The onset of COVID broke a 150-year social contract between America and its children. Tens of millions of students lost what little support they had from the government-not just school but food, heat, and physical and emotional safety. The cost was enormous. But this crisis began much earlier than 2020. In The Stolen Year, Anya Kamenetz exposes a long-running indifference to the plight of children and families in American life and calls for a reckoning. She follows families across the country as they live through the pandemic, facing loss and resilience: a boy with autism in San Francisco who gains a foster brother and a Hispanic family in Texas that loses a member to COVID, and finds solace when they need it most. Kamenetz also recounts the history that brought us to this point: how we thrust children and caregivers into poverty, how we over-police families of color, how we rely on mothers instead of infrastructure. And how our government, in failing to support our children through this tumultuous time, has stolen years of their lives.

The heart of this book is the translation of The Life Space of the Urban Child, written in 1935 by Martha and Hans Heinrich Muchow. Life Space provides a fresh look at children as actors and how they absorb their city environments. It uses an empirical base connected with theories about the worlds in which children live. The first section provides historical background on Muchow's study and the author. The second section presents the translation of the Life Space study, as well as comments from an environmental psychologist's perspective. The third section reviews the study's theoretical foundations, including the concept of "critical personalism," the perspectives of phenomenology, and the notion of Umwelt (environment). The last section addresses various lines of research developed from the Life Space study, including Muchow's work in describing children in urban environments, methodological approaches, and the significance of space in social science and educational contexts. The manner in which Martha Muchow conducted her studies is itself of note. She obtained access to the children in their environments and combined observation with cartographies and essays produced by the children. This approach was new at the time and continues to inspire researchers today. This volume is the latest work in Transaction's History and Theory of Psychology series.

'Some years ago I read the phrase "the spontaneous revulsion to the deformed". The phrase seemed to be both potent and provocative: Was there a spontaneous revulsion to disabilities in children or did such conditions evoke a more compassionate response?' Originally published in 1978, the problems of the disabled were no longer confined to the medical and educational professionals, but had become the concern of the community as a whole. Using terminology very much of the time, the author shows how attitudes towards different kinds of disability had developed at the time; they varied both regionally and by social class, sometimes calling into question the accepted 'facts' about the distribution of a particular condition. Most importantly, the author examines these attitudes together with many other social and psychological factors in relation to their impact on the social behaviour and developing self-image of the disabled child. It becomes clear that the dangers of categorization and the difficulties in overcoming stigma have a profound influence on the education and socialization of disabled children. This book will be of historical interest to students and teachers of psychology, education, social work and rehabilitation; and it will provide insight for parents and all those concerned with the care and development of the disabled child about how far we have come.

By the middle 1800s, toys were appearing in forms that drew upon--and that inspired--advances in areas such as optics, biology, geography, transportation, and automation. In these decades, too, a new type of wonder tale was being brought to maturity by a Poe-inspired Jules Verne. The modern wonder tale's highly-charged vision expressed the hopes and the fears, and the delights and the traumas, engendered by "new worlds idealism"--that Western pursuit of both mechanical and geographical conquest. Exploring realms belonging to childhood, literature, science, and history, this innovative study weaves together the histories of wonder tales and children's toys, focusing specifically on their modern aspects and how they reflect and express the social attitudes of that time period beginning around 1957.

Much has been written about the Walt Disney Company's productions, but the focus has largely been on animation and feature film created by Disney. In this essay collection, the attention is turned to The Disney Channel and the programs it presents for a largely tween audience. Since its emergence as a market category in the 1980s, the tween demographic has commanded purchasing power and cultural influence, and the impressionability and social development of the age group makes it an important range of people to study. Presenting both a groundbreaking view of The Disney Channel's programming by the numbers and a deep focus on many of the best-known programs and characters of the 2000s--shows like The Wizards of Waverly Place, That's So Raven and Hannah Montana--this collection asks the simple questions, "What does The Disney Channel Universe look and sound like? Who are the stories about? Who matters on The Disney Channel?

