Something scary is happening to boys today. From kindergarten to college, American boys are, on average, less resilient and less ambitious than they were a mere twenty years ago. The gender gap in college attendance and graduation rates has widened dramatically. While Emily is working hard at school and getting A's, her brother Justin is goofing off. He's more concerned about getting to the next level in his videogame than about finishing his homework. Now, Dr. Leonard Sax delves into the scientific literature and draws on more than twenty years of clinical experience to explain why boys and young men are failing in school and disengaged at home. He shows how social, cultural, and biological factors have created an environment that is literally toxic to boys. He also presents practical solutions, sharing strategies which educators have found effective in re-engaging these boys at school, as well as handy tips for parents about everything from homework, to videogames, to medication.

Great Myths of Child Development reveals the latest evidence-based science behind the myths and misconceptions about the developing child. * Shatters the most commonly-held child development myths * Reveals the science behind such topical issues as twin-telepathy, sex-prediction, and imaginary friends * Covers hot-button issues like childhood vaccines, spankings, time-outs, and breastfeeding of older children * Features numerous pop culture references and examples drawn from popular TV shows and movies, such as Duck Dynasty, Modern Family and Mad Men * Points to a wealth of supplementary resources for interested parents from evidence-based treatments and self-help books to relevant websites

In this examination of the ubiquitous practice of bullying among youth, compelling first person stories vividly convey the lived experience of peer torment and how it impacted the lives of five diverse young women. Author Keith Berry's own autoethnographic narratives and analysis add important relational communication, methodological, and ethical dimensions to their accounts. The personal stories create an opening to understand how this form of physical and verbal violence shapes identities, relationships, communication, and the construction of meaning among a variety of youth. The layered narrative describes the practices constituting bullying and how youth work to cope with peer torment and its aftermath, largely focusing on identity construction and well being; addresses contemporary cyberbullying as well as other forms of relational aggression in many social contexts across race, gender, and sexual orientations; is written in a compelling way to be accessible to students in communication, education, psychology, social welfare, and other fields.

Mothers of Adult Children elucidates what happens when children come of age and leave home, creating new lives in the realms of work and relationships. Mothers from around the world learn that this is the point in which their relationships with their children must drastically change. Mothers often come to terms with the changes by accepting differences and providing moral and emotional support when needed. However, the evolutionary nature of mothers' roles throughout the course of their children's lives is not only determined by the mother-child dynamic. The mothering of adult children is a transformative role, and the stories presented here show that the dynamics between mother and child are also influenced by cultural events. Accidents, disasters, war, and other hardships also intervene in these stories of multicultural motherhood. This book reveals the problems mothers of adult children face and celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of those who mother through hardship.

Research continues to uncover early childhood as a crucial time when we set the stage for who we will become. In the last decade, we have also seen a sudden massive shift in America's racial makeup with the majority of the current under-5 age population being children of color. Asian and multiracial are the fastest growing self-identified groups in the United States. More than 2 million people indicated being mixed race Asian on the 2010 Census. Yet, young multiracial Asian children are vastly underrepresented in the literature on racial identity. Why? And what are these children learning about themselves in an era that tries to be ahistorical, believes the race problem has been "solved," and that mixed race people are proof of it? This book is drawn from extensive research and interviews with sixty-eight parents of multiracial children. It is the first to examine the complex task of supporting our youngest around being "two or more races" and Asian while living amongst "post-racial" ideologies.

This book highlights the significance of an interdisciplinary approach to understanding children and childhoods in the Indian context. While it is recognised that multiple kinds of childhoods exist in India, policy and practice approaches to working with children are still based on a singular model of the ideal child rooted in certain Western traditions. The book challenges readers to go beyond the acknowledgement of differences to evolving alternate models to this conception of children and childhoods. Bringing together well-known scholars from history, politics, sociology, child development, paediatrics and education, the volume represents four major themes: the history and politics of childhoods; deconstructing childhoods by analysing their representations in art, mythology and culture in India; selected facets of childhoods as constructed through education and schooling; and understanding issues related to law, policy and practice, as they pertain to children and childhoods. This important book will be useful to scholars and researchers of education, especially those working in the domains of child development, sociology of education, educational psychology, public policy and South Asian studies.

