet training, early day care, discipline, adolescent sexuality education, substance abuse, and the influence of television and other electronic media. A final chapter summarizes the accuracy of each expert's advice compared with research findings, points out the common ground between experts, and summarizes their major strategies and biases. In some cases, a substantial gap exists between expert advice and scientific research findings. and students will find this book not only helpful, but also illuminating. Rankin's meticulous analysis points out areas of agreement and dispute between some of the most quoted parenting experts in the field, and, perhaps even more revealing, areas where their widely quoted pronouncements deviate from research and clinical evidence. Makes sense of often conflicting parenting experts and how their advice can clash with scientific research Offers parents an understanding of 'best practices' as identified by research. Explains the multitude of elements (other than research and practice) that shape the advice of experts Focuses on a critical analysis of the advice of five often conflicting, but very well known, authors on parenting.

Every new parent has been there-sleepdeprived, exhausted, and pacing the floor at 3:00 a.m. with an irritable baby who is having difficulty calming down and going back to sleep. In "Secrets of a Baby Nurse," a medical professional relies on scientific research, personal study, and a lifelong adoration of babies to provide parents with valuable tips that will lead them to discover the delight of a well-rested, tranquil, and happy child-and most importantly, a good night's sleep for everyone.

Marsha Podd, a seasoned maternal-infant nurse and lactation specialist, shares her professional expertise in reading the body language of thousands of babies in order to teach parents how to interpret a baby's cues, create a perfect sleep environment, and initiate a peaceful detachment. You'll learn how to

ensure a healthy womb environment; encourage a newborn toward daytime wakefulness; build consistent daily rhythms around sleep and food; observe and react to your baby's signals; avoid postpartum depression; stay in a routine and still have a life outside the home.

"Secrets of a Baby Nurse" offers step-by-step, practical advice that will help any parent create a serene, joy-filled relationship with their child.

The 5 Attitudes of Parenting is an indispensable guide for new parents, seasoned parents and even prospective parents light-hearted yet powerful inner voyage of what makes an effective parent. You will not find suggestions for proper toilet-training nor how to get your teen to clean-up their room. What you will find are ideas and thought provoking exercises designed to help you cope with the daunting task of parenting.

The Parental Brain: Mechanisms, Development, and Evolution presents a comprehensive analysis of how the brain regulates parental behavior in nonhuman animals and in humans, how these brain mechanisms develop, and how such development can go awry, leading to faulty parental behavior. Further, the proposal is examined that the maternal brain served as a foundation or template for the evolution of other types of strong prosocial bonds in mammals, such as the hyper-prosociality that occurs in humans. Unique aspects of this book are its multilevel perspective and the integration and comparison of animal and human research in order to create a complete understanding of the parental brain. Topics covered include the following: * Maternal, paternal, and alloparental behavior * Hormonal regulation of parental behavior * Oxytocin and parental behavior * Subcortical neural circuits regulating parental behavior in nonhuman mammals * The interactions between cortical and subcortical neural circuits that are associated with parental cognitions, emotions, and behavior in humans * How maternal care directed toward one's infants influences the development of the parental brain in the affected infants * The intergenerational transmission or continuity of normal and abnormal maternal behavior * The involvement of epigenetics and gene by environment interactions in the development of the parental brain * Evolutionary perspectives on the parental brain, particularly with respect to alloparenting and cooperative breeding that have provided a framework for appreciating how the parental brain could have provided a foundation for the hyper-prosociality that occurs within human social groups This book will be a valuable resource for behavioral neuroscientists and neuroendocrinologists, social neuroscientists, developmental psychobiologists and psychologists, anthropologists, and evolutionary psychologists with an interest in parental behavior, mother-infant relationships, child development, and the evolution of prosocial behavior.

How are your children learning about intimacy? What are they seeing when they watch you interacting with your spouse?  In a ground breaking approach to family dynamics, What Children Learn from Their Parents' Marriage shows how a child's perception of the marriage his or her parents have created is the key to his or her psychological development and ultimate well-being.

Talking to both intact families and divorcing couples with children, marriage and family therapist Judith P. Sigel identifies seven essential elements of marriage that determine the emotional health of a child.

By combining her own work with the most current research, Dr. Siegal presents an eye-opening and highly readable book -- one that offers illuminating insight for parents everywhere who wish to build the secure foundation their children need for an emotionally healthy future.