In this ground-breaking book, Jenny Slater uses the lens of 'the reasonable' to explore how normative understandings of youth, dis/ability and the intersecting identities of gender and sexuality impact upon the lives of young dis/abled people. Although youth and disability have separately been thought within socio-cultural frameworks, rarely have sociological studies of 'youth' and 'disability' been brought together. By taking an interdisciplinary, critical disability studies approach to explore the socio-cultural concepts of 'youth' and 'disability' alongside one-another, Slater convincingly demonstrates that 'youth' and 'disability' have been conceptualised within medical/psychological frameworks for too long. With chapters focusing on access and youth culture, independence, autonomy and disabled people's movements, and the body, gender and sexuality, this volume's intersectional and transdisciplinary engagement with social theory offers a significant contribution to existing theoretical and empirical literature and knowledges around disability and youth. Indeed, through highlighting the ableism of adulthood and the falsity of conceptualising youth as a time of becoming-independent-adult, the need to shift approaches to research around dis/abled youth is one of the main themes of the book. This book therefore is a provocation to rethink what is implicit about 'youth' and 'disability'. Moreover, through such an endeavour, this book sits as a challenge to Mr Reasonable.

Children from around the world show us God in ways that we may have forgotten

"When I looked out my window at the changing seasons, I didn't really see anything at all. My eyes were focused on my work and all the tasks I had to do each day.... Then one morning...racing to get to work, I caught a glimpse of the fiery red leaves of a Japanese maple tree in late autumn. For a moment I stopped in my tracks. It was a wake-up call. 'There is a world out there, ' I thought, 'and a world beyond that world. And you, ' I said to myself, 'are missing both. If this is what it means to be an adult, you need to find a way to see the world more like a child.'"from the introduction

What does God do? How do we let God in? If you met God, what would you say?

Here are the "theological" answers of young spiritual thinkers from around the world, representing more than twenty different religious traditions. In sharing how they see God, they'll help you to see God in new ways.

In a poetic language of images all their own, these children re-awaken us to the mysteries and wonders of the universe, and lead us to our own understanding of the spiritual.

This unique and timely collection examines childhood and the child character throughout Stephen King's works, from his early novels and short stories, through film adaptations, to his most recent publications. King's use of child characters within the framework of horror (or of horrific childhood) raises questions about adult expectations of children, childhood, the American family, child agency, and the nature of fear and terror for (or by) children. The ways in which King presents, complicates, challenges, or terrorizes children and notions of childhood provide a unique lens through which to examine American culture, including both adult and social anxieties about children and childhood across the decades of King's works.

This book explores Russia's stunning success of ushering in the space age by launching Sputnik and beating the United States into space. It also examines the formation of NASA, the race for human exploration of the moon, the reality of global satellite communications, and a new generation of scientific spacecraft that began exploring the universe. An introductory essay by Pulitzer Prize winner Walter A. McDougall sets the context for Sputnik and its significance at the end of the twentieth century.

"Drop the flashcards--grit, character, and curiosity matter even more than cognitive skills. A persuasive wake-up call."--"People"
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 more have to do with character: skills like perseverance, curiosity, 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 reveals how this new knowledge can transform young people's lives. 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. This provocative and profoundly hopeful book will not only inspire and engage readers, it will also change our understanding of childhood itself.
"Illuminates the extremes of American childhood: for rich kids, a safety net drawn so tight it's a harness; for poor kids, almost nothing to break their fall."--"New York Times"
"I learned so much reading this book and I came away full of hope about how we can make life better for all kinds of kids."--"Slate"

This book is a result of the growing public and academic interest in the variety of childhoods that take place side by side in the multicultural state of Israel, despite its tiny geographical dimensions. In a collection of groundbreaking articles, the book describes various features of Israeli childhoods - in the present and recent past - in both Arab and Jewish societies. The first section of the book - 'Childhood and Environment in Israel' - addresses the various spaces in which childhood practices occurred and still occur in Israel - the intimate home environment, the educational environment, playgrounds, and many others. The second section - 'Childhoods and Power Structures in Israeli Literature' illuminates the perceptions and images of childhood, and describes the extensive and heterogenic variety of childhood representations in Jewish and Arab literature. Scholars of culture, society, education, and literature - Jews and Arabs - have joined forces to encourage in-depth thinking about perceptions of childhood in the diverse Israeli society, the status of children in Arab and Jewish societies, and the resources invested to nurture them from a global aspect (as individuals with universal duties and rights) and/or a local point of view (as a national asset, as designers of the nation's future, or, alternatively, as a burden, nuisance or threat).

