A practical conversation about creating a fulfilling and contented second half, including twenty practical activities to create a new you.

Midlife uncertainty is uncomfortable. You are trying to find the door leading to a more fulfilling life, but are dragged back to the constant responsibilities of work and relationships. That door is open, but you need to search for it. This book provides insights and exercises to help you make the mental connections, and take you to the important decisions that you must confront with in this phase of your life. It is crucial that you find that door yourself. It is there, it is open. You simply need to see it.

It fills you with a gnawing concern that somehow you are missing out. Everybody else around you is living purposeful, high achievement lives, and you are wallowing in drudgery. We spend the early part of our adult lives building a career, building a family or support structures around us; we become so bound up in the boredom of day-to-day survival that when we get those things sorted during this phase, we feel let down and disappointed.

James Forson studied at the University of Cape Town and was dragged into the world of business with work experience in the mining, steel, pharmaceutical and banking industries. For the past 24 years he has been an independent management consultant working with clients across a broad range of industries and environments. In the course of his consulting practice, he has worked with a number of executives who have expressed dissatisfaction with their lives. This is where his interest in midlife renewal was awakened, as he counselled and supported his clients to live more humanly rewarding lives. He has taken the tools, methods and concepts he used and developed and has created a book to assist folks dealing with the complexity and anxiety of midlife renewal.

It’s no use, he never listens to what I say.

Parents are bombarded by conflicting advice. They are told they must give their children unconditional love, yet when children and young people behave badly, parents are blamed for a lack of discipline. Sometimes, parents are left feeling guilty and powerless to influence their children.

Parent Power shows how it is possible to enjoy a warm and loving relationship with your children whilst teaching them what is right and wrong. Focussing on the interaction between parent and child, John Sharry assists parents in finding alternative and satisfying ways to relate to their children in a positive way. Divided into two parts: parenting children from three to eleven years, and parenting teenagers, each part is packed full of well researched principles of parenting, ideas and tips for moving forward.

By allowing this book to encourage you to pause and reflect about your parenting, you will discover what works for you and your own unique family situation, empowering you as a parent and improving family life.

Telling stories awakens wonder and creates special occasions with children, whether it is bedtime, around the fire or on rainy days. Encouraging you to spin golden tales, Nancy Mellon shows how you can become a confident storyteller and enrich your family with the power of story.

In her sensitive book for parents, Jane Bennett dispels the notion of the curse, replacing it with a positive and enlightened view of menarche and menstruation. With practical advice on how to explain menstruation to your daughter, help her cope with mood swings and pain, as well as handle such issues as contraception, you can feel confident that your daughter will have an affirming experience of menstruation.

Following her previous New York Times bestsellers, Dr.Laura Schlessinger, the conscience of talk radio, now addresses an issue near and dear to her heart: the stupid things parents do to mess up their children. Never one to shy away from tough truths, Dr. Laura marshals compelling evidence for the widespread neglect of America's children and convincingly condemns the numerous rationalizations to excuse it. These are just a few of her hard-hitting points:

• Don't Have Them If You Won't Raise Them: "The cavalier manner in which our society treats child care, not as a matter of intimacy and love, but as a matter of convenience and economics, is deeply destructive to our children's sense of attachment, identity, and importance."
• Dads Need Not Apply: "Single motherhood may be more acceptable to society, but it is not acceptable to children; nor is it in their best interest."
• Brave New Baby: "In our society, reproductive freedom means anyone can decide to create a life by any means with no, and I mean no, consideration of what is in the best interest of that new human being."
• Spare the Rod: "Children without discipline often become adults with tempertantrums, defiance, rage, depression, anxiety, poor school and work adjustment, drug and alcohol abuse."

The Hugging Tree tells the story of a little tree growing all alone on a cliff, by a vast and mighty sea. Through thundering storms and the cold of winter, the tree holds fast. Sustained by the natural world and the kindness and compassion of one little boy, eventually the tree grows until it can hold and shelter others. The resilience of the Hugging Tree calls to mind the potential in all of us: to thrive, despite times of struggle and difficulty. To nurture the little spark of hope and resolve. To dream and to grow, just where we are. A Note to Parents and Caregivers by Elizabeth McCallum provides more information about resilience, and guidelines for building resilience in children.

