Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense,
Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic
by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

The spirited child--often called "difficult" or "strong-willed"--can easily overwhelm parents, leaving them feeling frustrated and inadequate. Spirited kids are, in fact, simply "more"--by temperament, they are more intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent, and uncomfortable with change than the average child. Through vivid examples and a refreshingly positive viewpoint, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka offers parents emotional support and proven strategies for handling their spirited child. Raising Your Spirited Child will help you.

This is also available as two audiocassettes, and there is a Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook that goes with the book.

 

How to Talk So Kids Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk
by Adele Faber, Elaine Mazlish

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk is an excellent communication tool kit.  Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish (coauthors of Siblings Without Rivalry also an excellent book) provide a step-by-step approach to improving relationships in your house. The "Reminder" pages, helpful cartoon illustrations, and excellent exercises will improve your ability as a parent to talk and problem-solve with your children.  The solid tools provided by the book are appropriate for kids of all ages.

This book is also available as abridged audiocassettes.

 

The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease,
Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life, Third Edition
by Nancy L. MacE, Peter V. Rabins, Paul R. McHugh

A practical guide for parents in raising sons to become compassionate and responsible men. In calling for a "moral and ethical revival in the raising of boys,'' therapist Gurian, the author of two prior books about raising boys, speaks to the concern of many that our culture is failing to develop character in its young males. After examining the gender differences in male brains, hormones, and social acculturation that place them at greater risk than females, he argues that boys need more structure, discipline, guidance, and training than is commonly provided.  Citing an "increase in ethical numbness, moral distraction, and spiritual emptiness among boys and young men," he examines the roots of potential problems - such as the abandonment of our children's moral development to potentially toxic" visual media - and then lays out a well-organized blueprint for ushering boys into adulthood.