The second volume of Priscilla Alderson's popular and renowned book Childhoods Real and Imagined relates dialectical critical realism to childhood. By demonstrating their relevance and value to each other, Alderson presents a practical introductory guide for applying critical realism to research about children and young people. Each chapter summarises key themes from several academic disciplines and policy areas, ranging from climate change and social justice between generations, to neoliberalism, social reform and imagining utopias. Children's and adults' views and experiences are reviewed, and whereas the first volume deals with more personal and local aspects of childhood, this volume widens the scope into debates about global politics, which so seldom mention children. Each chapter demonstrates how children and young people are an integral part of the whole of society and are often especially affected by policies and events. This book is written for everyone who is researching, studying or teaching about childhood, or who cares for and works with children and young people, as well as those interested in critical realist approaches.

"This book addresses, in a comprehensive and practical manner, the increasingly important topic of preventing youth violence. The scope of the book is broad, incorporating psychological, social, and cultural factors. The emphasis on a gender analysis in understanding violent behavior by male youth in relationships with young women is apt and timely. Used together with the treatment manual, The Youth Relationships Manual, this book provides a sound basis for a prevention program." --Mary Nomme Russell, School of Social Work, University of British Columbia "Alternatives to Violence challenges each of us to reexamine our assumptions about youth violence and society's efforts to reduce it. David A. Wolfe and his colleagues make a convincing argument for a preventive and health--promoting response that empowers youth to make changes in their daily world. The contents of this book obliges those of us who work with youth to also make changes in the way we practice in the field. This book provides the most in-depth and up-to-date view of the problem of youth violence in North America and what it will take to reduce it. As one who works on the issue of children and violence, I found this book both powerful in its analysis and hopeful in the solutions it offers." --Jeffrey L. Edleson, Professor, School of Social Work and Director, Higher Education Center Against Violence & Abuse, University of Minnesota "Alternatives to Violence . . . is well, clearly, and interestingly written. The concepts are solid and laid out systematically. The authors present a strong foundation and empirically support their premises. The book meets my need academically and holds my interest as a reader. I agree so strongly with their hypotheses and ideas that I found myself thinking ''Great,'' ''Well thought out,'' ''Nicely written,'' and so on as I read. I whole-heartedly endorse this book." --Alyce LaViolette, Alternatives to Counseling Associates, Long Beach, California Instead of looking for ways to contain, deter, or punish violence, Alternatives to Violence explores how to develop practical means of promoting healthy, nonviolent relationships. Drawing from recent studies concerned with the formation of healthy relationships, this book examines how youths can form connections that will reduce not only the risk of violence against women and children but also the potential of men to become abusive. This clearly articulated model suggests that adolescents, who are beginning to build intimate relationships outside of the family, can learn to break patterns of male entitlement, dominance and aggression, and female passivity and deference with the help of preventive programs. The Youth Relationships Project is a program that grew out of the model created in this book and is detailed with instructions for application in a companion volume, The Youth Relationships Manual. The project helps youths build relationship skills and learn how to act socially within the community. The authors actively support a health promotion paradigm as the foundation for issues and solutions raised in these books and look toward future changes in policy and programs that embrace this new prevention model. Bold and timely, Alternatives to Violence and its companion volume, The Youth Relationships Manual, offer a new approach to preventing violence that will appeal to a wide audience of practitioners, community agency workers, administrators, policymakers, and interns. In addition, students preparing to work in the fields of mental health, education, social work, sociology, and public health, as well as professionals in these areas, will find the book innovative and informative.

Why are development discourses of the 'poor child' in need of radical revision? What are the theoretical and methodological challenges and possibilities for ethical understandings of childhoods and poverty? The 'poor child' at the centre of development activity is often measured against and reformed towards an idealised and globalised child subject. This book examines why such normative discourses of childhood are in need of radical revision and explores how development research and practice can work to 'unsettle' the global child. It engages the cultural politics of childhood - a politics of equality, identity and representation - as a methodological and theoretical orientation to rethink the relationships between education, development, and poverty in children's lives. This book brings multiple disciplinary perspectives, including cultural studies, sociology, and film studies, into conversation with development studies and development education in order to provide new ways of approaching and conceptualising the 'poor child'. The researchers draw on a range of methodological frames - such as poststructuralist discourse analysis, arts based research, ethnographic studies and textual analysis - to unpack the hidden assumptions about children within development discourses. Chapters in this book reveal the diverse ways in which the notion of childhood is understood and enacted in a range of national settings, including Kenya, India, Mexico and the United Kingdom. They explore the complex constitution of children's lives through cultural, policy, and educational practices. The volume's focus on children's experiences and voices shows how children themselves are challenging the representation and material conditions of their lives. The 'Poor Child' will be of particular interest to postgraduate students and scholars working in the fields of childhood studies, international and comparative education, and development studies.

