Summer Reading for Moms and Dads

Every year you receive your child’s last report card and it says, “Johnny or Susie should continue reading this summer to maintain his/her skills.”   I would like to suggest that we, as parents, do the same.  We can take this opportunity while our children are away or otherwise occupied to hone our own skills by reading the works of some influential people in the field of parenting.   That way when the school year begins again on September 1^st, not only would we have maintained our skills, we may even have a little more knowledge and some tricks up our sleeve to navigate the very difficult waters of parenthood!  Here are some Summer Reading Suggestions for parents that were made by educational psychologist and consultant, Lori Day (loridayconsulting.com).  Enjoy and Happy Reading!

1.     Get to know the work of Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Ms. Orenstein has one of the most prominent and influential voices in today's debate about the effects of media and marketing on female development and the modern perception of girls. If you're looking for someone who flat-out gets it, look no further.
2.  Get to know the work of Michael Thompson. He is the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons, as well as the co-author, with Dan Kindlon, of the New York Times best-selling book, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. His latest book, It's a Boy!, is a comprehensive guide for the parents of boys.
3.  Focus on reading and the important role of fathers. Chris Singer-stay-at-home dad, reader, blogger, social entrepreneur and technology wizard-uses his BookDads website to review children's books, blog about issues affecting children today, and promote the crucial role of fathers. Check Chris out at http://www.BookDads.com. He's got a lot to say about the kind of world he wants for his own daughter, and the relative absence of fathers' voices when it comes to the issue of society's sexualization of young girls.
4.  Read Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods. In this influential work about the staggering divide between children and the outdoors, child advocacy expert Richard Louv directly links the lack of nature in the lives of today's wired generation--he calls it nature-deficit--to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
5.  Promote mental health and resilience in kids. Find out what father and character educator Patrick McMillan has accomplished on behalf of his own children, and all of our children, at http://www.kidscandoanything.com. Patrick's programs An Exercise in Happiness and Attracting Happiness help kids determine what really makes them feel happy and how happiness can become a habitual way of being. When we think good thoughts about ourselves, the world we live in and about our future, we feel good, and when we feel good we do well by taking action on our good thoughts and feelings.