A psychologist’s guide for parents, care-givers and health care practitioners to the emotional challenges facing children and their parents today

Current research shows that certain childhood mental disorders are diagnosed more frequently today than in previous generations. Many of today’s children and teenagers are more unhappy, anxious and distressed than young people used to be. In this highly informative book, child psychologist Jenny Perkel explores in depth why this might be so, highlighting what modern-day South African children and adolescents are experiencing and the environment in which they are being raised.

Children in Mind presents a broad range of up-to-date findings from psychological, neurobiological, genetic, psychiatric, sociological and epidemiological research related to the diagnosis and treatment of children’s mental health problems. Theoretically informed but not theoretically dense, the book cites both local and international studies to increase awareness and understanding of children’s mental health.

Perkel discusses a broad spectrum of issues faced by today’s children and adolescents: the Covid-19 pandemic, the influence of electronic media, diverse family structures, stress and trauma, and difficult socio-economic circumstances. While offering no easy answers or formulaic solutions to the problems of troubled children, she shows how to think about children’s mental well-being in today’s South Africa.

Children in Mind is an invaluable resource for all those who work with troubled children and adolescents: psychologists, social workers, counsellors, educators and parents. The author’s informed and compassionate approach will help equip professionals and parents to help young people navigate complex issues and make adjustments in their behavior in order to live more balanced and happier lives.

The author will empower you to contain your children's anxiety and feelings of insecurity and to re-establish a measure of equilibrium as effectively as possible.

Using loads of case studies from her extensive files, Anne highlights the following:

• How, when and where to inform your children in an age-appropriate and honest way;
• Emotional support for you, the parent;
• Guidance on effective parenting skills to help your children;
• The how-to of active listening, anger management and clear, firm and consistent boundary setting - all with practical examples;
• The legal process - with reference to the New Childrens Act - which emphasizes the principle of the best interests of the child being of paramount importance;
• Assistance with compiling co-parenting agreements - taking in to account the ages and stages of the child, as well as possible limiting factors such as the need for supervised contact;
• Tips regarding ongoing relationships with extended family and the introduction of new partners;
• Advice to step-parents and parents who were never married before their separation
• And much, much more...

This title deals with emotionally difficult issues in a clear, anecdotal manner, and has an over-riding theme of positivity. There is a strong message of hope and reconciliation with the emphasis on the power of choice and the importance of mind-set change in order to move on.

If you have read a few baby books or searched the Internet for parenting tips you have most likely stumbled across the mythical Unicorn Baby. This is the baby who feeds every four hours and sleeps through the night, sits at six months, pees pure gold and poops rainbows.

Whether this baby exists or not does not matter. What matters is this: you did not get this baby. If you are looking to answer the question: “Is my baby normal?” then you are in the right place.

The Unicorn Baby is an honest and hilarious account of parenting. Roxanne uses her professional experience as an Occupational Therapist to identify and debunk ten modern parenting myths that cause all kinds of anxiety for new parents and often leads them down the wrong parenting paths. For example:

• Myth: You need to get your baby into the perfect routine Reality: There is no such thing as the perfect routine
• Myth: You should only feed your baby every four hours Reality: You should practice responsive feeding, not scheduled feeding
• Myth: You must teach your baby to sleep through the night Reality: There is no magic formula that will make your baby sleep through the night, no matter what you do.
• Myth: Your baby grows and develops every day Reality: Your baby will grow and develop in leaps and spurts

A mother of small children trusts her 'gut feelings' and it saves her life.

A young dad is able to grieve for his lost baby – using a song.

What if there were parts of our minds which we never use, but if awakened, could make us so much happier, connected and alive? What if awakening those parts could bring peace to the conflicts and struggles we all go through?

From the cutting edge, where therapy meets neuroscience, Steve Biddulph explores the new concept of 'supersense' – the feelings beneath our feelings – which can guide us to a more awake and free way of living every minute of our lives. And the Four-storey Mansion, a way of using your mind that can be taught to a five-year-old, but can also help the most damaged adult.

In Fully Human, Steve Biddulph draws on deeply personal stories from his own life, as well of those of his clients, and from the frontiers of thinking about how the brain works with the body and the wisdom of the `wild creature' inside all of us. At the peak of a lifetime's work, one of the world's best-known psychotherapists and educators shows how you can be more alive, more connected. More FULLY HUMAN.

From the bestselling author of Raising Boys.

