Learning from a Lost Childhood


Book Description




The Importance of Being Little


Book Description

“Christakis . . . expertly weaves academic research, personal experience and anecdotal evidence into her book . . . a bracing and convincing case that early education has reached a point of crisis . . . her book is a rare thing: a serious work of research that also happens to be well-written and personal . . . engaging and important.” --Washington Post "What kids need from grown-ups (but aren't getting)...an impassioned plea for educators and parents to put down the worksheets and flash cards, ditch the tired craft projects (yes, you, Thanksgiving Handprint Turkey) and exotic vocabulary lessons, and double-down on one, simple word: play." --NPR The New York Times bestseller that provides a bold challenge to the conventional wisdom about early childhood, with a pragmatic program to encourage parents and teachers to rethink how and where young children learn best by taking the child’s eye view of the learning environment To a four-year-old watching bulldozers at a construction site or chasing butterflies in flight, the world is awash with promise. Little children come into the world hardwired to learn in virtually any setting and about any matter. Yet in today’s preschool and kindergarten classrooms, learning has been reduced to scripted lessons and suspect metrics that too often undervalue a child’s intelligence while overtaxing the child’s growing brain. These mismatched expectations wreak havoc on the family: parents fear that if they choose the “wrong” program, their child won’t get into the “right” college. But Yale early childhood expert Erika Christakis says our fears are wildly misplaced. Our anxiety about preparing and safeguarding our children’s future seems to have reached a fever pitch at a time when, ironically, science gives us more certainty than ever before that young children are exceptionally strong thinkers. In her pathbreaking book, Christakis explains what it’s like to be a young child in America today, in a world designed by and for adults, where we have confused schooling with learning. She offers real-life solutions to real-life issues, with nuance and direction that takes us far beyond the usual prescriptions for fewer tests, more play. She looks at children’s use of language, their artistic expressions, the way their imaginations grow, and how they build deep emotional bonds to stretch the boundaries of their small worlds. Rather than clutter their worlds with more and more stuff, sometimes the wisest course for us is to learn how to get out of their way. Christakis’s message is energizing and reassuring: young children are inherently powerful, and they (and their parents) will flourish when we learn new ways of restoring the vital early learning environment to one that is best suited to the littlest learners. This bold and pragmatic challenge to the conventional wisdom peels back the mystery of childhood, revealing a place that’s rich with possibility.




Creating Compassionate Kids: Essential Conversations to Have with Young Children


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Selected as a "Favorite Book for Parents in 2019" by Greater Good. Young children can surprise us with tough questions. Tominey’s essential guide teaches us how to answer them and foster compassion along the way. If you had to choose one word to describe the world you want children to grow up in, what would it be? Safe? Understanding? Resilient? Compassionate? As parents and caregivers of young children, we know what we want for our children, but not always how to get there. Many children today are stressed by academic demands, anxious about relationships at school, confused by messages they hear in the media, and overwhelmed by challenges at home. Young children look to the adults in their lives for everything. Sometimes we’re prepared... sometimes we’re not. In this book, Shauna Tominey guides parents and caregivers through how to have conversations with young children about a range of topics-from what makes us who we are (e.g., race, gender) to tackling challenges (e.g., peer pressure, divorce, stress) to showing compassion (e.g., making friends, recognizing privilege, being a helper). Talking through these topics in an age-appropriate manner—rather than telling children they are too young to understand—helps children recognize how they feel and how they fit in with the world around them. This book provides sample conversations, discussion prompts, storybook recommendations, and family activities. Dr. Tominey's research-based strategies and practical advice creates dialogues that teach self-esteem, resilience, and empathy: the building blocks for a more compassionate world.




A Lost Childhood


Book Description

God's plan for her from the beginning was beyond her wildest dreams and imagination In Lynda Williams' first-ever public discussion of her early life and growing up with career criminals, the worst of it all came in 1978. Her brother, Gary Tison, escaped from Arizona State Prison, and her family had to endure the largest manhunt ever in the southwestern United States. She recounts the fear she faced during those 11 days, an event that spawned two books and a pair of movies. Lynda tells about the abuse she suffered growing up in a family where her father and brothers were routinely in and out of prisons, and how her family name, rather than her character, led to many shunning and ridiculing her. Lynda also offers a stirring message of hope for survivors like her: That one can overcome adversity by learning to love yourself and faith in God. LYNDA WILLIAMS is retired after many years of working with abused children, as well as owning and operating other businesses, including a ranch.




Why Do I Feel So Sad?


