February 2023 MBR The Parenting Shelf

The Parenting Shelf

What to Do About Your Troubled Child
Laura J. Stevens, author
Richard W. Walker Jr., author
Square One Publishers
115 Herricks Road, Garden City Park, NY 11040
www.squareonepublishers.com
9780757005145, $17.95, PB, 256pp

https://www.amazon.com/What-About-Your-Troubled-Child/dp/0757005144

Synopsis: As children grow, there may be times when their behavior seems out of place or troubling. When there is a recurrent pattern of one or more of these types of behavior, something may be wrong. As a parent, if you have noticed something "off" about the way your child has been acting, perhaps it's time to take a closer look at what might actually be going on -- before it gets worse.

"What to Do About Your Troubled Child: A Practical Guide for All Parents at Their Wits' End" by Laura J. Stevens and Richard W. Walker is specifically designed to provide you with the information you need to get to the bottom of the mystery. If a behavioral disorder is caught early enough and treated correctly, it can be greatly lessened or even eliminated. Unfortunately, many behavioral problems in children go undiagnosed for so long that they progress beyond the possibility of improvement.

"What to Do About Your Troubled Child" is divided into two parts. Part One looks at six of the most common behavioral disorders: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism, Anxiety Disorders, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Conduct Disorder. Each chapter focuses on one disorder and includes a list of questions intended to determine if your child exhibits enough of the tendencies associated with this disorder to warrant a closer look. It then describes the symptoms and risk factors of the problem, how it may be professionally diagnosed, and traditional means of treatment, which include therapy and medication.

Part Two offers a detailed look at complementary approaches to treatment, such as lifestyle changes, nutrition, beneficial programs, and helpful devices.

Telling yourself that your child is bound to grow out of a certain pattern of behavior may be causing you to ignore the signs of a serious issue -- one that should be addressed. By the time your child reaches adolescence, the disorder may be too far gone. Now is the time for you to understand and do something about it. Now is the time to let "What to Do About Your Troubled Child" be your guide.

Critique: Thoroughly 'parent friendly' in organization and presentation, "What to Do About Your Troubled Child: A Practical Guide for All Parents at Their Wits' End" must be considered essential reading for any parent with a child exhibiting emotional, behavioral, or social problems, including stress and depression. While also available for personal reading lists in a digital book format (Kindle, $9.99), "What to Do About Your Troubled Child: A Practical Guide for All Parents at Their Wits' End" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, counseling center, and academic library Parenting and Child Psychology collections.

Editorial Note #1: Laura J. Stevens, MSci, received her master's degree in nutrition science from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. Since graduation, she has worked at Purdue as a researcher, investigating the relationship between diet and health disorders. Apart from her work at Purdue, Laura is the author of eight books on diet, behavior, and allergies. Laura lives with her amazing cats, Bentley and Seis, in Lafayette, Indiana.

Editorial Note #2: Richard W. Walker, Jr., MD, MBA received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and completed his residency at the University of Michigan. He earned his MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute. He has served on the faculty of the University of Texas Medical Center, and is the founder and CEO of Walker Health Care Holdings and TVP-Care, Houston-based national healthcare companies. In addition to being a published writer, Dr. Walker is a highly sought-after speaker.

Holding On While Letting Go
Carl Pickhardt
Health Communications, Inc.
3201 S.W. 15th Street, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442-8190
www.hcibooks.com
9780757324239, $16.95, PB, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Holding-While-Letting-Parenting-Adolescence/dp/0757324231

Synopsis: Parenting a teenager is not for the faint of heart. It is during these roller-coaster years of adolescence that frustrated parents find themselves at their wits' end, barely even recognizing their offspring as they move through the teen years.

With the publication of "Holding On While Letting Go: Parenting Your Child Through the Four Freedoms of Adolescence", Carl Pickhardt, a Harvard-trained psychologist and the voice of reason behind Psychology Today's advice column, "Surviving (Your Child's) Adolescence," shares critical insights and practical tools that parents need to know as their children move through the teen years toward independence and adulthood.

There's a reason the road is rocky -- it's supposed to be. Children must pass through "four unfolding freedoms" in order to become competent, independent, and confident adults. How easily parents can navigate these twists and turns with less hand-holding, angst, and hitting the brakes directly correlates to how successful their children will be.

The four unfolding freedoms are: Freedom from rejection of childhood, around the late elementary school years, when they want to stop acting and being treated as children anymore; Freedom of association with peers, around the middle school years, when they want to form a second family of friends; Freedom for older experimentation, around the high school years, when they want to try more grown-up activities; Freedom to claim emancipation, around the college age years, when they decide to become their own ruling authority.

With each successive push for freedom, both parents and teens need to learn how to do less holding on to each other while doing more letting go. Dr. Carl Pickhardt will show them the way with compassion, experience, and time-tested guidance.

Critique: As 'real world practical' as it is informative, insightful, and 'parent friendly' in organization and presentation, "Holding On While Letting Go: Parenting Your Child Through the Four Freedoms of Adolescence" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Parenting Instructional Reference collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that "Holding On While Letting Go: Parenting Your Child Through the Four Freedoms of Adolescence" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Editorial Note: Carl Pickhardt (www.carlpickhardt.com) is a noted psychologist, speaker, and parenting expert, now retired from private counseling practice. He received his B.A. and M.Ed. from Harvard, and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the American and Texas Psychological Associations. He writes a popular parenting advice column for Psychology Today and has writtten some of the most practical and helpful books about important parenting issues, including: The Connected Father; Stop the Screaming, The Future of Your Only Child and Why Good Kids Act Cruel. A prolific author, he continues to write three distinct kinds of books: illustrated psychology, of coming of age fiction, and of nonfiction parenting advice.

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