Description:
"Nobody plays with me." "All the other kids pick on me." If these are complaints your child often voices, by all means, don't just ignore it. Author Hara Estroff Marano asserts that popularity--how well your child is liked by his or her peers--is the single greatest determinant of a child's happiness and success at school. Yet wanting a child to be popular is nearly taboo in our society, with most parents stressing academic rather than social achievement as a goal. Marano, an editor for Psychology Today, closely examines and interprets the research on children's interactions and their ability to get along with peers. She finds that kids are becoming less socially competent, and rejection--while always a powerful interpersonal force--has recently become more lethal. Socially rejected kids who have absorbed a message that violence solves problems may even avail themselves of deadly weapons. Marano stresses the importance of play in developing social skills, and decries the phenomenon of the over-scheduled child. A full third of Why Doesn't Anybody Like Me? focuses on what parents can do to help their kids improve their social interactions, and includes suggestions for dealing with bullies and assisting the aggressive child. This book will have parents eagerly turning pages, making mental notes, watching their children's interactions, and working with them to improve their social competence. --Ericka Lutz
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