Despite the widespread promotion of children's voices by activists and policy makers over the last decade, the potential for young people's knowledge to impact on adult agendas and policy arenas is by no means a certainty. This book presents critiques of participation in settings where young people are the centre of attention. The complexities and power-dynamics of youth- adult relationships are observed and analysed in a wide diversity of study environments, from Hull to Sao Paulo, rural Lesotho to Ghana, using varied methods and over different time frames, but with a strong focus throughout on context, practice, impacts and associated ethical considerations. The central concern of the book is not whether young people can produce better knowledge than adults, but rather how to better understand the different knowledges which emerge from diverse actors within different generations in order to ensure that the maximum benefits accrue to children and young people with and for whom the research is conducted. This book was originally published as a special issue of Children's Geographies.

Questions about land control have invigorated thinkers in agrarian studies and economic history since the nineteenth century. 'Exclusion', 'alienation', 'expropriation', 'dispossession', and 'violence' animate histories of land use, property rights, and territories. More recently, agrarian environments have been transformed by processes of de-agrarianization, urbanization, migration, and new forms of primitive accumulation. Even the classic agrarian question of how the social relations of agriculture will be influenced by capitalism has been reformulated at critical historical moments, reviving or producing new debates around the importance of land control. The authors in this volume focus on new frontiers of land control and their active creation. These frontiers are sites where established power relationships are challenged by new enclosures and property regimes, producing new social and environmental dynamics in their stead. Contributors examine labor and production processes engaged by new configurations of actors, new agrarian and environmental subjects and the networks connecting them, and new legal and violent means of challenging established or imminent land controls. Overall we find that land control still matters, though in changed degrees and manners. Land control will continue to inspire struggles for a long time. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

The problem of the out-of-control teenager demands immediate and effective attention from clinicians. As American town after town enacts curfew laws for minors and more and more teachers send youths for treatment, therapists are faced with an epidemic for which they often feel ill-prepared. In this book of nuts-and-bolts treatment approaches, mental health professionals are shown how to successfully help defiant and conduct-disordered young people who present with an array of symptoms including chronic truancy, drug abuse, dangerous sexual activity, and poor peer relationships. Drawing on individual, cognitive-behavioral, group, and family approaches, the book emphasizes the process of diffusing the resistance to change and facilitating treatment compliance. The focus is on understanding as well as altering the rage, sense of entitlement, lack of self-control, and disregard for the rights of others. In particular, the book covers how to * engage and motivate these youths * teach patients anger management skills * conduct group exercises and role play prosocial behavior * work with empathy-induced guilt to promote change * manage anticipated disruptions * use therapist self-disclosure to enhance the therapeutic process * foster resilience in the "at-risk" population. To date, no single approach has consistently interrupted the pattern of escalating conflicts and the violations of social norms occurring in this difficult-to-treat population. Each of the prevailing schools of thought makes a contribution to the remediation process but falls short of integrating the diverse interventions available. By presenting a variety of interventions targeting the central deficiencies and systemic dysfunction in the lives of these youths, this book provides clinicians with what they need to make a difference in the lives of troubled young people and those around them. A Jason Aronson Book

Investigating changes in upbringing in the North Caucasus, a region notorious for violent conflict, this book explores the lives of the generation born after the dissolution of the USSR who grew up under conditions of turmoil and rapid social change. It avoids the traditional presentation of the North Caucasus as a locus of violence, and instead presents the life of people in the region through the lens of the young generation growing up there.

Using focus groups with teachers and students of different ethnic groups, as well as surveys and essays written by children, the book suggests that while the legacy of conflict plays a role in many children s lives, it is by no means the only factor in their upbringing. It explores how conflict has influenced upbringing, and goes on to consider factors such as the revival of religion, the impact of social and economic upheaval, and the shifting balance between school and parents. As well as revealing the dynamic influences on children s upbringing in the region, the book presents recommendations on how to address some of the challenges that arise. The role of government in education is also evaluated, and prospects for the future are considered. The book is useful for students and scholars of Education, Sociology and Central Asian Studies.