My reis, eers as pleegma en later as aanneemma, was nie een waarop iemand my kon voorberei nie. Rooiletterkind is my poging om hierdie reis so eerlik as moontlik te ondersoek, vanaf die vertrekpunt een oggend voor ’n kerkdiens tot by ’n handgemaakte Moedersdagkaartjie meer as vyf jaar later.

Wat maak jy met ’n kind wat aanhou om teen jou liefde te baklei? Hoe help jy haar deur die slaggate van die lewe as jyself nooit daardeur is nie?

Dit is maar net twee van die vele vrae wat ek myself onophoudelik moes vra terwyl ek verbete vasklou aan ’n rooiletterdatum, ’n halsstarrige kind en ’n hart wat gereeld uit my borskas geruk word.

Saam met ons eie verhaal was daar egter ook ander stories wat vertel moes word — stories van ons kind se herkoms, van gebrokenheid en straatmense en kriminele en ’n drughuis sonder reëls of taboes.

Sy sal notas maak oor haar kinders, besluit 'n vrou voor haar jongste se geboorte. “Voor ek vergeet. Voor hulle groot is, weg, in 'n oogwink.” Sy lê oomblikke vas: die vrae sonder antwoorde, gebedjies, 'n eerste wisseltand, sywurms, huisvergaderings, die huiskat wat kleintjies kry en drome van eendag.

Sing, Mamma, Sing is haar opgaaf van die frustrasie, weekheid, verwondering, trots en benoudheid wat elke ma ken. Dis haar kennismaking met ouers se grootste vrees en verlies wanneer die jongste op byna agt en dertig sterf.

Die boek sluit aan by die genre van die moeder-memoir en die subgenre van verlies.

As a teenager in today’s crazy online world, you may think you’ve got it all sussed out. But even YOU don’t know about all the legal pitfalls, hidden dangers and future implications of what you do, see and post online.

Selfies, Sexts And Smartphones is the book every teenager (and their parents) should read. It covers all of the major issues teenagers face in the digital age, including cyberbullying, sexting, addiction, internet safety, porn, anxiety, depression, privacy and reputation, and does so within a South African context. Accessible, informative and even fun, this book will help guide you to a happy, rewarding and, most importantly, safe online life.

A powerful toolkit for parents of both checked-out and stressed-out teens that shows exactly what to do (and stop doing) to support their academic and emotional flourishing.

Adolescents are hardwired to explore and grow, and learning is mainly how they do this. But a shocking majority of teens are disengaged from school, simultaneously bored and overwhelmed. This is feeding an alarming teen mental health crisis. As kids get older and more independent, parents often feel powerless to help. But fear not, there are evidence-backed strategies to guide them from disengagement to drive, in and out of school.

For the past five years, award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson and the Brookings Institution’s global education expert Rebecca Winthrop have been investigating why so many children lose their love of learning in adolescence. Now, weaving extensive original research with real-world stories of kids who transformed their relationships with learning, they identify four modes of learning that students use to navigate through the shifting academic demands and social dynamics of middle and high school, shaping the internal narratives about their skills, potential, and identity:

• Resister When kids resist, they struggle silently with profound feelings of inadequacy or invisibility, which they communicate by ignoring homework, playing sick, skipping class, or acting out.
• Passenger When kids coast along, consistently doing the bare minimum and complaining that classes are pointless. They need help connecting school to their skills, interests, or learning needs.
• Achiever When kids show up, do the work, and get consistently high grades, their self-worth can become tied to high performance. Their disengagement is invisible, fueling a fear of failure and putting them at risk for mental health challenges.
• Explorer When kids are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.

Understanding your child’s learning modes is vital for nurturing their ability to become Explorers. Anderson and Winthrop outline simple yet counterintuitive parenting strategies for connecting with your child, tailoring your listening and communication styles to their needs, igniting their curiosity, and building self-awareness and emotional regulation.

When last did you get lost? We rarely do in the era of Google Maps and Waze, but satellite navigation systems are of no use when disruption turns our lives upside down. When swirling mists of uncertainty block our view of the future, we might question our ability to cope. But with awareness, determination and practise we can improve our competence, build our resilience and confidence, and gain a sense of control, even when everything feels out of control.

Whether your life has been disrupted by death, divorce, disease, Covid-19 lockdown, working from home, moving town, starting a new job, or any of a host of other disruptive events that can either make or break you, this book will guide you to the best possible outcome. Disruption is never comfortable, but regardless of whether it is positive or negative, it is a catalyst for change.

