Raising a child is challenging for many parents, especially for a new, immigrant family. For those parents, they not only have to face the challenges of integrating themselves into a new environment, but they also need to handle the conflicts coming from two cultural backgrounds. Like many Chinese Americans, the authors inherited the traditional Chinese culture. Yet they also opened their minds and embraced their new culture. Through the collisions of these two cultures, they developed a unique parenting strategy: a combination of the best of both worlds to educate their children. This approach offered them a cutting edge in developing their children to be among the most competitive. As they raised their children, they held parties to build their children's social groups; used teamwork to create a harmonious family, strengthening the family bonds; helped their children excel in academic competitions; taught their children how to be rigorous and strive for perfection; inspired their children to explore innovative strategies to overcome obstacles; developed their children's creativity, leadership, and initiative; encouraged their children to be involved in the community; and gave their children freedom to develop their individual personalities and discover their full potentials. The authors believe that their story will be beneficial to other parents and also provide a new perspective of Chinese American families for mainstream Americans.

Paul Owen began his life with a lot of disadvantages. His single mother did the best she could to raise him on food stamps and welfare. But when he was only thirteen, she died tragically of cancer, leaving him at the mercies of relatives and foster care. This is the story of his journey through seven foster homes, across three states, during his high school years. Eventually, he found a settled life, and a career as a college professor in North Carolina. How did he get there? This book explains how ordinary people can overcome difficult challenges. Among many poignant themes in these pages, one will read of teenage angst, the despair of poverty, the solace of nature, the power of romance, a boy's love for his dog, and the challenges which face many thousands of children who live in foster care in our country.

As used by Prince William himself, here's the basic training manual for fatherhood recruits! Attention! In your hand is an indispensable training manual for new recruits to fatherhood. Written by ex-Commando and dad of three Neil Sinclair, this manual will teach you, in no-nonsense terms, all the practical skills you need to be a top-ranking parent. Packed with easy-to-follow advice and Commando Dad Top Tips, this book will teach you how to be the ultimate protector to your newest recruit. As any Commando Dad knows, with the right preparation and planning, anyone can parent with military precision. In less time than it takes to shine your boots, learn how to: Survive the first 24 hours Prepare and Plan to Prevent Poor Parental Performance Maintain morale in the ranks Establish standing orders and implement daily routines Feed, clothe and entertain your troops Transport the troops successfully on manoeuvres Pack a survival kit for everything from light missions to long-term deployments Recognize common trooper ailments Keep base camp tidy and square away tasks along the way And much, much more. Let training commence!

Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don't always send a toddler sailing off to dreamland.

Profane, affectionate and refreshingly honest, it captures the familiar and unspoken tribulations of putting your child to bed for the night.

Colourfully illustrated and hilariously funny, this is a breath of fresh air for parents new, old and expectant*.

(*You should probably not read this to your children.)

Parenting is one of the most influential and powerful leadership roles. This book explores how parents' decisions affect themselves, their children, and the family as a whole. Strategic Leadership Consultants and I conducted studies within the Washington metropolitan area in order to illustrate to readers how children are less negatively affected in a harmonious, intact family. Also, we provide suggestions on how to promote a positive family structure by means of leadership training for parents, thus reducing the numbers of youths in special education classes, foster care, and risky practices like experimentation with drugs, joining gangs, gun violence, suicide, early parenthood, and mental health issues. Although, my primary target audience is parents, it is my sincere hope that others may benefit from the information provided. This book further explores how wildcard scenarios such as abuse, depression, and divorce can impact the mental and emotional stability of children. Expert advice from psychiatrist Stanley Turecki and psychologist Cynthia Buckson along with other professionals is shared. Candid stories throughout this book support my theory that parents' choices can affect their children, in many cases, causing long-term mental challenges. These stories further underscore the great impact parents have on their children, both positive and negative. Additionally, I will provide a list of suggested topics that parents may discuss with children at different developmental stages, as well as a resource section for parents and children in crisis, or in need of information. The purpose of this book is to inform and motivate parents to apply the leadership strategies suggested. The strategies and case studies presented may inspire parents to develop into stronger leaders for their children.