A need for comprehensive services for young people requiring more intensive mental health services has been identified and this book explores what works in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) at this level. Specialist Mental Healthcare for Children and Adolescents looks at intensive outpatient and community services; assertive outreach teams; inpatient residential and secure provision; and other highly specialised assessment, consultation and intervention services. Based on the best available evidence, each chapter provides key points, research summaries and an overview of available treatments. It outlines emerging good practice guidance, service models, assessment, and training and workforce development requirements. This accessible text is essential reading for commissioners and professionals - including psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, therapists, social workers and teachers - working in specialist CAMHS services, as well as all those studying for qualifications in child and adolescent mental health.

There are more than 225 million rural-to-urban migrant workers, and some 20 million migrant children in Chinese cities. Because of policies related to the household registration (hukou) system, migrant students are not allowed a public high school education in the cities, so their urban education stops abruptly at the end of middle school. This book investigates the post-middle school education and labor market decisions of migrant students in Beijing and Shanghai, and provides a glimpse into the future of a crucial link in China's development. The stories of how these migrant students seek upward mobility and urban citizenship also reveal one of the most intricate structural inequalities in China today. Based on quantitative data collected from middle schools in Beijing and Shanghai, and ethnographic data drawing on in-depth interviews with migrant children, their parents, and teachers, this book offers a portrait of the migration and educational experiences and prospects of second generation migrant youth in China today. It explores the urban experience of migrant students, contrasting it with that of local city youngsters, examining the migrant students' family backgrounds, family dynamics, neighborhood and school experience, and interaction with locals. It goes on to look at the migrant students' education and career aspirations, the structural obstacles preventing their fulfilment, and how migrant families respond to institutional constraints on educational opportunity. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of policy implications and offers proposals for resolving the dilemmas of migrant youth. This book will of great interest to students and scholars of Chinese studies, Asian education, migration and social development.

Diverse Spaces of Childhood and Youth focuses on the diverse spaces and discourses of children and youth globally. The chapters explore the influence of gender, age and other socio-cultural differences, such as race, ethnicity and migration trajectories, on the everyday lives of children and youth in a range of international contexts. These include the diverse urban environments of Istanbul, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Toronto, London, and Bratislava and the contrasting rural settings of Ghana and England. The analyses of children's, young people's, parents' and professionals' experiences and discourses provide critical insights into how gender and other socio-cultural differences intersect. The importance of everyday practices and performances in the formation of children's and young people's identities is revealed, through for example, friendships and everyday sociality, mobilities and movements across space in both rural and urban environments. The volume shows how discourses of childhood, particularly those associated with risk, intersect with difference. The recognition of young people's agency and participation is central to many of the chapters, whilst also raising methodological questions about how discourses of childhood and youth are researched. Overall, the book provides an original contribution to geographies of children, youth and families and research on diversity and difference in global contexts. This book was published as a special issue of Children's Geographies.

John and Elizabeth Newson investigate the upbringing of seven hundred Nottingham children as they reach the age of four. Parents are interviewed in their homes with a realistic yet human approach and the minimum of technical jargon, and the open-ended questions allow them to produce 'a detailed and descriptive study of how parents do in fact treat their children and - equally important - how children treat their parents.' No one can fail to be impressed by the concern and perceptiveness shown by mothers of all classes, different though their approach may be to the common problems of the parent - child relationship. This book was first published in 1968.

"This book is unusually rewarding in that its author has pulled off the rare trick of providing deep philosophical and theoretical underpinnings to a comprehensive reconsideration of childhood. Priscilla Alderson deploys Bhaskar's 'dialectical critical realism' to excellent effect, illuminating not only our understanding of the presence, and absence, of children in our lives and discourses, but also the field of childhood studies. It is rare that such an integrated text is accomplished and I look forward to the planned second volume. This is a work that should facilitate a rethinking of childhood for the new century." Graham Scrambler, Professor of Medical Sociology at University College London.

Childhoods Real and Imagined explores and charts the relation of dialectical critical realist concepts to many aspects of childhood. By demonstrating their relevance and value to each other, Alderson presents an introductory guide to applied critical realism for researchers, lecturers and students.

Each chapter summarises key themes from several academic disciplines and policy areas, combining adults and children s reported views and experiences and filtering these through a critical realist analysis. The four main chapters deal with the more personal aspects of childhood in relation to the body, interpersonal relations, social structures, and the person, soul or self. The second volume will widen the scope to include the impact on children and young people of present policies relating to ecology, economics, ideas of social evolution or progress, and ethics. Each chapter demonstrates how children are an integral part of the whole of society and are often especially affected by policies and events.

