Rating: 
Summary: Excellent guide for caregivers of preschoolers to teenagers!
Review: This book is full of wonderful, practical ideas for supporting children and helping them become more resilient. I appreciate how the authors don't attack parents, but rather present their ideas as case studies based on their years of work with families. The chapters dealing with schools, teachers, and parents should be a reading requirement for everyone before parent-teacher conferences. As you read, you're required to take a hard look at yourself - so this is not a "ten tips to fix my child, I'm already doing things right" kind of book, as shown by this excerpt: "Think of your daily interactions with your children. Place yourself in their shoes. Now ask yourself: If someone responded to me the way I responded to my children, would I walk away from that interaction feeling stronger, would I feel loved, would I be a more resilient person, or would I feel more defeated?" Much of the book focuses on how to make those interactions more positive and I found their examples/case studies really helpful when you're raising challenging children! They "get" how exhausting it can be parenting them...and provide practical tips for improving your relationship with them.This book tackles everything from empathy, to understanding temperaments to nurturing "islands of competence"...and since the case studies include ages of preschoolers through teen years and beyond, it's a book you'll want to keep around to refer to again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: For parents' workshops, perhaps for teacher in-service ed...
Review: This curriculum workbook springs from Goldstein's and Brooks' book, Raising Resilient Children, which (for some reason I do not know) is no longer available through Amazon.com (you would have to buy it used). (Perhaps the authors are planning a second edition?) This is a 9-week course covering: (1) Teaching and conveying empathy; (2) re-writing negative scripts; (3) Discplining in ways that promote self-discipline and growth; (4) Making decisions, solving problems; (5) loving children in ways that help them feel special and appreciated; (6) learning from mistakes; (7) Expecting success, "islands of competence"; (8) hope and courage. It is accompanied by a video tape (not available from Amazon.com) but which would be good for persons planning parent groups or in-service for teachers. The age-group that the authors write about is children, but with some modifications (especially with discipline) it could be applied to adolescents. This book is an easy beginning to the practical aspects of resilience education. It is graphically good looking and substantively good.
Rating: 
Summary: One of many average parenting books
Review: This tended to be an average book about parenting with basically good ideas, but surprising weak in dealing with childhood crises that call upon resilience. As a parent whose child had gone through a traumatic experience, it failed to provide the type of support necessary for the challenging times in parenting.
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