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- How the brain develops from 13 to 21 years
- How hormones impact behaviour
- Why teenagers suffer from an ‘empathy deficit’
- Why teenagers struggle with risk & impulsivity
- How to help teenagers with their mental health
- How to help teenagers with big decisions
- How to manage homework and exams
- Encouraging independence
- How to keep your teen safe (including online)
- Friendships and relationships
- How to keep lines of communication open with your teen as they grow
- Handling big life transitions
- Tackling your own feelings as a parent
This is a timely book, a blend of childcare history, sociology, psychology, anthropology and current affairs and pop-culture coverage, aiming to raise awareness of a much undiscussed issue, but one that will surely be spoken of increasingly in the future. It is an urgent call to action. If we want to change the world for the better, we must start with treating our children better.
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 14TH 2023
Pre-order HERE in the UK
Pre-order HERE elsewhere in the world
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BEGINNINGS – A Guide to Child Psychology and Development for Parents of 0–5-year-olds
BEGINNINGS is a modern month-by-month reference guide for parents of 0–5-year-olds. It answers all the questions that parents have about their baby, toddler and preschooler’s physical and psychological development.
BEGINNINGS covers the following, and more:
- How a child’s brain develops from birth to five years
- The development of self and personality
- Nature versus Nurture – which one matters more in the early years?
- How attachments form and play a crucial role in future relationships
- How children play, including toy and activity ideas and recommendations by age
- What to expect of a child’s behaviour, based on their age
- Food preferences and eating experiences in early childhood
- How sleep changes over the first five years
- Friendships and peer relationships in early childhood
Order HERE in the UK
Order HERE for the rest of the world
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HOW TO BE A CALM PARENT
HOW TO BE A CALM PARENT is part self-help book, part parenting book; aimed at parents who know that they need to be calmer to raise well adjusted, happy children, but who struggle with their own emotions and stress levels.
Order HERE in the UK
Order HERE for the rest of the world
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Between (Piatkus March 2021)
BETWEEN is a modern guide for parents of 8-13 year-olds – also known as ‘tweenagers’. Between considers all the issues faced by parents and tweens today, with a focus on the biology, neurology, psychology and sociology of adolescence as well as plenty of practical parenting advice for common everyday situations.
Order HERE in the UK
and HERE in the rest of the world
Foreign Language Versions Available:
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The Gentle Sleep Book – Second Edition (Piatkus, 2020).
NOW FULLY REVISED & UPDATED WITH 2 NEW CHAPTERS!
The Gentle Sleep Book offers gentle, reassuring and effective solutions to addressing the common sleep problems of newborns to five-year-olds.
Sarah Ockwell-Smith’s methods don’t involve common sleep-training techniques such as controlled crying and pick up/put down, instead she treads a carefully balanced line between the needs of sleep-deprived parents and those of the child.
The Gentle Sleep Book offers reliable, evidence-based advice on how to approach common issues including frequent waking, night terrors and night dryness, as well as practical suggestions tailored to each developmental stage, such as how to create the perfect sleep environment and bedtime routine, how to night wean, the effect of diet and how to use comfort objects effectively. Plus two new chapters – all about naps and how to cope with sleep deprivation as a parent.
Order at Amazon UK HERE or support independent bookshops HERE
Foreign Language Versions Available:
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The Starting School Book (Piatkus, 2020).
There are so many issues surrounding starting school that parents struggle with: selecting the best school for their child (and knowing the right things to look for and questions to ask), preparing their child emotionally and practically for starting, knowing what must-haves to buy (and what not to buy!), navigating school settling-in procedures, coping with behaviour regressions at home, friendship issues, anxiety, tricky behaviour at school, school refusal and homework.
Despite these many concerns, there is little advice available for parents in this position. Most starting school books are aimed at the children themselves. Parents are left to turn to internet discussion forums and social media to ask their many questions. The Starting School Book fills this gap.
Contents include:
Approaches to education around the world and different options available to parents, including starting age for summer-born children.
What to look for when choosing a school and what questions to ask when you visit.
Preparing your child emotionally for starting school.
Preparing your child practically for starting school (e.g., toileting, dressing and eating independence).
Coping with school anxiety and refusal.
Restraint collapse (explosive behaviour at home at the end of the school day) and other behaviour regressions.
Helping your child to navigate new friendships (and fallings out).
How to connect with your child at the end of the school day.
Order at Amazon UK HERE or support UK independents HERE
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The Second Baby Book (Piatkus, 2019).
Having a second baby is a very different experience from having your first, yet there is little recognition of the wide range of issues that need to be considered when bringing a second child into the family. In this incredibly helpful book, Sarah Ockwell-Smith helps parents feel more positive and prepared for life with two children.
The book begins with the obvious question: when is the right time to add another member to the family? It then goes on to examine the specific issues that can arise with a second pregnancy and birth; the common concerns about siblings, such as how to prepare your firstborn for what’s to come; how to cope with the practicalities of life with two young children (aka actually managing to get anything done!); and the feelings parents are likely to experience, too.
The Second Baby Book examines all the questions and issues Sarah herself faced second time around, as well as sharing the experiences of the many parents who have sought her advice. It also highlights what scientific studies reveal about such issues as the spacing of children and the differences between first and second births. Practical, insightful and honest, this book will help you understand the challenges ahead but, more importantly, it will equip you to meet them with knowledge, confidence and a sense of excitement for the future.
Available to Order at UK Amazon HERE Or support UK independents HERE
Foreign Language Versions Available:
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‘Ready, Set, Go’ – USA Edition (Penguin Random House, 2018).
If you’re like most parents, you’re as nervous about potty training as your little one is. But help is on the way. This supportive guide provides step-by-step advice for a compassionate and emotionally aware process—one that focuses on positive connection rather than relying on gimmicks, pressure, or rewards (which usually backfire).
