When it comes to parenting, more isn't always better-but it is always more tiring In Japan, a boy sleeps in his parents' bed until age ten, but still shows independence in all other areas of his life. In rural India, toilet training begins one month after infants are born and is accomplished with little fanfare. In Paris, parents limit the amount of agency they give their toddlers. In America, parents grant them ever more choices, independence, and attention. Given our approach to parenting, is it any surprise that American parents are too frequently exhausted? Over the course of nearly fifty years, Robert and Sarah LeVine have conducted a groundbreaking, worldwide study of how families work. They have consistently found that children can be happy and healthy in a wide variety of conditions, not just the effort-intensive, cautious environment so many American parents drive themselves crazy trying to create. While there is always another news article or scientific fad proclaiming the importance of some factor or other, it's easy to miss the bigger picture: that children are smarter, more resilient, and more independent than we give them credit for. Do Parents Matter? is an eye-opening look at the world of human nurture, one with profound lessons for the way we think about our families.

There is a feeling of helplessness in the hearts of many parents. The social problems that they used to only read about in newspapers are becoming manifest in their children's school, in their neighborhoods, and in their own homes. This is the most appropriate time for a book that affirms the importance of good parenting in promoting happiness, self-esteem, and a desire for achievement. Why Parents Matter challenges parents and parental figures to take responsibility for their children. Barber argues that parental investment is an essential ingredient for a child's successful upbringing. Parents must see that the paramount role they play can improve their children's lives and, by extension, create a better community and society. Genetic and societal causes of delinquency are excuses used merely to avoid blame, according to Barber, who supports this argument with clearly explained evidence. In today's world, teen pregnancy, divorce, and crime are undeniable and common realities, but it is time to change these realities. This change can begin with effective parenting. Our world will improve as we more actively parent our children to become responsible, well-adjusted adults. This book offers guidance to parents and parental figures who wish to explore why it is that our youth are in danger and how we can help to inspire them to learn the elements necessary to lead healthy, creative, and balanced lives.

"Most of the existing literature on homosexuality describes gay males, with lesbian experience sometimes added on like the tail of a ktie. This book is different. It draws evenly from the stories of lesbian daughters and gay sons. It was planned that way. This book is different in another way that was not planned, not anticipated. It shows, ever so consistently, that lesbian daughters have more difficulty with their parents than do gay sons ... Why did all these gay children tell their parents? What were the circumstances that led them to this decision? How did they tell them--what words did they use? And how did those parents react--immediately, and months later. This book gives the fascinating answers to all those questions and many more."--Publisher's description.

Harris takes on the "experts" and boldly questions conventional wisdom of parents' role in their children's lives, asserting that it's not the home environment that shapes children, but the environment they share with their peers.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Parents are social factors in children’s lives that can positively influence math achievement; and one does not need a degree in math to provide support! What one needs is a guidebook filled with good questions to pose, tips for supporting math thinking and general attitudes about math, and an “insider’s view” into what math teaching and learning looks like in today’s classrooms. This book serves as that guidebook, and its author invites parents to use it while making sense of math with children. Parents and children are encouraged to share and celebrate multiple ways of solving math examples, rather than debate over the better approach. Chapter 1 includes a description about how and why math teaching has changed through the years. The big math ideas taught through the grades are outlined in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 through 5 offer detailed descriptions about how big math ideas develop in Grades Kindergarten through 2, 3 through 5, and 6 through 8, respectively. In conclusion, Chapter 6 offers tasks that provide additional entry points for engaging in conversation about math at home.

This book discusses the vital part that parents play in the academic achievement of students. It describes the many roles that parents assume in the different educational stages of a childs life from infancy to late adolescence and how these roles ultimately impact students academic and future success. The book explores in detail the impact of parent involvement in early childhood education; middle, junior high, high school education; and with at-risk students. Parent involvement is also a critical factor within the school atmosphere. The book discusses in detail how parent involvement affects the schools caliber to promote student achievement, thus contributing to the overall school improvement process. Practical and research-based strategies are introduced under each parent role, thus enabling the reader (whether it be parent, school administrators, or educators) to apply what was read to the real-life context within the relevant settings.