Family Development

Over her decades as a clinical psychologist, Dr. Mona Delahooke has routinely counseled distraught parents who struggle to manage their children’s challenging, sometimes oppositional behaviors. These families are understandably focused on correcting or improving a child’s lack of compliance, emotional outbursts, tantrums, and other “out of control” behavior. But, as she has shared with these families, a perspective shift is needed. Behavior, no matter how challenging, is not the problem but a symptom; a clue about what is happening in a child’s unique physiologic makeup.

Never before has raising teens been so perplexing. If you are wondering what on earth you're doing wrong, you're not alone. But there is hope. By learning to meaningfully express love amid your teens' many changes, you can stay connected, maintain influence, and help them grow into healthy adults.

Eliza Fricker gets it. Describing her perfectly imperfect experience of raising a PDA child, with societal judgements and family pressures, she knows how easy it is to feel overwhelmed, resentful and alone. The Family Experience of PDA explains these challenging situations and emotions in a way that words simply cannot, bringing some much-needed levity back into PDA parenting.

At the age of five, Megan Phelps-Roper began protesting homosexuality and other alleged vices alongside fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Founded by her grandfather and consisting almost entirely of her extended family, the tiny group would gain worldwide notoriety for its pickets at military funerals and celebrations of death and tragedy.

Dad, your new life begins in one hour. I did the homework, so you don’t have to do as much. I talked to lots of experts, and lots of dads, and lots of experts who are also dads. I read everything I could. Then I wrote and rewrote this book, filled with steps you can take to become a better dad.

Middle school is its own important, distinct territory, and yet it's either written off as an uncomfortable rite of passage or lumped in with other developmental phases. Based on her many years working in schools, professional counselor Phyllis Fagell sees these years instead as a critical stage that parents can't afford to ignore (and though "middle school" includes different grades in various regions, Fagell maintains that the ages make more of a difference than the setting).

Do you feel stuck because of how your parents treated you? Do you struggle with guilt, shame, or self-doubt because of a toxic mother or father? This audiobook is here to help you heal and take control of your life. Narcissistic Parents offers two powerful guides in one audiobook to help you recover from the emotional wounds caused by a narcissistic mother or father. Whether you're trying to move past a controlling parent or escape unhealthy family dynamics, this audiobook provides simple, easy-to-understand steps for healing.

If you’ve always wanted to radiate confidence and unleash your full potential, but find yourself trapped in a cycle of past trauma and negative emotions, then keep reading… Do you yearn to reconnect with your inner child, find freedom from anxiety and stress, and live a life overflowing with joy? Are you sick and tired of not being able to let go of your past wounds and emotional pain? If so, then you’ve come to the right place. Even if you’ve tried therapy, self-help books, or meditation without success, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) approach offers a unique and effective solution.

Parenting with Scripture is an easy-to-use topical resource for parents who want to make the most of teachable moments with their children. It is a guide to help you train your children in how to think and apply God's word in the day-to-day.

In Calmer, Easier, Happier Boys, parenting expert Noel Janis-Norton explains simple strategies for the unique challenges of raising motivated, cooperative and confident boys. Using the foolproof techniques Noel has developed over many years of working with families, parents can get back in charge. Living with boys can become calmer, easier and happier.

In busy-mom-friendly short essays, Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay delivers the empathetic straight dirt on parenting, tackling everything from Mommy & Me classes ("Your baby doesn't need to be making friends at three months old - you do! But not with people you'll meet at Mommy & Me") to attachment parenting ("If you're holding your baby 24/7, that's not a baby, that's a tumor").

Family is difficult because family - every family - is an echo of the gospel. Family can be the source of some of the most transcendent human joy, and family can leave us crumpled up on the side of the road. Family can make us who we are, and family can break our hearts. Why would this social arrangement have that much power, for good or for ill, over us?

The complexities of planning and administering an estate are clearly explained in this up-to-date and authoritative guide. From wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and health care directives to probate and administering an estate, it's all here in plain English.

Being the parent of a smart child is great - until your son or daughter starts asking whether global warming is real, if you are going to die, and what will happen if they don't get into college. Kids who are advanced intellectually often let their imaginations run wild and experience fears beyond their years. So what can you do to help? In Why Smart Kids Worry, Allison Edwards guides you through the mental and emotional process of where your child's fears come from and why they are so hard to move past. Edwards focuses on how to parent a child who is both smart and anxious.

Sh*tty Mom is the ultimate parenting guide, written by four moms who have seen it all. As hilarious as it is universal, each chapter presents a common parenting scenario with advice on how to get through it in the easiest and most efficient way possible. With chapters such as "How to Sleep Until 9 A.M. Every Weekend" and "When Seeing an Infant Triggers a Mental Illness That Makes You Want to Have Another Baby," as well as a Sh*tty Mom quiz, this is a must-have, laugh-out-loud funny audiobook for the sh*tty parent in all of us.

CBA best-selling author Karen Kingsbury - herself an adoptive mother - offers an inspiring collection of true stories to remind readers that God is present in every adoption. Providing the perspectives of people from a diverse set of backgrounds and age ranges, Treasury of Adoption Miracles features stories of inspiration and hope that will appeal to adoptive parents, their children, and lovers of nonfiction alike.

Written after his wife's tragic death as a way of surviving the "mad midnight moments", A Grief Observed is C.S. Lewis's honest reflection on the fundamental issues of life, death, and faith in the midst of loss. This work contains his concise, genuine reflections on that period.

Ten years ago, Helen Naylor discovered her mother, Elinor, had been faking debilitating illnesses for 30 years. After Elinor’s self-induced death, Helen found her diaries, which Elinor wrote daily for more than 50 years. The diaries reveal not only the inner workings of Elinor’s twisted mind and self-delusion, but also shocking revelations about Helen’s childhood. Everything Helen knew about herself and her upbringing was founded on a lie.

In a time when so many suffer from isolation and it feels like developing authentic relationships and true belonging is harder than ever, Chris and Julie Bennett invite you into their story to discover why we were meant for togetherness and why it's worth facing any amount of hardship to keep our faith, families, and communities at the center of who we are.

Gary John Bishop has helped millions of people break free of self-sabotaging behaviors. Yet we all seem to feel like we’re failing at this thing called parenting. Common wisdom isn’t working—our kids are struggling. Gary argues we don’t need more tips, tricks, and techniques, we need an overhaul of who we are. We’re never going to measure up to the “perfect parent” model we’ve built up in our heads—a Frankenstein version of mom and dad cobbled together from our childhoods, our parents, cultural ideals, social media, and everything in between.