Families & Parents

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From understanding what adoption is, through to step by step guidance on the entire process and the challenges that come up along the way, this is the only book you will need to read on adoption.

Written by an author who was adopted herself, who has looked after over twenty children and who works with a fostering and adoption agency that deals specifically with breakdowns, this book will teach you how to confidently navigate the system and build a strong and lasting relationship with your child.

Whilst very much being the unvarnished truth, this is an empowering guide that will ensure you feel in control and know where to turn to for help no matter what:

With a positive attitude and the right tools, adopting a child can be very rewarding – don’t try to overthink it, don’t try to love, just do right by them and as you learn about each other the love, kindness and acceptance will grow.

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Adopted children who have experienced loss, abuse or neglect need additional support for their emotional development, and are more likely to have special educational needs. This useful resource provides a complete plan for creating adoption-friendly environments in primary, secondary and specialist schools.

The book is grounded on new research which gathered together testimonies from over 400 school staff members, adoptive parents and adoption specialists. With realistic consideration of pressures and limitations currently faced by schools, it gives advice on eight key areas for school development, including communicating with parents, training staff, using resources wisely and recognising children’s individual needs. Completing the toolkit is a broad selection of photocopiable and downloadable plans for establishing adoption-friendly frameworks, and for demonstrating good practice to staff, pupils, families and school inspectors.

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Theraplay® is an attachment-focused model of parenting that helps parents to understand and relate to their child. Based on a sequence of play activities that are rooted in neuroscience, Theraplay offers a fun and easy way for parents and children to connect. Theraplay is particularly effective with looked after and adopted children.

By providing an overview of Theraplay and the psychological principles that it is based on, parents and carers will gain an understanding of the basic theory of the model along with practical ideas for applying Theraplay to everyday family life. Through everyday case studies and easy language, parents will gain confidence and learn new skills for emotional bonding, empathy, and acceptance in the relationship with their child.

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Helping Parents Help their Children!
~ New, Innovative and Practical Strategies! ~

A Must-Read for anyone parenting or caring for a child with a difficult or traumatic early history!

Children who have had difficulties or disruptions in their first, early relationship with their parent or primary caregiver often struggle with attachment injuries. These children frequently come to reject the very things they most need from their parents or caregivers: love and connection. This presents special challenges for parents.

If you are the parent or caregiver of a child with attachment injuries, the ideas in this book will bolster your role as an agent of healing and change for your child. You will find new and innovative concepts and attachment-based strategies to help you help your child. In this book, you will learn:

• The underlying dynamics and motivations of attachment-injured children.
• How to create safety and build connection with your child.
• How to help your child re-story their life in a healthy, adaptive way.
• What to look for and what to avoid in therapy for your child.
• Practical strategies to reduce and address challenging behavior.
• How to understand mental health diagnoses.
• Some commonly-used terms related to attachment and child trauma.

Within the pages of this book, you will find many practical and down-to-earth suggestions with examples and insights to guide you along the way. This book focuses on children with attachment injuries, but all parents are likely to find value within!

Discover attachment-based parenting to address mild to sever attachment injuries including developmental trauma and reactive attachment disorder (rad). Adoptive, biological, and foster parents, guardians, kinship, and other caregivers will find new ways of understanding their child, along with useful and revolutionary parenting strategies to heal relational wounds and help their child become emotionally and relationally connected.

They say kids don’t come with a manual, but this is the next best thing!
~ WB – parent, life coach, former supervisor and counselor in children’s residential treatment

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ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS EVERY TEEN SHOULD KNOW BEFORE LEAVING HOME!

-> The perfect gift for teens and young adults

Congratulations, you’re a young adult. But… Are you ready to leave home? Do you have the skills to live independently?

Chances are, you don’t know everything you need to know yet. That’s ok! We weren’t born knowing how to cook or manage our money, and many of these skills are never taught in school.

In today’s world, you need more than just good grades to get by. You need life skills.

Life skills are the skills that we need to function in everyday life. They include things like cooking, cleaning, budgeting, and time management. Many of these skills are never taught in school, but they’re essential for thriving in the real world.

Without life skills, young adults can struggle when they leave home and have to fend for themselves.

This book will teach you 100 everyday life skills to make adulthood easier. By the time you’re finished reading, you’ll be ready to take on anything!

So whether you’re getting ready to finish school and head off to college, or you’re already out in the real world, this book is for you. It’s never too late to learn!

In Life Skills for Young Adults, you’ll learn how to:

• manage your money wisely

• save for your future

• cook simple and delicious meals

• find and apply for your first job

• keep your living space clean and organized

• deal with stress and anxiety

• stay fit and healthy, and so much more.

Life Skills for Young Adults is your essential guide to learning the skills you need to survive and thrive in the real world. If you like simple, practical, and real-world advice, you’ll love this book.

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start learning the skills you need to be a successful adult.

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If you read the bestselling The Danish Way of Parenting, you will have already discovered the secret to the happiest children in the world. Here, co-author and psychotherapist Iben Dissing Sandahl will bring to life the Danish upbringing values that form the basis of raising the happiest, healthiest and most well-adjusted teenagers in the world.