What can you do when a child just won't listen? How we speak to each other is at the very heart of human relationships. Children are often much better than adults at reading between the lines and deciphering the messages we send through body language and tone of voice. This is an invaluable handbook for parents and teachers on how to communicate better with children. It covers all aspects of talking to and, importantly, listening to children, including communication with children of different ages and understanding the wider situation in which the conversation is taking place. The author translates the theory into practical, everyday solutions. There are useful exercises throughout, to help us communicate more successfully.

Already best-selling authors with How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish turned their minds to the battle of the siblings. Parents themselves, they were determined to figure out how to help their children get along. The result was Siblings Without Rivalry. This wise, groundbreaking book gives parents the practical tools they need to cope with conflict, encourage cooperation, reduce competition, and make it possible for children to experience the joys of their special relationship. With humor and understanding much gained from raising their own children Faber and Mazlish explain how and when to intervene in fights, provide suggestions on how to help children channel their hostility into creative outlets, and demonstrate how to treat children unequally and still be fair. Updated to incorporate fresh thoughts after years of conducting workshops for parents and professionals, this edition also includes a new afterword."

In this completely revised and updated edition of Raising Adopted Children, Lois Melina, editor of Adopted Children newsletter and the mother of two children by adoption, draws on the latest research in psychology,sociology, and medicine to guide parents through all stages of their child's development. Melina addresses the pressing adoption issues of today, such as open adoption, international adoption, and transracial adoption, and answers parents' most frequently asked questions, such as:

• How will my child "bond" or form attachments to me?

• When and how should I tell my child that he was adopted?

• What should schools be told about my child?

• Will adoption make adolescent upheavals more complicated?

Up-to-date, sensitive, and clear, Raising Adopted Children is the definitive resource for all adoptive parents and concerned professionals.

"Raising Adopted Children is a comprehensive source of practical, reassuring advice and intelligent support for the adoptive parent. [It is also an] excellent professional resource for social workers, physicians, teachers, therapists, and others working with adopted children and their parents."
--North American Council on Adoptable Children

"Melina, an adoptive parent, writes both sensibly and sensitively on many critical issues faced by parents and their adopted children from infancy through adolescence."
--Booklist

What's the single most important thing you can do during pregnancy? What does watching TV do to a child's brain? What's the best way to handle temper tantrums? Scientists know. In his New York Times bestseller Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina showed us how our brains really work--and why we ought to redesign our workplaces and schools. Now, in Brain Rules for Baby, he shares what the latest science says about how to raise smart and happy children from zero to five. This book is destined to revolutionize parenting. Just one of the surprises: The best way to get your children into the college of their choice? Teach them impulse control. Brain Rules for Baby bridges the gap between what scientists know and what parents practice. Through fascinating and funny stories, Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and dad, unravels how a child's brain develops -- and what you can do to optimize it. You will view your children--and how to raise them--in a whole new light. You'll learn: Where nature ends and nurture begins Why men should do more household chores What you do when emotions run hot affects how your baby turns out, because babies need to feel safe above all TV is harmful for children under 2 Your child's ability to relate to others predicts her future math performance Smart and happy are inseparable. Pursuing your child's intellectual success at the expense of his happiness achieves neither Praising effort is better than praising intelligence The best predictor of academic performance is not IQ. It's self-control What you do right now--before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and through the first five years--will affect your children for the rest of their lives. Brain Rules for Baby is an indispensable guide.

An indispensable guide that empowers parents to understand and recognise anxiety in their children, and to help them to develop strategies to manage it together. An indispensable guide that empowers parents to understand and recognise anxiety in their children, and to help them to develop strategies to manage it together. Parents hold the key to helping their children with the strains of our always-on world. Love In, Love Out helps parents to step back and learn to understand the anxiety that an increasing number of children experience at one time or another. In her book, Clinical Psychologist, National University of Ireland Lecturer, A Lust for Life Mental Health Advisor and mother of two, Dr Malie Coyne sets out to help parents to help their anxious children. Drawing from key psychological theories (attachment theory, cognitive behavioural therapy and compassion-focused therapy), and real-life case studies, Coyne translates her knowledge and experience into practical advice for busy families and stressed-out parents. As parents learn to become the 'emotional anchor' from which their child can learn to trust and begin to explore their world, they will find the balance between helping their anxious children feel safe and encouraging them to face their fears as they grow and develop. Filled with hands-on activities and centred on a compassionate, kind approach to children and their parents, Love In, Love Out will become a bedside bible for parents of children of any age, helping them to negotiate the many bumps in the road to managing their anxiety.

