The Children’s Hour Academy Bookstore
  The Children’s Hour Academy philosophy of an extension of the family unit extends beyond our day-to-day interaction. We know that the job of parenting can be awesome as children pass through developmental milestones in their growth. We at CHA like to recommend books to help parents in raising their children and to maintain a consistent philosophy at school and at home. These recommended books are great tools for empowerment and insight into parenting and child development. By ordering online through our website, you not only get a discount we also receive a discount on books.

“It Worked for Me!: From Thumb Sucking to Schoolyard Fights, Parents Reveal Their Secrets to Solving the Everyday Problems of Raising Kids”
by Sally Lee and the editors of Parents Magazine
  Imagine being part of a parents´ group with hundreds of other moms and dads, a group of parents with children of all ages and temperaments that offer their advice directly to you--in their own words--and a group that spans the United States, yet is as near as your bookshelf. That’s exactly what you'll find in “It Worked for Me!,” the eminently useful collection of parenting secrets from the editors of Parents Magazine.
  Based on the magazine’s popular column, this book connects you to a vast network of mothers and fathers who are out there every day solving parenting quandaries with flair. With 437 pages packed with creative ideas and helpful hints on everything from feeding schedules and making boo-boos better to avoiding bedtime battles and cures for “school-itis,” you’re sure to find answers to any child-care conundrum. Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find:
  “At the end of each school year, the kids and I decide which 10 drawings to save. We use the rest for wrapping paper.” --Anna Weintraub, Colorado Springs, Colorado
  “Whenever my daughter starts to whine, I say ´There must be a squeaky mouse here somewhere,´ and I ask her to help me find it. She usually starts laughing…” --Rita Johnson, Elmira, New York
  “My daughter discovered the best place to learn to ride (a bike) on a flat grassy area near our home.” -- Marilee Stodhouser, Hannibal, Missouri
  All these tried-and-true ideas are organized logically by subject for easy reference when you’re in a child-rearing bind. And there’s expert advice mixed throughout, so “It Worked for Me!” can be your one-stop solution to parenting with wisdom and compassion.

“What’s Going On in There? A Baby's Brain and Emerging Mind”
by Lise Eliot, Ph.D.
  Though not for the impatient, “What’s Going On in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life” will undoubtedly make you a better parent. It is thick, detailed, and scientific. But it is also accessible to parents who have the time and patience to immerse themselves in the latest research on brain development. And for those who do, the rewards can be great.
  You’ll understand the inner-workings of the brain like never before. You’ll learn the latest thinking on the nature vs. nurture question. You’ll gain invaluable insights into the evolution of the senses, motor skills, social and emotional growth, memory, language, and intelligence. But most importantly, you’ll understand--maybe for the first time--exactly how great your contribution as a parent can be to the development of your young child’s brain. Written by Lise Eliot, Ph.D., a neurobiologist and mother of three, “What’s Going On in There?” is an immensely intelligent labor of love. It is based on the author’s own “odyssey of discovery” as she sought answers to questions about her own role in carrying, delivering, and parenting her children.

"The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children from Birth Through Adolescence"
by William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N.
  Organic or regular baby food? White or wheat bread? Yogurt or ice cream? Parents often wonder how best to feed their families, but the wondering is over with "The Family Nutrition Book: Everything You Need to Know About Feeding Your Children--From Birth Through Adolescence." The beloved William Sears and his wife, Martha (a nurse), teach you how to become your own family nutritionist. Parents of eight children and well-known authors of more than a dozen childcare books, the Searses offer the solid advice on breastfeeding, beginning solids, and feeding picky eaters you’d expect. But more than that, they provide a crash course in overall nutrition. You'll learn how the body works, how to read food labels, what ingredients to look for (and which to avoid), how to trim fat from your diet, what makes up a balanced diet (not just the "food pyramid"), which foods are thought to prevent cancer, and more. The Searses also offer helpful food lists: good fats, best proteins, top 10 complex carbohydrates, and top 12 family foods, to name a few. You'll even get favorite Sears family recipes to help you get started on the road to healthy eating. It’s all here, and it’s all mixed with a healthy dose of passion for eating well. So you can show your children--by example--how to stay healthy and feel great.

"Becoming Parents: How to Strengthen Your Marriage as Your Family Grows"
by Pamela L. Jordan, Howard Markman, and Scott Stanley
  The minds of parents-to-be are occupied by many topics: labor and childbirth, infant care, nursery colors. Few anticipate the pressure parenthood can put on their marriage and how they’ll feel uncertain, exhausted, overwhelmed, and downright afraid. Now, from the authors of "Fighting for Your Marriage," comes a book designed specifically to help couples improve their relationships in preparation for parenthood. "Becoming Parents" offers essential advice to new parents on surviving this potentially trying time. It will help you communicate more clearly, better manage conflict, create lasting solutions to problems, identify underlying issues and expectations, and understand how morals and beliefs impact everyday communication.
  "Becoming Parents" also delves into the larger issues of commitment, forgiveness, and intimacy, and explores the role of fun and friendship in happy relationships. It even tackles very touchy subjects: who gets up when the baby cries at night, the division of household tasks, and sex-all the stuff of everyday arguments. Through real-life examples and useful exercises in each chapter, the authors help you to better understand yourself and your partner. These are tools to use in your daily conversations, so you can build a happy, loving home for your baby.

Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child
by Betsy Kennedy, Kate Allison Granju, Katie A. Granju (Introduction), William M.D. Sears
  Reviews by Amazon.com - "Attachment to and dependency on parents... is a normal, healthy aspect of childhood and not something that needs to be discouraged." This quote from Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child sums up the attitude behind the growing shift in many Western cultures toward a labor-intensive but arguably more rewarding, effective, and "natural" way to raise children. This philosophy, termed "Attachment Parenting" by its champion, pediatrician and father of eight Dr. William Sears (author of the popular child-care manual The Baby Book, among others), sees infants not as manipulative adversaries who must be "trained" to eat, sleep, and play when told, but as dependent yet autonomous human beings whose wants and needs are intelligible to the parent willing to listen, and who deserve to be responded to in a reasonable and sensitive manner. As with Sears’' books, there are no plans or schedules here, no specific prescriptions for what to do with your child. Techniques to facilitate connection and communication are outlined, but mostly the book is an exhortation to listen and to trust yourself, and to trust your child’s ability to convey to you what he or she needs.
  Information is provided in a well-organized format that parents will find useful. Common questions regarding some of Attachment Parenting’s less orthodox tenets are answered, and each section of the book provides lengthy reading and resource lists, Web sites, and e-mail addresses. This book also provides a fairly broad discussion of how working parents can incorporate such a "high-touch" style of care into their busy schedules. The authors are sometimes painfully straightforward about the cost-benefit analysis parents must go through when deciding to work outside the home, but they do not patronize working parents by glossing over this difficult decision. They show how Attachment Parenting can be especially beneficial to these families and give advice on choosing child care, breastfeeding after returning to work, and the techniques for creating a breastfeeding-friendly workplace.
  Given the overwhelming cultural paradigms that parents must resist if they are going to adopt this compassionate methodology, the book’s sometimes defensive tone can be at least partially excused. As a whole, parents will find this a good overview of some compelling arguments for Attachment Parenting and a wonderful resource for delving deeper into the issues it addresses. How much of it they choose to integrate into their lives is, as the book emphasizes, their decision to make, with their baby. --Katherine Ferguson

Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting
by Myla Kabat-Zinn, Jon Kabat-Zinn
  Reviews by Amazon.com - Applying the lessons of everyday mindfulness to parenting is no easy task--especially in our schedule-driven culture. Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn articulate the knowledge that many parents are beginning to understand in their hearts: that less is often more with children. That all parents, no matter how spiritually evolved, lose it sometimes. That a quiet, dreamy bath can cultivate just as much creativity as after school art lessons. And renewal of energy for both parent and child often comes from the silent cuddle on the sofa. Even non-parents will benefit from this primer on how to live the blessed life.

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two
by William Sears, Martha Sears (Contributor)
   Reviews by Amazon.com - In their excellent (and hefty) resource guide, The Baby Book, attachment parenting specialists William Sears and Martha Sears have provided new parents with their approach to every aspect of baby care basics, from newborns to toddlers. Attachment parenting is a gentle, reasonable approach to parenting that stresses bonding with your baby, responding to her cues, breastfeeding, "wearing" your baby, and sharing sleep with your child. For those parents who worry about negative effects of this attention, the Sears say, "Spoiling is what happens when you leave something (or some person) alone on the shelf--it spoils."

99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading: And 100 Books They'll Love
by Mary Leonhardt
  The author of Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don't now offers a cornucopia of simple, practical tips that will help children--no matter what their age or level of reading ability--learn to read. A separate section identifies books suited to different kinds of readers, such as girls who love horses, teenagers who like rock bands, and computer nuts.
  Review by Amazon.com - Mary Leonhardt, longtime English teacher, reading specialist, and author of the terrific Parents Who Love Reading, Kids Who Don’t has put her almost 30 years of teaching experience toward providing 99 specific tips to turn your child into an avid reader. From number 1 ("Resolve that a love of reading will be your most important educational goal for your children") to number 99 ("Keep a perspective. Top reading skills should be your most important educational goal for your children but not your most important life goal for your child"), Leonhardt’s suggestions are wide-ranging, specific, and highly effective. Leonhardt is an advocate of providing kids with reading material they like (go for the comic books and leave the classics for later). Whether your children are early readers or teenagers, 99 Ways to Get Kids to Love Reading will help you inspire and support your child’s lifelong reading habit. --Ericka Lutz

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