From embracing uniqueness and authenticity, to stressing freedom with responsibility and avoiding ultimatums, The Danish Way of Raising Teens uncovers the ten core principles Danes use to raise their teens and steer them through this challenging, yet exciting, phase.

Reassuring and gentle, this book will help you support your child in this formative time, which is often shrouded in worry, to show a way forward that is packed with hope, positivity and enjoyment.

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We are seeing a generation of children and teens with excessively high levels of stress, and, as a result, an explosion of health problems in young people today. But few parents recognise the ‘hidden stressors’ that their children are struggling with.

This book, previously published as Self-Reg, will give you the tools to help you recognise stress and understand your child’s behaviour, and teach your stressed, emotional child to identify their ‘big’ emotions and get back on an even keel by themselves.

Stress can affect your child in many ways – whether it’s exam pressure, pressure exerted by friends online or in the playground, or related to health, with lack of sleep and anxiety at home contributing. Help Your Child Deal With Stress – and Thrive is a ground-breaking parenting book, in which Dr Stuart Shanker argues that by teaching children the art of self-regulation, it can transform their behaviour and help them to identify, talk about and manage their emotions. This leads to a harmonious home, and children who feel nurtured and supported.

Mastering the art of self-regulation can help children learn to deal with experiences, overcome frustration, pay better attention, engage better with others and enhance their learning capabilities. In turn, children will develop the confidence, along with the skills and emotional strength needed to navigate the pressures and stresses of the modern world.

Underpinned by science, Dr Shanker’s techniques have had a remarkable effect on children and parents alike, and hundreds of thousands of children who have gone through the programme in Canada have shown significant improvement in literacy, numeracy and behaviour.

‘In this important and timely book, Stuart Shanker encourages us to see our children in a whole new light and gives us the tools we need to help nurture our young in order that they can better manage stress, build resiliency and improve their emotional health. Today’s pupils are under serious pressure to perform; by helping children recognize, identify and talk about their emotions, we can help them find balance and ultimately realise their true potential.’ – Sir Anthony Seldon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham, co-founder of Action for Happiness and best-selling author

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Placing children at the centre of safeguarding principles and practices is vital for ensuring the best child protection. This essential resource provides early years practitioners with all that they need to be confident and competent as they fulfil their roles and obligations to safeguard and protect children.

Exploring the main factors that impact on the lives of young children in the current safeguarding climate, this book is a starting point for understanding the risks and categories of abuse and neglect. Grounded in best practice, it gives practitioners encouragement and advice to help shape and drive practice forward with child-centred motives, practices and perspectives.

The book offers:

• Insights into the current safeguarding climate backed by practical examples
• An introduction to managing the different safeguarding challenges faced by early years professionals
• Methods for contextualising these for children in the early years
• Guidance on supporting vulnerable children, their families and other agencies working alongside them
• Reflections, case studies and a wide range of example scenarios
• Voices and insights from across the sector woven throughout for a holistic understanding of safeguarding

With accessible chapters drawing on best practice from across the sector at every level, this is a valuable resource for all those working in the early years, whether just starting out or highly experienced in the field.

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This book presents original, empirical research that reframes how educators should consider autism and educational inclusion. Rebecca Wood carefully unpicks common misapprehensions about autism and how autistic children learn, and reconsiders what inclusion can and should mean for autistic learners in school settings.

Drawing on research and interwoven with comments from autistic child and adult contributors throughout, the book argues that inclusion will only work if the ways in which autistic children think, learn, communicate and exhibit their understanding are valued and supported. Such an approach will benefit both the learner and the whole classroom. Considering topics such as the sensory environment, support, learning and cognition, school curriculums, communication and socialisation, this much needed book offers ideas and insight that reflect the practical side of day-to-day teaching and learning, and shows how thinking differently about autism and inclusion will equip teachers to effectively improve teaching conditions for the whole school.

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There are few life experiences more joyful than becoming a parent, but caring for a newborn can be daunting, particularly when you’re not sure whose advice to follow or what your baby really needs.

In The Blissful Baby Expert, Lisa Clegg draws on her own experience of motherhood and her professional life as a nanny and maternity nurse to share her essential, trusted advice. Gentle, reassuring and practical, her book guides you every step of the way from birth to two years. It includes:

– Equipment – what is essential and what is helpful
– Coming home – how to cope and bond in the early days
– Sleep – flexible plans to help your baby settle and sleep
– Feeding – guilt-free breast- and bottlefeeding
– Weaning – when to start and how to do it
– Q&As – common worries and what to do
– Development – what to expect and advice on toys

Every baby is different and this is why Lisa’s book isn’t a restrictive one-size-fits-all plan. Instead, she gives you the knowledge you need to trust your own instincts, build your confidence and learn to recognise what is best for your baby. With this knowledge, you’ll enjoy calm, happy parenting and a blissful, settled baby.

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