An examination of the circumstances of youthful delinquency in London in the early nineteenth century, and the legislative measures put in place to contain and control offenders. A well-researched and well-argued monograph contributing significantly to our understanding of juvenile delinquency. CRIME, HISTOIRE ET SOCIETESA fine book... based on a wide range of well-marshalled primary evidence that emphasizes the voice of young offenders - highly readable. AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEWThe early nineteenth century witnessed an increasing concern about the incidence of juvenile crime. Youthful delinquency was not new, but it was notuntil then that the foundations were laid for a juvenile justice system which would serve, with amendments, for the next century and more. Separate trial, separate penal provision, and an emphasis on reform rather than punishmentwere all enshrined in the new legislation.Heather Shore explores the processes and context of these legislative strategies, in which consideration of juvenile crime in London - with its close streets and alleys and conspicuous juxtaposition of poverty and wealth - played a major part, influencing elite perceptions of offending by children and young people. At the heart of this study is a critical consideration of the lives of young offenders. Dr Shore examines the process of offending, from the initial foray into crime, through apprehension and passage through the judicial system, to punishment and experience of penal and reform measures: prison, houses of correction, transportation and colonial emigration. HEATHER SHORE is Lecturer in Social and Cultural History, University of Portsmouth.

In this book Chris Jenks looks at what the ways in which we construct our image of childhood can tell us about ourselves. After a general discussion of the social construction of childhood, the book is structured around three examples of the way the image of the child is played out in society: the history of childhood from medieval times through the enlightenment 'discovery' of childhood to the present the mythology and reality of child abuse and society's response to it the 'death' of childhood in cases such as the James Bulger murder in which the child itself becomes the perpetrator of evil. Part of the highly successful Key Ideas series, this book gives students a concise, provocative insight into some of the controlling concepts of our culture.

Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1957 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.

A widespread conviction in the need to rescue China's children took hold in the early twentieth century. Amid political upheaval and natural disasters, neglected or abandoned children became a humanitarian focal point for Sino-Western cooperation and intervention in family life. Chinese academics and officials sought new scientific measures, educational institutions, and social reforms to improve children's welfare. Successive regimes encouraged teachers to shape children into Qing subjects, Nationalist citizens, or Communist comrades. In Raising China's Revolutionaries, Margaret Mih Tillman offers a novel perspective on the political and scientific dimensions of experiments with early childhood education from the early Republican period through the first decade of the People's Republic. She traces transnational advocacy for child welfare and education, examining Christian missionaries, philanthropists, and the role of international relief during World War II. Tillman provides in-depth analysis of similarities and differences between Nationalist and Communist policy and cultural notions of childhood. While both Nationalist and Communist regimes drew on preschool institutions to mobilize the workforce and shape children's political subjectivity, the Communist regime rejected the Nationalists' commitment to the modern, bourgeois family. With new insights into the roles of experts, the cultural politics of fundraising, and child welfare as a form of international exchange, Raising China's Revolutionaries is an important work of institutional and transnational history that illuminates the evolution of modern concepts of childhood in China.

As part of a series on child care policy, this book describes the situation of black families in Britain who face many problems stemming from both racial discrimination and from the aftermath of migration: the latter, while it opened up new opportunities, also imposed strains felt beyond the generation of people who were newcomers to Britain. The welfare services have not always dealt with the problems of poverty, poor housing and unemployment in appropriate ways. Disproportionate numbers of black children are in care, with less chance of reunion with their parents than white children. Care provided by local authorities may also be insensitive to diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural needs. Only recently have black substitute parents been found for black children. Welfare services for young offenders have also not been operated adequately for black adolescents, so disproportionate numbers are in youth custody establishements. In the early 1980s, social services began to recognize these problems and this book describes developments and explores possible ways of providing services which are appropriate to Britain's multi-racial population. The contributors seeks to describe practical ways of meeting needs, and their implications for black families and the practitioners and administrators who work with them. Juliet Cheetham is the author of "Social Work and Ethnicity".