No longer little children, but not yet teenagers, children in the primary school years (between seven and twelve) face big emotional, social, psychological and physical changes. How can parents best support their children whilst also embracing their growing independence? Inspired by the Waldorf approach to child development, Lou Harvey-Zahra explains the three major transitions, or 'rubicons', of middle childhood at ages seven, nine and twelve. She offers practical tips and guidance to help parents through the challenges of the middle years, including: -- Creative solutions for common discipline issues -- Helpful routines for busy households to strengthen family bonds -- Suggested responses to tricky childhood questions -- Sensitive advice to help children manage anger and anxiety Growing Children, Thriving Children empowers parents to navigate the middle years with confidence.

This book is a guide for parents who wish to raise children with more than one language and literacy. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, as well as the experiences of parents of multilingual children, this book walks parents through the multilingual reading and writing process from infancy to adolescence. It identifies essential literacy skills at each developmental stage and proposes effective strategies that facilitate multiliteracy, in particular, heritage-language literacy development in the home environment. This book can also be used as a reference for teachers who teach in community heritage language schools and in school heritage (or foreign) language programmes.

The comprehensive weaning companion from the UK's no. 1 children's cookery author and weaning expert, Annabel Karmel.

When is my baby ready for first foods?
Which foods should I try first?
How do I introduce the critical nutrients?
What do I need to know about allergies?

Leading baby and toddler expert Annabel Karmel is here to guide you through all the unknowns and make weaning easy, achievable and fun. Packed with all the up-to-date guidance you need and a hundred delicious, nutrient-rich recipes, Weaning Made Simple takes all the complicated information and breaks it down into bite-sized, digestible chunks.

Annabel has worked with a leading children's dietitian to make sure all the information is completely up to date and reliable, covering everything from supplements and allergies to catering for vegetarian or vegan diets. With a bright, bold design that's packed with infographics, charts, illustrations and photography, the book is easy to dip in and out of whenever you need it.

The recipes are organised by age group so you'll know how to cater for first tastes, second-stage weaning and beyond. There are also sample meal planners for each stage so you can easily plan ahead. Annabel shows you how to prepare the best foods so they are the right shape and size for baby-led weaning, how to make tasty no-cook purées, how to pair ingredients to make the most from the nutrients, and so much more.

Vaccines are a debate, whether we want them to be or not. With a clear-eyed approach to their science and history, HOW VACCINES WORK demystifies the strange and intricate world of vaccines: it explains what a vaccine is, how they are developed and what happens when they meet our bodies. David Miles has worked in immunology - as a scientist, teacher and communicator - for two decades. Taking his expert understanding of the field and the questions he is asked by ordinary people, HOW VACCINES WORK combines a field guide to the vaccines we currently receive with the historical background to their development, along with thrilling storytelling and comprehensive, reassuring debunking of the most common vaccination myths.

How do men think about fathering? How does this differ across different regions of the world? And what effect does this have on child development? Fathering in Cultural Contexts: Developmental and Clinical Issues answers these questions by considering a broad range of theoretical and conceptual models on fathering and childhood development, including attachment theory, developmental psychopathology, masculinity and parenting typologies. Roopnarine and Yildirim provide a comprehensive view of fatherhood and fathering in diverse cultural communities at various stages of economic development, including fathers' involvement in different family structures, from two-parent heterosexual families to community fathering. This book's interdisciplinary approach highlights the changing nature of fathering, drawing connections with child development and well-being, and evaluates the effectiveness of a range of father interventions. Fathering in Cultural Contexts will appeal to upper level undergraduate and graduate students in human development, psychology, sociology, anthropology, social work, and allied health disciplines, and professionals working with families and children in non-profit and social service agencies across the world.