Future-Proof Yourself provides simple but effective lessons and frameworks to help you future-proof yourself to win at both work and life. Dip into chapters on disruption, remote working, resilience, teamwork, leadership and family, and learn how to remain focused, utilise pressure and create a recipe for personal success. A distillation of Nikki Bush’s professional insights as a human-potential and parenting expert, combined with her personal honesty and vulnerability, this book is a must-read for anyone looking to harness their courage and curiosity to build a rewarding, fulfilling future for themselves – no matter what life throws at them.

This parenting classic is as relevant today as it was when it was first published, shining a light on one of the most misunderstood trends of our time: how the influence of peers, magnified by social media and video game culture, is replacing parents in the lives of children, and what parents can do about it.

Children take their lead from their friends: Being “cool” matters more than anything else. Shaping values, identity, and codes of behavior, peer groups are often far more influential than parents. But this situation is far from natural, and it can be dangerous—it undermines family cohesion, interferes with healthy development, and fosters a hostile and sexualized youth culture. Children end up becoming conformist, anxious, and alienated.

In Hold On to Your Kids, acclaimed physician and bestselling author Gabor Maté joins forces with psychologist Gordon Neufeld to pinpoint the causes of this breakdown and offer practical advice on how to “reattach” to your children and earn back their loyalty and love.

By helping to reawaken our instincts, Neufeld and Maté empower parents to be what nature intended: a true source of enrichment, security, and warmth for their children.

Nikki Bush, a parenting expert, and Arthur Goldstuck, a technical commentator, will help parents get a handle on what’s happening in consumer technology. In this sensitive and insightful guide, they carve a path through the maze of terminology, dangers and opportunities to help parents navigate new spaces together with their children, with greater confidence.

In explaining the technology, they never ignore the human context: to place children’s use of technology in the context of the relationship between parents and their children.

The guide will ensure children are both safe and savvy in this fast-changing world, and the process starts with parents. For families to remain connected, both online and offline, and for young people to develop into responsible digital citizens, parents need to bridge the digital divide for their children.

Children develop strong brain connections and feel happy when they learn how to control their bodies, manage big overwhelming feelings and develop their thinking skills. These important skills come more easily for some than for others - which also means that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to parenting.

Filled with stories, examples and easy to understand analogies, Raising Happy Children will help you understand what is going on inside your child's developing body and brain as well as your child's true nature and how this affects the way he thinks, feels and behaves.

You'll also find lots of fun games you can play during your day-to-day interaction - crucial in the development of your child's ability to regulate his body and develop his thinking in the midst of big, overwhelming feelings. In this book, Lizanne also gives step-by-step ways to deal with some of the most common parenting struggles,as they relate to your unique child, such as: Meltdowns; Temper tantrums; Fears, anxieties and stress.

Once you understand your unique child, you'll be ready to set appropriate boundaries and put rituals and routines in place that will guarantee a calm, happy and deeply connected family.

From the acclaimed author of Losing Eden (“Powerful, beautifully written”—Anthony Doerr) an important, moving, passionate and passionately written inquiry—personal and scientific—into what happens—mentally, spiritually, physically, during the process of becoming a mother, from pregnancy and childbirth to early motherhood and what this profound process tells us about the way we live now.

In this important and ground-breaking, deeply personal investigation, Jones writes of the emerging concept of “matrescence” – the wholeness of becoming a mother.

Drawing on her own experiences of twice becoming a mother, as well as exploring the latest research in the fields of neuroscience and evolutionary biology; psychoanalysis and existential therapy; sociology, economics and ecology, Jones writes of the physical and emotional changes in the maternal mind, body, and spirit and shows us how these changes are far more profound, wild, and enduring than have been previously explored or written about.

Part memoir, part scientific and health reporting, part social critique, ecological philosophy, eco-feminism and nature writing, Matrescence is a kind of whodunnit, ferreting out with the most nuanced, searing and honest observations, why mothers throughout this heightened transition are at a breaking point, and what the institution of intensive, isolated motherhood can tell us about our still-dominant social and cultural myths.

