“How LONG Will This Last?”

That’s how About Our Children, a monthly from the New Jersey/Rockland Jewish Media Group, headlined the review of Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years that appears in its May issue.

“A comprehensive guide to early childhood development,” wrote the reviewer, and described Helen F. Neville’s book as “Peppered with useful sidebars, graphs and charts that make it easy to navigate.”

(May 6, 2008)

New! Upside Down Day and Yard Sale Carnival

Spring is coming slowly to the Northwest, and if you’re like us, you’d like a little excitement in your family. What could be better than “Upside Down Day?” That’s one of the features in the May issue of News for Parents, available now. And if you’re thinking about cleaning house for a yard sale, “News for Parents” tells you how to turn that sale into a carnival. More fun and more opportunity to raise funds, especially if your sale is a benefit for a school or charity! The newsletter always offers parenting tips, and this issue has two book reviews, too: See You Later, Procrastinator! (Get It Done) and Treehouses and Other Cool Stuff: 50 Projects You Can Build.

To receive the e-mail edition, sign up for a free subscription.

(May 1, 2008)

Note to e-mail subscribers: Several copies of the e-mail edition are rejected by bulk mail (“spam”) filters each month. If you subscribe to the e-mail edition and did not receive your copy, this may be the reason. If your mail server permits, put “ezine@ParentingPress.com” on the list of senders you will always accept.

On the Air: What Angry Kids Need

Pam Provonsha Hopkins, M.S.W., co-author with Jennifer Anne Brown, M.S.W., of the newly published What Angry Kids Need: Parenting Your Angry Child Without Going Mad, will be interviewed starting about 4:00 p.m. April 25 on KIT-AM, Yakima, Wash., by Mike Bastinelli.

Hopkins earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work at Walla Walla College. After starting her career with an outgrowth of the college's social work department, she worked in Yakima with Catholic Family and Child Service. Now a resident of Snohomish, Wash., she practices in nearby Woodinville. She also has consulted with Yakima’s Reil House Treatment Center and Everett's state-funded Early Childhood Education Assistance Program.

(April 20, 2008; time updated April 21 & 22)

“All I Can Say Is, ‘Buy This Book’ ”

Just the praise Parenting Press likes to hear, and we found it in mid-April on Mother Load, where a blogger wrote, “Temperament Tools. . .claims to give you the ability to ‘work with your child’s inborn traits.’ After having reread it, all I can say is, buy this book. It’s magically delicious.”

“By the time [authors Helen F. Neville and Diane Clark Johnson] were explaining to me why Cooper needs the tags cut out of his shirts, and why Fergus isn’t hungry for breakfast until 10 a.m., I was thinking, I live on the 12th floor of an apartment building. How can you be looking in my windows? This book is spooky spot-on!”

(April 15, 2008)

Laurie Kanyer Offers Grief Workshops

Registration is open now for “Living-Losing-Longing-Grief: Considering These Tough and Tender Phases of Life,” a workshop by author Laurie Kanyer.

Kanyer wrote 25 Things to Do When Grandpa Passes Away, Mom and Dad Get Divorced, or the Dog Dies, which each participant will receive along with six CEUs. Exercises will include practicing techniques and statements professionals can use when dealing with the grief-stricken. A special emphasis: how to handle extreme grief that compromises human development.

The one-day workshops, all in Washington state, will be offered April 25 in Yakima, May 2 in Smokey Point, May 9 in Spokane, and May 16 in Kent. The registration fee is $65 for members of Washington Women’s Coalition, $80 for others. To register, call Barbara at Triumph Treatment Services, (509) 248-1800, Ext. 316, with your credit card billing information.

(April 15, 2008)

What Angry Kids Need Described as “Hot” Seller

Our new how-to guide for dealing with children's anger—and our own—is described by Amazon.com as a “hot new release” and especially recommended for parents dealing with special needs of all kinds.

Reviews on Amazon include this comment from a therapist who works with children experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties:

A mother of four added:

What Angry Kids Need: Parenting Your Angry Child Without Going Mad was written by Jennifer Anne Brown and Pam Provonsha Hopkins, therapists who practice in Woodinville, WA, and illustrated by Mits Katayama of Seattle.

(April 14, 2008)

Author of What Angry Kids Need Quoted in Seattle Daily

Jennifer Anne Brown, M.S.W., co-author of What Angry Kids Need, was recently interviewed by Seattle Post-Intelligencer parenting reporter Paul Nyhan. The article, “Working Dad: Finding the right mix of strength and self-control with today’s more aggressive girls,”, is on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’ web site.

(April 7, 2008)

New PEP Talk: Procrastinators, Adult ADHD, Families of Deployed Military

The Spring issue of Parenting Press’s quarterly for parent educators, school social workers and other professionals is packed—yes, PACKED—with information you can use now or with future clients. And you can receive a free electronic copy of this issue if you register before April 30.