Book Description

Help kids start to heal after grief and loss—for ages 5 to 7 Why Do I Feel So Sad? is an inclusive, age-appropriate, illustrated kid's book designed to help young children understand their own grief. The examples and beautiful illustrations are rooted in real life, exploring the truth of loss and change, while remaining comforting and hopeful. Broad enough to encompass many forms of grief, this book reassures kids that they are not alone in their feelings and even suggests simple things they can do to feel better, like drawing, dancing, and talking to friends and family. Why Do I Feel So Sad? is: Practical and compassionate―Written for early childhood-aged kids, this book touches on common sources of grief―everything from death to divorce or changing schools. Different for everyone―This book normalizes the confusing thoughts and physical symptoms that come with grief, so kids know there’s no one right way to feel or heal. Tips for grownups―Find expert advice and simple strategies for supporting grieving kids in your life. Children don’t have to go through grief alone; this book provides the tools to help them.




Bereavement


Book Description

"The book is well organized, well detailed, and well referenced; it is an invaluable sourcebook for researchers and clinicians working in the area of bereavement. For those with limited knowledge about bereavement, this volume provides an excellent introduction to the field and should be of use to students as well as to professionals," states Contemporary Psychology. The Lancet comments that this book "makes good and compelling reading....It was mandated to address three questions: what is known about the health consequences of bereavement; what further research would be important and promising; and whether there are preventive interventions that should either be widely adopted or further tested to evaluate their efficacy. The writers have fulfilled this mandate well."




Overcoming the Fear of Death


Book Description

Discusses how to reduce or overcome fear of death for those who hold a variety of beliefs on death including: the belief that there is no afterlife, that the there is an afterlife and it is something to be feared, that there is an afterlife and that it is something to look forward to, and that there is reincarnation after death.




The Lost Homework


Book Description

In this new addition to our 'Travellers' Tales' series, Sonny devotes his weekend to helping his neighbours and fellow Travellers with a variety of tasks. He uses many skills, from calculating the amount of fuel needed for a journey, to restoring a caravan. In fact, the only thing he doesn't do over the weekend is his homework - his workbook is missing! What will his teacher say? This new picture book by Richard O'Neill champions the idea that many skills learned at home are as important as those learned at school.




Raising Children Soul to Soul: Discovering Our Lost Childhood


Book Description

Children raised with awareness and energy enlightenment are amazing individuals. They have a superior comprehension of life, business, and energy even at a young age, and they quickly learn how to create innovative, successful outcomes. They mature early, and their grasp of life and what it offers them is breathtaking. The key to opening the door to illumination in childrearing is to understand your own childhood. This book offers an open-ended invitation to rediscover childhood memories and explore its wisdom. It interprets your first seven years as a vital chapter in this your lifetime. It also explains the spiritual context of how your first cycle from birth to seven years forms the basis for all future programming, including parenting. Presenting an innovative concept with a practical approach to parenting, Raising Children Soul to Soul presents an alternative method with more spiritual connotations. It gives parents the opportunity to shortcut their children's journey to spiritual maturity.




THE LOST CHILDHOOD (HUMAN RIGHTS OF SOCIALLY DEPRIVED)


Book Description

: This book is an experiment in understanding ground realities and descriptions of contemporary social problems. Current debates about social and economic human rights emphasize vital, economically driven needs for food, shelter, health care, and basic education while ignoring equally fundamental needs for socialization, interpersonal caring, and meaningful associations. This gives a distorted picture of social and economic human rights and allows the provision of economic needs to be promoted without due attention to the social needs that accompany them. Similarly, debates about civil and political human rights have focused on the rights against torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment while giving little or no attention to the intersection between these exclusions. Social exclusion is a socially constructed concept, and can depend on an idea of what is considered ‘normal.’ The concept of social exclusion is contested, in that it is often difficult to ‘objectively’ identify who is socially excluded, as it is a matter of the criteria adopted and the judgments used. The state of Jharkhand is one of the migrating states, especially for child laborers. Their labor is unaccountable. They usually suffer from anemia and reproductive infections. One of the main obstacles to tribal development is superstitious beliefs and practices. They think that the diseases, famines, water scarcities, weak crops, the spread of epidemics and premature death, etc. befall on them only when the evil spirits are angry. Thus the socio-economic condition of the tribal is very poor caused of many factors, i.e. undulating topography, less cultivable land with no irrigation facilities, lack of Govt. infrastructure facilities and superstitious beliefs, etc. Migration and child trafficking must be prevented through the collaborative action of influential members of society and community leaders, police personnel, media people, NGOs working in the field and individuals who are in a professional capacity can influence state legislation to successfully combat trafficking. Education with professional/ technical skills education for income generation activities is needed. Migration and child trafficking must be prevented through the collaborative action of influential members of society and community leaders, police personnel, media people, NGOs working in the field and individuals who are in a professional capacity can influence state legislation to successfully combat trafficking. Education with professional/ technical skills education for income generation activities is needed. It is occasioned by of complete lack of sources of livelihood. It doesn’t lead to a better fortune for most of the girls going out of their homes but dark lanes where they are forever lost, where their lives end as victims of sexual exploitation in various ways and they fall prey to sexual exploitation in the brothels or outside the brothels. This book will be helpful to Administrators, Social Scientists, journalists, and social activists.