Popular parenting expert Dr Laura Markham has garnered a large and loyal readership around the world, thanks to her simple, insightful approach that values the emotional bond between parent and child. However, as any parent of more than one child knows, it's challenging for even the most engaged parent to maintain harmony and a strong connection when competition, tempers, and irritation run high. In this highly anticipated guide, Dr Markham presents simple yet powerful ways to cut through the squabbling and foster a loving, supportive bond between siblings, while giving each child the vital connection that he or she needs. Calm Parents, Happy Siblings presents hands-on, research-based advice on: Creating deep connections with each one of your children, so that each truly believes that you couldn't possibly love anyone else more. Fostering a loving family culture that encourages laughter and minimizes fighting. Teaching your children healthy emotional self-management and conflict resolution skills - so that they can work things out with each other, get their own needs met and respect the needs of others. Helping your kids forge a close lifelong sibling bond, as well as the relationship skills they will need for a life of healthy friendships, work relationships, and eventually their own family bonds.

As slaap en alleen piepie vir die voëls is, jy weke laas beenhare kon skeer, jy sukkel om in jou broeke te pas en push-up bra’s moet dra – o ja, en jy gewoond is aan koue koffie – dan is hierdie rubriekbundel vir jou!

’n Humoristiese blik op die vreugdes en uitdagings van moederskap en vrouwees.

Carla Lang se blog, #kouekoffie, het reeds oor die 15 000 aanhangers (followers). Van die rubrieke het oorspronklik op Netwerk24 verskyn.

Sinvolle, eenvoudige oplossings om jou én jou baba van ’n goeie nagrus te verseker deur gesonde slaapgewoontes te vorm.

Lees hier hoe jy dit doen deur:

• Realistiese verwagtings
• Gepaste sensoriese ervarings bedags
• Die regte slaapomgewing
• Die uitskakel van honger of mediese oorsake as jou baba snags wakker word
• Genoeg slaap bedags
• Goeie slaapasossiasies sodat jou baba op sy eie verder sal slaap as hy snags wakker word
• Oplossings vir skeidingsangs.

Benewens hierdie riglyne, bied Slaap, kindie, slaap! ’n kitsverwysingseksie waar desperate ouers vinnig oplossings vir ouderdomsverwante slaapkwessies sal vind.

This book explores representations of fathers in select South African novels published from the birth of apartheid to the post-transitional moment.

Father figures in the texts reflect political and social climates in South Africa – at different times representing the oppressive apartheid government, righteous and authoritative liberation leaders and the unfulfilled promise of a democratic South Africa. Grant Andrews examines how father characters are linked to storytelling; they narrate the lives of their children and their patriarchal power is constituted through narratives. He features authors such as Alan Paton, Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee, Zakes Mda, K. Sello Duiker, Mark Behr, Zoë Wicomb, Lisa Fugard and Zukiswa Wanner.

Stories of Fathers, Stories of the Nation also investigates how fatherhoods are being reimagined in light of shifting discourses of gender and identity. More recent novels have deconstructed the father figure and his paternal narrative power, representing conflicts around racial identity, sexuality, legacy and how the sins of the father are visited on his children.

All children misbehave sometimes! Some children are temperamentally more difficult to parent because they are impulsive, hyperactive, inattentive, or delayed in some aspect of their development. This invaluable handbook uses the Incredible Years (R) Parenting Pyramid (R) as the architectural or construction plan for specific parenting tools that help prevent behaviour problems from occurring and promote childrens social, emotional, and academic competence, and healthy lifestyles. The book helps parents to build a strong positive relationship foundation before using respectful discipline tools to reduce target behaviour problems. The book also focuses on tools for building family relationships and support networks as well as problem solving methods and self-regulation skills to manage stress.

They say kids don't come with a set of instructions--the AstroTwins beg to differ

Are you a Cancer mom trying to understand your Sagittarius daughter? Are you a Virgo mother with a Pisces son who seems to be your polar opposite? Wondering why your little Taurus was such an easy baby, but your Aquarius was anything but? Even if you've only ever read your horoscope in the back of a magazine for fun or never given astrology a second thought, you'll be amazed at the insights you'll get from Momstrology, a guide to parenting by the stars.

From choosing a preschool, to picking hobbies and activities, to understanding what it means when your toddler gets clingy, or your big kid wants to quit soccer, or your tween talks back, Momstrology is a unique guide through all of the phases of your child's life. Offering charts for every astrological sign to decipher your child's good days and bad days, likes and dislikes, and how your child deals with authority, limits, separation, and siblings, the AstroTwins offer real-world advice, from a cosmic perspective, that is always supportive and never overwhelming. With a section devoted to understanding your strengths and challenges as a mom based on your sign and another section that matches you with your children to see how you all mesh together, Momstrology is a parenting guide like no other.

Let Momstrology be your go-to guide in the trenches of parenthood...through tears and triumphs and meltdowns and milestones, for every age and stage.