1st Edition
The Art and Science of Parenting and Grandparenting Raising Emotionally Healthy Children in a Challenging World
The Art and Science of Parenting and Grandparenting is an indispensable source of guidance and wisdom on the most critical challenges facing contemporary parents and grandparents.
Award-winning psychologist Kenneth Barish shows how we can protect our children's emotional health, support their love of learning, have better conversations, and nurture children's empathy and kindness towards others. Dr Barish presents comprehensive, multi-step plans for solving many problems of daily family life. He offers insights from neuroscience, child development research, clinical and educational programs for children, and from his experience of more than forty years as a child psychologist, father, and grandfather.
This book should be read by parents and grandparents, physicians, child and family therapists, teachers, child development specialists, and anyone committed to the well-being of children and families.
Introduction. How to Be a Positive Influence in Your Grandchild's Life 1. How to Support Our Children's Emotional Health 2. How to Strengthen Our Children's Interest in Learning 3. How to Help Children Learn to Regulate Their Emotions 4. How to Foster Children's Social Development 5. How to Nurture a Spirit of Kindness and Caring in Children 6. How to Have Better Conversations with Your Children and Grandchildren 7. How to Solve Family Problems: A 5 – Step Plan 8. Foundations of Good Behavior: Basic Principles and Common Misconceptions 9. 21 Rules to Foster Cooperative Behavior in Children 10. Solving Daily Problems: Mornings, Homework, Sleep, Rudeness, and Screens 11. Summary and Key Take Aways
Biography
Kenneth Barish, Ph.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychology at Weill Cornell Medicine. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association
“Young people are facing a mental health crisis that we are ill-equipped to handle. With increasing levels of depression, anxiety, suicide, and loneliness, it is encouraging that we now have a helpful and wise guide from Professor Kenneth Barish. The Art and Science of Parenting and Grandparenting is the kind of book that will change your life as a parent or grandparent. In a positive, highly accessible style, Dr. Barish takes us through powerful and inspiring steps to help our children and grandchildren cope more effectively in a challenging and often confusing world. You will find recommendations that you can immediately use to help your child cope with difficult emotions, disappointments, and communication while developing purpose, compassion, and self-control. Drawing on the latest research in child development, Dr. Barish has given us a guide that will help you help your child. This is invaluable advice from someone who has spent his life working with children and families.
Robert L. Leahy, Ph.D., Director, American Institute for Cognitive Therapy
“Drawing from a treasure trove of experience as a very thoughtful and observant parent, grandparent, and clinician, Ken Barish gives the key adults in children's lives a roadmap for raising children who are emotionally healthy and who care about others and a better world. This is a lovely, warm-hearted, engaging, and practical book that never shies away from tough challenges in child-raising and brings to them a great deal of wisdom and good sense.”
Richard Weissbourd, Senior Lecturer and Faculty Director, Making Caring Common,
Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of The Parents We Mean to Be
“Surprisingly easy to read, The Art and Science of Parenting and Grandparenting is the best book on parenting I know of. Not only does it deliver the goods contained in the title as it blends Professor Barish’s lifetime experience as a child psychologist with the latest neuroscience and child developmental research, but it’s also a real page turner! Full of practical advice on the many contemporary challenges of helping children, including how to manage screen time, fight less with parents, and do well in school, Barish has his eye on longer range goals. He shows how to help children develop inner motivations for lifelong learning coupled with empathy and concern for others, all on the way to emotionally healthy, meaningful, and rewarding lives. This book should be required reading for all parents, a book I wish I’d had when younger, and one I’m giving to my grown children to help them parent my grandkids.”
Arthur Nielsen, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, and author of A Roadmap for Couple Therapy
“Has there ever been a more timely book on children’s mental health than Ken Barish’s The Art and Science of Parenting and Grandparenting? It’s extremely unlikely! At a time of unprecedented familial stress and erosion, Barish offers a nuanced, multi-dimensional depiction of why and where these stressors occur and how they sometimes subtly and oftentimes blatantly present children and adolescents with near-impossible impediments to their mental health. In an era of overly simplistic “cures” to these dilemmas, Barish offers sound, thoughtful ways to understand and aid children in their struggles toward personhood. This book is a must read for parents, educators, and mental health clinicians and especially grandparents, who will find a warm advocate for their crucial roles in enhancing their grandchildren’s lives. This book and its author have my complete respect.”
Steve Tuber, Ph.D., ABPP, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York and author of Attachment, Play and Authenticity: Winnicott in Clinical Context