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.

"It is refreshing to see a book such as this which is both broad in its conceptualization of the field of child research and deep in its focus. The volume's editors are paragons of awareness when it comes to the need for interdisciplinary research and theory to illuminate the lives and experience of children." - James Garbarino, Loyola University Chicago "Covers a satisfying and unprecedentedly wide range of research relating to childhood. The contributors include many eminent international scholars of childhood, making the book a valuable resource for child researchers. Child advocates will also find the book to be invaluable in their efforts to improve children's well-being, and to change policies and practices for the better." - Anne Smith, University of Otago "A really scintillating collection that will provide a lasting perspective on child studies - stimulating and comprehensive " - Jonathan Bradshaw, University of York In keeping with global changes in children's social and legal status, this Handbook includes examination of children as family members, friends, learners, consumers, people of faith, and participants in law and politics. The contributors also discuss the methodological and ethical requirements for research that occurs in natural settings and that enables children themselves to describe their perspective. The book is divided into three parts: Part I: Setting-Specific Issues in Child Research Part II: Population-Specific Issues in Child Research Part III: Methods in Research on Children and Childhood

Human beings have the most immature newborn and longest maturational schedule of any animal. Only 25% of the adult brain size is developed at full-term birth, and most of the brain's size and volume is co-constructed by caregivers in the first years of life. As a result, early life experience has long-term effects on physiological and psychological wellbeing. Contexts for Young Child Flourishing uses an evolutionary systems framing to address the conditions and contexts for child development and thriving. Contributors focus on flourishing-optimizing individual (physiological, psychological, emotional) and communal (social, community) functioning. Converging events make this a key time to reconsider the needs of children and their optimal development in light of increasing understanding of human evolution, the early dynamism of development, and how these influence developmental trajectories. There is a great deal of misunderstanding both among researchers and the general public about what human beings need for optimal development. As a result, human nature unnecessarily can be misshaped by policies, practices, and beliefs that don't take into account evolved needs. Empirical studies today are better able to document and map the long-term effects of early deficits or early assets, mostly in animal models but also through longitudinal studies. An interdisciplinary set of scholars considers child flourishing in regards to issues of development, childhood experience, and wellbeing. Scholars from neuroscience, anthropology, and clinical and developmental studies examine the buffering effects of optimal caregiving practices and shed light on the need for new databases, new policies, and altered childcare practices.

A child's capacity to cope with adversity and 'stand on their own two feet' is seen as critical to their development, well-being, and future independence and success in adulthood. Psychological strength, or resilience, directly affects a child's capacity to cope with adversity. This book provides a succinct, accessible and clear guide on how to promote resilience in children and achieve positive developmental outcomes for them. The author covers three key factors that affect resiliency: vulnerability to stress and anxiety, attachment relationships, and access to basic needs. For each, the author presents practical advice and strategies, such as how to regulate children's stress and anxiety, how to encourage and maintain secure attachments, and how to assure children that their needs are understood and will be met. The model presented will help parents and carers ensure their children grow up happy, healthy and resilient. This book will be invaluable for parents, carers and practitioners in supportive roles caring for children.

Urban living has dramatically changed over the past generation, refashioning children's relationships with the towns and cities in which they live, and the modes of living within them. Focusing on the global shift in urban planning towards sustainable urbanism - from master planned 'sustainable communities', to the green retrofitting of existing urban environments - Children Living in Sustainable Built Environments offers a critical analysis of the challenges, tensions and opportunities for children and young people living in these environments. Drawing upon original data, Children Living in Sustainable Built Environments demonstrates how the needs, interests and participation of children and young people often remain inferior to the design, planning and local politics of new urban communities. Considering children from their crucial role as residents engaging and contributing to the vitalities of their community, to their role as consumers using and understanding sustainable design features, the book critically discusses the prospects of future inclusion of children and young people as a social group in sustainable urbanism. Truly interdisciplinary, Children Living in Sustainable Built Environments forms an original theoretical and empirical contribution to the understanding of the everyday lives of children and young people and will appeal to academics and students in the fields of education, childhood studies, sociology, anthropology, human geography and urban studies, as well as policy-makers, architects, urban planners and other professionals working on sustainable urban designs.