This PEP Talk tells:

• How to help end the cycle of women who single parent in poverty
• Why women who opt out of professional careers may be unusually intense
• Why teaching teenagers problem-solving skills can reduce risky behavior
• How to support military families before, during and after deployment to war zones
• Why teenagers with sick parents may suffer more emotionally than younger children
• How to recognize adults with attention deficit problems
• What you can do about procrastinators you live or work with

(April 4, 2008)

Extra! Extra! Honors for an Excellent Book!

Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years, written by Helen F. Neville and illustrated by Jenny Williams, has been awarded an Honor Award in the 2008 National Parenting Publications Awards program. Details on the 2008 winners should be posted soon at www.parenthood.com. Is This a Phase? has been named a finalist in the ForeWord Book of the Year awards program.

(March 22, 2008; updated April 7 & 20)

Awards at Northwest Parenting & Family Education Conference

Drew Betz, WSU-Whatcom County, Wash., extension educator, congratulates Minneapolis parent educator Jean Illsley Clarke with a lifetime achievement award, the second such award presented in the 14-year history of the annual Northwest Parenting & Family Education Conference in March in Vancouver, Wash. Clarke is the author of several books, including two published by Parenting Press, Time-In: When Time-Out Doesn’t Work, and Who, Me Lead a Group? Her leader's guide for How Much Is Enough will also be sold by Parenting Press.

Parenting Press, represented by founder Elizabeth Crary and publisher Carolyn Threadgill, received the first organizational award for contributions to parenting education ever presented by the conference, which is sponsored by Washington State University Extension in cooperation with the extension programs at Montana State University, Oregon State University and the University of Idaho.

Photos by Helen F. Neville, whose new book Is This a Phase? was the Parenting Press best-seller at this conference.

(March 22, 2008; updated March 26, 2008)

Conference Specials Still Available

If part of your job or volunteer assignment is promoting parenting education or early childhood education, you can still purchase the “Publicize Your Programs on a Shoestring Budget” packet prepared for the recent parent educator conference in Vancouver, Wash.

The basis for Linda Carlson’s presentation on cost-effective promotion, this packet includes three back issues of our PEP Talk quarterly, with such articles as:

• “Creative, Cost-effective Promotion for Parent Education Programs”

• “Marketing Doesn’t Require Huge Budgets and Special Expertise”

• “Overcoming Challenges to Attracting and Retaining Participants”

• “Plan Ahead, Piggyback on Other Events and Persist”

• “How Parent Educators Are Dealing with Funding Cuts at a Time of Increased Need for Services”

The packet also includes three ready-to-use teaching plans, and research and book reviews. Cost: only $10 plus shipping and any applicable tax. Use the link below or specify “Publicize Your Programs” when you telephone.

(March 22, 2008)

Listen for Helen Neville on NPR

Starting the week of May 28, you can tune into any NPR station that carries “Parent’s Journal” to hear Helen F. Neville, author of Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years, interviewed by Bobbi Conner.

The three topics author Neville will discuss with Conner are:

• Attention span and how it develops as a child grows
• Ping-pong parenting and how to avoid it during the toddler and preschooler years
• Teaching children impulse control

Check your NPR affiliate station for air times or visit parentsjournal.com for a program schedule and for podcasts of previously aired programs.

(March 6, 2008; updated April 7 & 20)

Grief Author Also Award-Winning Artist

Laurie Kanyer, the Yakima, Wash., author of 25 Things to Do When Grandpa Passes Away, Mom and Dad Get Divorced, or the Dog Dies, has been recognized by the Palos Verdes (Calif.) Art Center for her jewelry.

Kanyer’s beaded piece “Mosaic Law” received second prize in its category in the art center’s recent competition. It and another beaded piece, “Be a Walking Watts Tower,” are currently on exhibit at the art center.

Earlier this year, “Mosaic Law” received the $200 Banner Bank Award in the ninth biennial “Art to Wear” juried exhibition at the Larson Gallery at Yakima Valley Community College, and was shown in Bellevue, Wash., at Beyond Beads as part of its juried show in December.

Kanyer’s book explains the value of activities, large and small motor, physical and creative, in working through grief and loss. Although oriented to children, 25 Things to Do has valuable reminders for adults, who may find solace in creative projects such as Kanyer’s.

(February 27, 2008)

Fish Faces Abound at Libraries!

Spring is guaranteed to be a fishy season in Illinois libraries! The Hamilton Public Library had a double celebration on April 1, with a Fish Lips Face Photo Contest for April Fool’s Day. Children were invited to imitate the face on the cover of Janan Cain’s The Way I Feel for the camera. The grand prize winner received an autographed copy of Mrs. Cain’s best-selling book about emotions.