Through developing the dialectical critical realist analysis of childhood and youth Childhoods Real and Imagined will be of great interest to critical realists and childhood researchers and policy advisers.

"This book is unusually rewarding in that its author has pulled off the rare trick of providing deep philosophical and theoretical underpinnings to a comprehensive reconsideration of childhood. Priscilla Alderson deploys Bhaskar's 'dialectical critical realism' to excellent effect, illuminating not only our understanding of the presence, and absence, of children in our lives and discourses, but also the field of childhood studies. It is rare that such an integrated text is accomplished and I look forward to the planned second volume. This is a work that should facilitate a rethinking of childhood for the new century." Graham Scrambler, Professor of Medical Sociology at University College London.

Childhoods Real and Imagined explores and charts the relation of dialectical critical realist concepts to many aspects of childhood. By demonstrating their relevance and value to each other, Alderson presents an introductory guide to applied critical realism for researchers, lecturers and students.

Each chapter summarises key themes from several academic disciplines and policy areas, combining adults and children s reported views and experiences and filtering these through a critical realist analysis. The four main chapters deal with the more personal aspects of childhood in relation to the body, interpersonal relations, social structures, and the person, soul or self. The second volume will widen the scope to include the impact on children and young people of present policies relating to ecology, economics, ideas of social evolution or progress, and ethics. Each chapter demonstrates how children are an integral part of the whole of society and are often especially affected by policies and events.

Through developing the dialectical critical realist analysis of childhood and youth Childhoods Real and Imagined will be of great interest to critical realists and childhood researchers and policy advisers.

Offering a sociocultural approach to education and learning, this fascinating exploration of childhood provides an in-depth understanding of how children make sense of the world and the people in it. Examining the ways in which children express their thoughts, feelings and actively generate meaning through experience and interaction, this fully revised and updated new edition is illustrated throughout by extensive case studies and covers a diverse range of topics, including: socio-historical and global child development over time and place; the child as meaning-maker and active learner; learning in the context of family, culture, group, society; representing and re-representing the world; understanding roles, identity, race and gender; making sense of science and technology; the implications of neuroscience. Taking a clearly articulated and engaging perspective, Sandra Smidt draws upon multiple sources and ideas to illustrate many of the facets of the developing child in a contemporary context. She depicts children as symbol users, role-players, investigators and creative thinkers, and follows children's progress in forming their understanding of their environment, asking questions about it, and expressing it through music, dance, art and constructive play. Highly accessible, and with points for reflection concluding each chapter, The Developing Child is essential reading for teachers, lecturers and students taking courses in early childhood, psychology or sociology.

The research presented in this book, originally published in 1986, looks to pinpoint the psychological processes involved in the media violence-aggression relation. Expanding on earlier studies, the compilation of essays here delves deeply into aggression study and compares results about media influence across 5 countries. Cultural norms and programming differences are investigated as well as age and gender and other factors. What is offered overall is a psychological model in which TV violence is both a precursor and a consequence of aggression.

"Social Skills Games and Activities for Kids With Autism" provides complete instructions for using fun, engaging games and activities to teach social skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The games include directions for assessing skills such as asking for toys, getting the attention of others, reading nonverbal gestures, understanding perspectives, and cooperating to solve problems. Using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, the book takes teachers through motivating, prompting, shaping, modeling, and reinforcing social skills while playing the games and helping students learn to participate in other activities such as demonstrating the social skill in role plays and the natural environment. Perfect for teachers struggling to help their students with autism learn to interact socially with their peers, these games are sure to become a much-loved part of students' daily routines.

Though the dynamics of immigrant family life has gained attention from scholars, little is known about the younger generation, often considered "invisible." "Translating Childhoods," a unique contribution to the study of immigrant youth, brings children to the forefront by exploring the "work" they perform as language and culture brokers, and the impact of this largely unseen contribution.

Skilled in two vernaculars, children shoulder basic and more complicated verbal exchanges for non-English speaking adults. Readers hear, through children's own words, what it means be "in the middle" or the "keys to communication" that adults otherwise would lack. Drawing from ethnographic data and research in three immigrant communities, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana's study expands the definition of child labor by assessing children's roles as translators as part of a cost equation in an era of global restructuring and considers how sociocultural learning and development is shaped as a result of children's contributions as translators.