It's All About Daddy addresses the themes of love, appreciation and death quite vividly. The book is comprised of a wide array of messages, of course for fathers, but many are very pertinent to parents on a whole. Jody Esi Otu maturely and completely speaks to every important moment within which any child would like to express his or her feelings to their father. She looks at birthdays, Christmas, death and dying, Valentine's Day, father's day, she also address the stereotype of black fathers not being there for their children, and every day moments when a grateful child just wants to say I love you and or thank you for being there.

This book which has been created in the framework of the EU-funded COST Action INTERFASOL brings together researchers from 22 INTERFASOL countries, who frame intergenerational family solidarity in the specific historical, cultural, social and economic context of their own country. Integrating different perspectives from social and political sciences, economics, communication, health and psychology, the book offers country-specific knowledge and new insights into family relations, family values and family policies across Europe.

This guy is tough, and so is his message.(By Ruben Rosario, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN August 2011. Edited for length)Like the U.S. Postal Service, apparently nothing keeps Larry Bauer-Scandin - foster dad to 125 - from his self-appointed rounds.Not the weather. Not the heart ailments or the genetic neurological disorder that robbed him of movement and rendered him legally blind. The 64-year-old Vadnais Heights resident just gets up and does it."My life was normal for the first nine years of my life until 1957 when my foot went to sleep, except that my foot never woke up," Bauer-Scandin told a group of inmates from the 3100 unit at the Dakota County Jail.But that's not the main message that Bauer-Scandin, a retired probation officer and jail counselor, wants to deliver on this day. "Whom do you blame for your problems?" he asks the group of 34 men, who are members of IMC, or Inmates Motivated to Change. Under the program, inmates with chemical dependency or mostly nonviolent offenses sign an agreement to take part in several programs and pledge not to make the same mistakes that keep landing them in lock-up."What people need to do is stand in front of a mirror and ask: 'How much of the problem is mine and how much is it somebody else?' "I first wrote about Bauer-Scandin five years ago. It was centered on his life as a foster parent. As he told the inmates, two of his former foster kids are cops, one in St. Paul. Two are soldiers deployed to Iraq. One's a millionaire. One's an author. Most are raising families or staying out of trouble in spite of hardships.But "15 are dead," said Bauer-Scandin, author of "Faces on the Clock," an engrossing memoir about his life. The dead include suicide victims, including an 11-year-old, others from AIDS and "my last one, they found in three or four pieces, as I understand."Bauer-Scandin's worth writing about again for what he continues to do at great pain and sacrifice without pay or fanfare. He didn't sugarcoat or pull punches with his audience."What I'm afraid is still happening is that the system is trying to figure out how to get tighter," he told them. "The sentences are getting tougher."And it's not the police, the sheriffs, the courts or even the folks in state and county-run corrections that are responsible for the race to incarcerate."It's the legislature," Bauer-Scandin said. "And legislatures have been known to do very stupid things."He also faults the media and a gullible public that forms opinions and dehumanizes people strictly on what they watch on TV and not on real-life experiences or knowledge."What do they see?" he said. "They see the Charlie Mansons. They see the unusual. They see the extreme. Most of you aren't that way. But that's what makes the news."Yet he doesn't divert from his main message: It's up to the inmate to take a positive step and choose the right way."Get yourself back into a position where you can influence those people, to be able to go to a school board or a city council or legislative meeting and have your voice heard."You can't fight the system from in here," he concluded. "You have to be out there."The inmates applauded and, one by one, stood in line to shake his hand on his way out the jail complex.His progressively debilitating disorder is taking more of a toll these days. But he steered the scooter inside the van and deftly wiggled his frail body into the driver's seat. He has no complaints, he told me. He will continue to go out and speak as long as God and his wife allow him."I hope something stuck," he tells me before he drives off.I hope so too, Larry.