The Mokena Community Public Library patrons are making faces a little later this spring. Kids can come in any time and look at the pursed-lips face on the cover of the book. The “who can fish face best” contest will be held May 14 at the library’s PJ Story Time. For more information, contact Pat Hoornaert, library youth services.

(Updated April 7, 2008)

Kaiser Permanente Praises Is This a Phase?

Parenting Press’s new child development reference by Helen F. Neville is receiving high marks from Kaiser Permanente Oakland’s health education department, which says:

• Easy to reference, fun to read
• Excellent format/layout
• Easy to use and refer to, relevant to child’s current age/stage/development
• Medically accurate and current information presented in a non-judgmental manner
• Practical and empowering for the reader

In addition, health educator Gina Galliterto describes such sections as “kindergarten readiness,” “bilingual issues and education,” and “diversity,” the charts and the “around the world” sidebars as “highlights,” because that information is so often missing from other parenting guides.

(December 29, 2007)

Librarians Praise New Parenting Guide

Our newly published parenting guide Is This a Phase? Child Development & Parent Strategies, Birth to 6 Years has won rave reviews in Library Journal, the most important publication for those who select books for libraries.

Based on Helen F. Neville’s three decades as a pediatric answer nurse and parent educator, Is This a Phase? is described by Library Journal as “an authoritative reference covering a broad range of topics . . . that every parent needs.”

It continues, “Neville’s book is accurate, reliable, and practical, with many charts and graphs that render the information accessible. Recommended for all public libraries.”

This wonderful new guide is also an ideal baby gift—for yourself or for someone you care about. And if you’re in the Bay Area, Mrs. Neville may be exactly the speaker you want for your next child guidance workshop, early childhood education course.

Sample Is This a Phase?

You can browse Helen F. Neville’s new book online. The table of contents shows the dozens of topics covered in Is This a Phase? and excerpts from the text let you sample Neville’s concise, practical approach to the first six years of your child’s life.

(November 29, 2007
updated Dec. 1, 2007)

Quick! Check Qwik Books for 24/7 Help!

Exhausted by your toddler’s tantrums? Anxious about possible abusers in your neighborhood? Unsure how to explain war? Frantic about a suspiciously secretive teenager? You need help right now. And you can find it right here, with Parenting Press’s dozens of online resources. It’s 24/7 help, as close as your keyboard.

You probably know about our weekly parenting tips, and now we have two more great resources for on-the-spot help with parenting concerns:

Qwik Sheets

Our concise Qwik Sheets provide a variety of practical suggestions for handling new or common issues in an easy-to-read format you can print for everyday reference or e-mail to a worried friend.

Qwik Books

Just as easy to use are Parenting Press’s new Qwik Books. They’re designed so you can print out booklets with dozens of tips, straightforward explanations of typical child development questions—and entire children’s books.

We continue to offer “News for Parents,” the free monthly newsletter, full of book reviews, feature stories, family activities and community service projects appropriate for kids; and Teacher Activities, oriented to teachers, librarians, home-schoolers and parents with the teaching plans, downloadable games and quick-to-print note cards using art work from our favorite children’s publications. You’ll find everything you need for a story hour, classroom or youth group project!

If you’re a parent educator, early childhood educator or other family life professional, remember to check Parenting Education Practitioners (PEP) Talk. This informative quarterly for professionals is packed with book and research reviews, timely articles, how-to’s from your peers and, in each issue, a step-by-step one-hour presentation ideal for parenting classes.

(March 13, 2007)

California Schools Approve Publications

The Way I Feel, Parenting Press’s 32-page prize-winning picture book about emotions, and Self-Calming Cards, which show and describe how to manage feelings, are two of the Parenting Press publications approved for supplemental use in California public schools.

The Feeling Elf Cards & Games and the Decision Is Yours Series—Bully on the Bus, Finders, Keepers, Under Whose Influence, Making the Grade and First Day Blues—were also determined to meet “social content” requirements of the California Department of Education’s code.

“These guidelines ensure that materials portray democratic values, cultural pluralism, and the diversity of our population by emphasizing people in a variety of positive roles,” the Press was told.

The publications will now be included on the list of California’s Legal and Social Compliance Approved Out-of-Cycle Instructional Materials.

(January 9, 2007
Updated: February 12, 2007)

Bookstores and Libraries Sponsoring
Fish Lips Face Photo Contests

If you run a bookstore or library that would like to get kids in the door, consider a Fish Lips Face Photo Contest.

To promote Janan Cain’s prize-winning The Way I Feel, Parenting Press provides gift books as prizes when kids imitate the goofy face on the cover of Mrs. Cain’s The Way I Feel.

• More information (whether you’re a bookstore, library or prospective “fish lips face”)

(October 28, 2003
Updated October 7, 2004
Updated May 24, 2007)

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