Family Development

None of us had a perfect childhood; we are all carrying around behaviors that don’t serve us—and may in fact be hurting us. But it doesn’t have to be that way, says licensed marriage and family therapist Vienna Pharaon. Our past might create our patterns, but we can change those patterns for the better...with the right tools. In The Origins of You, Pharaon has unlocked a healing process to help us understand our Family of Origin—the family and framework we grew up within—and examine what worked (and didn’t) in that system.

Warm and fuzzy, anchored in values, and filled with simple words of wisdom, this beloved, best-selling book for parents speaks to the important business of raising sons, and distills their timeless lessons into nuggets of wisdom - some lighthearted, some serious, some practical, and some intangible, and all supported by a strong moral backbone.

On March 26, 2018, rescue workers discovered a crumpled SUV and the bodies of two women and several children at the bottom of a cliff beside the Pacific Coast Highway. Investigators soon concluded that the crash was a murder-suicide, but there was more to the story: Jennifer and Sarah Hart, it turned out, were a white married couple who had adopted the six Black children from two different Texas families in 2006 and 2008. Behind the family's loving facade, however, was a pattern of abuse and neglect that went ignored.

We heard it too many times: “Babies don’t come with an instruction manual.” Instead of taking the old cliché at its word, we asked, “why not?”. The famous Moms on Call series is here to help, equipping parents with trusted resources and practical guidance to navigate their child’s first four years with confidence, clarity, and better sleep.

You’ve met someone! And they have a kiddo (or a few) and you’re wondering what that’s going to mean for your relationship. Or perhaps you’re the one with a kiddo (or a few), and you want to be sure you get this part right for both your dating partner and your child. The Stepfamily Handbook: From Dating, to Getting Serious, to Forming a “Blended Family” provides essential guidance to parents who are dating and to those who are dating a parent. From those very first dates to including the kids to progressing to that big step of living together - this book is for you!

From best-selling author and historical consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, an unparalleled insider account of tumult, secrecy, and schism in the royal family.

The moment Diane Burke, an author and mother of two grown sons, received an unexpected certified letter in the mail, she had no idea her life would be shaken to its core. Memories of a past she had buried more than forty years ago suddenly resurfaced and she wasn't prepared to deal with them. Steve Orlandi, happily married, father of two and step-father of three, was living the typical middle class American life. But since the age of eight, when he discovered he was adopted, he had led that life dealing with inner questions about his self-identity and genetic history.

This is a book for working women and mothers who are ready to release the culturally inherited belief that their worth is equal to their productivity, and instead create a personal and professional life that's based on presence, meaning, and joy. As opposed to focusing on "fitting it all in", time management, and leaning in, as so many books geared at ambitious women do, this book embraces the notion that through doing less women can have - and be - more.

Surviving and Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships draws on current research, a wide variety of clinical modalities, and 30 years of clinical work with stepfamily members to describe the special challenges stepfamilies face. The book presents the concept of "stepfamily architecture" and the five challenges it creates, and delineates three different levels of strategies - psychoeducation, building interpersonal skills, and intrapsychic work - for meeting those challenges in dozens of different settings.

Becoming a parent is more than just a biological process—it’s a lifelong commitment to sacrifice, service, and most importantly, love. It’s a challenge to get up every day and put your kids first. You will experience moments of heroic compassion and humiliating failure, sometimes within the same day. But you don’t have to do it alone. From Ryan Holiday, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash hit The Daily Stoic, The Daily Dad provides 366 timeless meditations on parenting in a few manageable paragraphs a day—useful for even the most sleep deprived new parent.

Everyone is important, deserves to be treated with love and respect, and needs to know that when they make mistakes they will still be loved unconditionally. And when every member of the family is pulling for each other and on the same team, everybody wins. But is this kind of family life even possible? Parenting expert Dr. Kevin Leman says it is, and he's ready to show moms and dads exactly how they can make it happen in their family - in just five days.

Those who have made the decision to homeschool their children have done so out of great love for them and a desire to provide them an excellent education in the context of a warm, enriching home. Yet so many parents (mainly mothers) who have taken up this challenge find the enterprise often full of stress, worry, and anxiety.

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.

Everyone seems to agree that we have an epidemic of what is diagnosed as autism. But, in the history of our society, there has never been "an epidemic" of any developmental or genetic disorder. Yet, over the span of thirty years, autism has gone from affecting one in 5,000 children to one in 90, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So what is this "autism", which has come to affect the lives of so many?

When Amanda Eyre Ward's 13-year-old son, Harry, dove headfirst into the world of sneaker culture, she found herself baffled by his obsession with flashy, expensive shoes that seemed like mere status symbols. Determined to bridge the gap with her teenage son, Ward reluctantly decided to embrace the mantra of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". As she shed her preconceptions and immersed herself in the quest to snag the latest drops, Ward discovered a community far richer than she had imagined.

Being a great first-time dad doesn’t mean being perfect. It means having the tools you need to be a supportive partner during and after pregnancy - which is exactly what We’re Pregnant! The First-Time Dad’s Pregnancy Handbook is all about. From heartburn and headaches to birth and breastfeeding, We’re Pregnant! features practical, action-oriented pregnancy advice from the author of the Dad or Alive blog, Adrian Kulp, a (once clueless) dad who’s been there and done that - three times, in fact!

Since its publication in 1993, this groundbreaking book has persuaded countless parents, teachers, and managers that attempts to manipulate people with incentives may seem to work in the short run, but they ultimately fail and even do lasting harm. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that we actually do inferior work when we are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives—and are apt to lose interest in whatever we were bribed to do. Rewards and punishments are two sides of the same coin—and the coin doesn't buy much.

In Worry Less, Parent Better, family physician and mother of five Dr. Karen Latimer tackles six major topics that plague the parent brain: food, sleep, health and safety, socialization, technology, and achievement. In each, she examines the problems at large that prompt worry, she identifies exactly what we worry about, and finally, she offers practical steps and tips for alleviating it so you can enjoy the journey a whole lot more.

Between the ages of twelve and twenty-four, the brain changes in important and, at times, challenging ways. In Brainstorm, the renowned psychiatrist and bestselling author of Parenting from the Inside Out, The Whole-Brain Child, and Mindsight, Daniel Siegel busts a number of commonly held myths about adolescence — for example, that it is merely a stage of “immaturity” filled with often “crazy” behavior — to reveal how it is in fact a vital time in our lives in terms of charting the course for the adults we ultimately become.

As a woman used to traveling and living the high life in Bangkok, Leanne Shirtliffe recognized the constant fodder for humor while pregnant with twins in Asia's sin city. But in spite of deep-fried bug cuisine and nurses who cover newborn bassinets with plastic wrap, Shirtliffe manages to keep her babies alive for a year with help from a Coca-Cola deliveryman, several waitresses, and a bra factory. Then she and her husband return home to the isolation of North American suburbia.