Family & Relationships

Ditch the devices and bring back the magic of being a kid

Screens are everywhere. Children spend an average of 7.5 hours on digital devices every day with profoundly negative consequences. While some tech may "amplify" real-life experience, the vast majority undermines it by limiting physical activity, creating anxiety, or damaging self-esteem. Childhood Unplugged takes a bold approach to creating healthy boundaries around the use of digital media.

Drawing on her own family's experience, plus interviews with digital minimalists, educators, and child development experts, Katherine Martinko presents:

• Meticulously researched analysis of the impacts of excessive screen time on children's physical, neurological, emotional, and social development
• Specific pathways to reduced screen exposure, naturally leading to more time spent outdoors, increased confidence and empathy, and more creative and active play
• Inspiration for caregivers overwhelmed by the thought of severing ties with the digital babysitter
• Age-appropriate advice for parents of babies and toddlers, school-aged children, and adolescents.

Taking a calming, nonjudgmental approach, Childhood Unplugged is a lifeline for parents, caregivers, educators, and anyone who questions the role of digital media and yearns for the young people in their life to experience the profound beauty and magic of childhood.

AWARDS

• FINALIST | 2023 Foreword INDIES Awards: Family & Relationships

Building grit and hope in the face of the climate emergency

With catastrophic global warming already baked into the climate system, today's children face a future entirely unlike that of their parents. Yet how can we maintain hope and make a difference in the face of overwhelming evidence of the climate crisis?

Help is at hand. Written by Harriet Shugarman – the Climate Mama and trusted advisor to parents – How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change provides tools and strategies for parents to explain the climate emergency to their children and galvanize positive action. Coverage includes:

• The unvarnished realities of the climate emergency, where we are at, and how we got here
• Strategies for talking to kids of different ages about the climate crisis, including advice from engaged parents on the ground
• How to maintain our own hope and that of our children
• A list of practical actions families can take to tackle the climate change crisis
• Ideas for helping children follow their passions in pursuit of a livable, just, and sustainable world.

A lifeline for parents who are feeling overwhelmed with fear and grief, this book provides both hope and practical ways to engage children in pursuit of a better world that is still possible.

AWARDS

• SILVER | 2020 Nautilus Book Awards: Parenting & Family
• SILVER | 2020 Benjamin Franklin Awards - Parenting & Family
• FINALIST | 2020 Foreword INDIES: Family & Relationships

Live your passion and purpose and change the world as an empowered elder.

Your career has wound down, the kids have moved, and your schedule is clear...for the next 30 years.

In your youth, you cared about people and planet earth, and you had grand visions of changing the world. At some point, those passions and that sense of purpose got buried under diapers and the 9-5. Still, that old you remains alive. Now, with the rest of your life ahead, you can be the change and make this next stage of your life the most powerful yet.

But where to start?

Helen Wilkes, a retired professor and activist, takes readers on an inspiring journey to find renewed purpose in retirement. Along the way she helps readers navigate the transition to a post-work identity by fanning the embers of lost passions and developing new interests.

Whether you are drawn to gardening clubs, to social justice issues, political campaigning, ethical investing, or creativity through the arts, The Aging of Aquarius offers inspiration, practical steps, and extra resources to help reignite your passion, your sense of purpose, and to effect real change in the world as an empowered elder.

AWARDS

• GOLD | 2018 Nautilus Book Awards: Aging Consciously
• BRONZE | 2018 Foreword INDIES: Self Help

A clinical psychologist specializing in children and adolescents shares the secret language of boys and how to reconnect with them.

All too quickly, talkative, affectionate young boys seem to slip away. Adolescents may be transformed overnight into reclusive, seemingly impenetrable young people who open up only to their friends and spend more time on devices than with family. How do you penetrate this shell before they are lost to you?

Drawing on decades of experience garnered through thousands of hours of therapy with boys, Cracking the Boy Code explains how the key to communicating with boys is understanding their universal psychological needs and using specific, straightforward communication techniques. Coverage includes:

• Why it’s important to understand the psychological needs of boys
• How to talk to be heard, and listen to understand
• The crucial role of non-verbal cues
• Learning the universal tone that helps boys listen
• Motivating boys to become their authentic selves
• Using purposeful work to teach boys self-respect and confidence
• Reducing stress and creating greater closeness between boys and caregivers

Cracking the Boy Code is essential reading for parents, caregivers, teachers, youth workers, coaches, and others who want to make a real connection with the boys in their lives.

Praise for Cracking the Boy Code

“Cox unpacks in simple language the intricacies of communicating with boys . . . . The book is an educational revelation resulting from remarkable face to face research, and provides an exceptional tool to help parents and teachers understand what makes boys tick.” —David Anderson B.A, Dip TG, B.Ed, Cert. of Care, Sydney Australia IBSC Jarvis/Hawley Award Baltimore USA 2017

“A thoughtful, accessible guide to developing meaningful communication with the boys in our lives. Adam Cox’s insights, grounded in practical wisdom cultivated over decades of clinical work with boys, provide readers with compelling possibilities for using non-verbal cues, tone of voice, hands-on activity, and empathetic listening to connect with boys in a manner both deep and enduring . . . . Dr. Cox’s latest work is both inspiring and instructive.” —Dr. John M. Botti, Head of School, The Browning School

Everything you need to know to create an intentional community from scratch

An intentional community is a group of people who have chosen to live or work together in pursuit of a common ideal or vision. An ecovillage is a village-scale intentional community that intends to create, ecological, social, economic, and spiritual sustainability over several generations.

The 90s saw a revitalized surge of interest in intentional communities and ecovillages in North America: the number of intentional communities listed in the Communities Directory increased 60 percent between 1990 and 1995. But only 10 percent of the actual number of forming-community groups actually succeeded. Ninety percent failed, often in conflict and heartbreak. After visiting and interviewing founders of dozens of successful and failed communities, along with her own forming-community experiences, the author concluded that "the successful 10 percent" had all done the same five or six things right, and "the unsuccessful 90 percent" had made the same handful of mistakes. Recognizing that a wealth of wisdom were contained in these experiences, she set out to distill and capture them in one place.

Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step, practical "how-to" information on how to launch and sustain a successful ecovillage or intentional community. Through anecdotes, stories, and cautionary tales about real communities, and by profiling seven successful communities in depth, the book examines "the successful 10 percent" and why 90 percent fail; the role of community founders; getting a group off to a good start; vision and vision documents; decision-making and governance; agreements; legal options; finding, financing, and developing land; structuring a community economy; selecting new members; and communication, process, and dealing well with conflict. Sample vision documents, community agreements, and visioning exercises are included, along with abundant resources for learning more.