Colin Heywood s rich account of childhood from the early Middle Ages to the First World War provides a concise and readable synthesis of the extensive literature on childhood. He gives a long-run historical perspective on the key dimensions to childhood, including ideas on the nature of the child, relationships with parents, interactions with others of a similar age, and children's health, working life and education. The period covered runs from the early Middle Ages to the First World War, and the geographical spread runs from North America in the west to Russia in the east. This new, comprehensively updated edition incorporates the findings of the most recent research, and in particular revises and expands the sections on theoretical developments in the new social studies of childhood , on medieval conceptions of the child, on parenting and on children's health. Rather than merely narrating their experiences from the perspectives of adults, Heywood incorporates children s testimonies, looking up as well as down . Paying careful attention to the elements of continuity as well as change in this field, Heywood argues that there is a cruel paradox at the heart of childhood in the past; on the one hand, material conditions for children have greatly improved, on the other, the business of preparing for adulthood has become more complicated in urban and industrial societies, and the young now face a bewildering array of choices and expectations. A History of Childhood, 2nd Edition will be an essential introduction to the subject for students of history, social sciences and cultural studies.

Working with Video Gamers and Games in Therapy moves beyond stereotypes about video game addiction and violence to consider the role that games play in psychological experiences and mental health. Chapters examine the factors that compel individual gamers to select and identify with particular games and characters, as well as the different play styles, genres, and archetypes common in video games. For clinicians looking to understand their clients' relationships with video games or to use games as a therapeutic resource in their own practice, this is a thoughtful, comprehensive, and timely resource.

Both Australia and Sweden are economically, socially and politically well-developed countries and each has responded to the Syrian crisis in its own way with features that define refugee children's schooling trajectories for transition to life and work. Syrian Refugee Children in Australia and Sweden provides insights into policies influencing the education and schooling of Syrian refugee children in Australia and Sweden. This book uses the perspectives of Syrian refugee children and their voiced experiences to elicit recommendations for education practices and content. Their voices were central to the analysis for the main reason that their viewpoints could contribute in a practical way to the development of pedagogical approaches that would support their schooling, and an effective and productive transition to life in the host countries. The opinions, suggestions and experiences of other stakeholders such as parents, caregivers, teachers and school and state officials, were included for greater understanding so that as many relevant contexts are covered. The recommendations for refugee education proposed in this book will be useful for teachers, principals and policy makers directly involved in educating refugee students and this could positively impact on young refugee students finding their way to a new and better life.

Current tensions between the U.S. and Russia are at their highest since the end of the Cold War. In such circumstances, it is imperative to go beyond headlines and rhetoric and take a closer look at the texture of Russian and American societies. Childhood and Education in the United States and Russia provides a rich illustration of the social processes within these countries. Through an extensive interdisciplinary literature review and quantitative analyses of both national and international datasets, this book sheds light on three main areas. Firstly, it explores the extent to which the institution of education intersects with the institution of childhood in Russia and the U.S. Secondly, the author provides an illuminating study of how childhood is stratified by the social background into which a child is born in Russia and the U.S. Finally, this book gives new insight into how we observe the strengthening of children's agency, both in theoretical developments in sociology of education and childhood, and educational practice and parental strategies. By discussing education and childhood from a sociological perspective with a focus on similarities and differences by time and place, this book will prove an invaluable resource for students and researchers in the fields of Sociology of Education, Sociology of Childhood and International Education.

Although philosophy of childhood has always played some part in philosophical discourse, its emergence as a field of postmodern theory follows the rise, in the late nineteenth century, of psychoanalysis, for which childhood is a key signifier. Then in the mid-twentieth century Philipe Aries's seminal Centuries of Childhood introduced the master-concept of childhood as a social and cultural invention, thereby weakening the strong grip of biological metaphors on imagining childhood. Today, while philosophy of childhood per se is a relatively boundaryless field of inquiry, it is one that has clear distinctions from history, anthropology, sociology, and even psychology of childhood. This volume of essays, which represents the work of a diverse, international set of scholars, explores the shapes and boundaries of the emergent field, and the possibilities for mediating encounters between its multiple sectors, including history of philosophy, philosophy of education, pedagogy, literature and film, psychoanalysis, family studies, developmental theory, ethics, history of subjectivity, history of culture, and evolutionary theory. The result is an engaging introduction to philosophy of childhood for those unfamiliar with this area of scholarship, and a timely compendium and resource for those for whom it is a new disciplinary articulation.