Topics include:
* Signs your child is ready, and how to begin
* Preparing your child emotionally
* Tips for coping when away from home
* Advice for handling accidents and setbacks
* Practical stories and tips from parents
Written by popular parenting expert Sarah Ockwell-Smith, creator of Gentle Parenting, this is the only book you’ll need to guide your child through this developmental milestone–without trauma, drama and tears (for baby and parents alike!).
Available to Order HERE
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‘The Gentle Eating Book’ (Piatkus, 2018).
The Gentle Eating Book will help parents to understand their child’s eating habits at each age. Starting from birth, the book covers how to start your child off with the most positive approach to eating, whether they are breast or bottle-fed. Parents of older babies will find information about introducing solids, feeding at daycare and when to wean off of breast or formula milk. For parents with toddlers and older children, Sarah includes advice on picky eating and food refusal, overeating, snacking and navigating eating at school, while parents of tweens and teens will find information on dieting, peer pressure, promoting a positive body image and preparing children for future eating independence.
At each age The Gentle Eating Book will help parents to feed their child in a manner that will set up positive eating habits for life.
Available to Order at Amazon UK HERE Or support UK independents HERE
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‘The Gentle Potty Training Book’ (Piatkus, 2017).
An indispensable guide for parents looking for a more gentle and easier way to toilet train their child. The Gentle Potty Training Book is a concise guide to the toilet training process. It will help parents understand when to start the process, and provide a step by step guide to the best, most gentle and easiest approach to take, as well as how to cope with the inevitable regressions and setbacks.
Available to order at Amazon UK HERE or support UK independents HERE
Foreign Language Versions Available
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‘Gentle Discipline’ – USA EDITION (Penguin Random House, 2017).
Available to order HERE
A practical guide that presents an alternative to shouting, shaming, and blaming–to give kids the skills they need to grow and thrive.
Filled with ideas to try today, Gentle Discipline helps parents of toddlers as well as school-age kids embrace a new, more enlightened way to help kids listen, learn and grow.
As seen in the New York Times — a practical guide that presents an alternative to shouting, shaming, and blaming–to give kids the skills they need to grow and thrive
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‘The Gentle Discipline Book’ – UK EDITION (Piatkus, 2017).
The Gentle Discipline Book is an indispensable guide for parents looking for a more gentle and effective way to shape their child’s behaviour. The Gentle Discipline Book will help parents to understand why their child acts in the way that they do, how they can get their child to listen to them and how to get them to behave in more appropriate ways, both now and in the future. The book explores the idea of discipline and what effective discipline really looks like. Gentle Discipline is a world away from the punishments and rewards so often advocated and turns what many think about raising children on its head. Covering a range of ages from toddler to teen the book will help parents to understand how the minds of children work and what makes them tick at each stage, helping parents to adopt a style of managing their child’s behaviour that will see them through many years to come.
Available to order at Amazon UK HERE or support UK independents HERE
Foreign Language versions available:
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‘The Gentle Parenting Book – (Piatkus, 2016).
Parenting trends come and go. Gentle parenting is different – it isn’t a label for a precise set of rules but a method of parenting that embraces the needs of parent and child, while being mindful of current science and child psychology. It means parenting with empathy, respect, understanding – and boundaries.
In Gentle Parenting, Sarah Ockwell-Smith provides a trustworthy combination of what-to-expect information and gentle-parenting solutions to the most common challenges faced by parents with young children. Sarah addresses a
wide variety of topics, including coping with a crying baby, introducing solid foods and creating healthy eating habits, potty training, starting nursery and school, sibling rivalry, tantrums, whining and sulking, aggressive behaviour and much more.
And for those parents who have previously used a more authoritarian style of parenting, there’s plenty of advice – and reassurance – on making the transition to a gentler approach. For many, gentle parenting comes as a relief because it chimes with their deepest instincts about the best way to raise their children.
Available to order at UK Amazon HERE or support UK independents HERE
Foreign Language Versions Available:
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‘Why Your Baby’s Sleep Matters‘, (Pinter and Martin, 2016).
Available to order HERE.
Research shows that ‘normal’ infant sleep is not what most experts claim it to be. In fact, many of today’s sleep ‘problems’ with young babies and children predominantly occur in the developed world. In Why Your Baby’s Sleep Matters, renowned gentle parenting expert Sarah Ockwell-Smith demonstrates how nurturing babies at night helps their brain development, and covers the topics every parent of a new baby will need to know about, including naps, SIDS, night weaning, coping with your own exhaustion – and even dealing with advice and criticism from others.
This book is part of the Pinter and Martin ‘Why it Matters’ Series. More information here
Foreign Language Versions Available:
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‘BabyCalm: A Guide for Calmer Babies & Happier Parents’, (Piatkus, 2012).
BabyCalm: A guide for calmer babies and happier parents by Sarah Ockwell-Smith offers a refreshing alternative to prescriptive, routine-led parenting. If you want to find ways to cope with tiring days and difficult nights without putting your baby on a strict routine, or resorting to sleep training, this new, gentle guide is for you.
Foreign Language versions available:
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‘ToddlerCalm: A Guide for Calmer Babies & Happier Parents’, (Piatkus, 2013).
ToddlerCalm, by Sarah Ockwell-Smith, turns mainstream parenting techniques on their head and offers a genuine alternative to raising your toddler.
Are you looking for ways to cope with your toddler without resorting to the naughty step or controlled crying? ToddlerCalm offers a gentle approach to parenting that will help you to enjoy your toddler, to understand the limitations of sticker charts and time out, to have the confidence to ignore the experts and to parent your own child with empathy and trust.
Foreign Language versions available:
Sarah Ockwell-Smith 
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