Life's Little Miseries: Helping Your Child with the Disasters of Everyday Life Book

Parents are often concerned with whether or not their child will make friends, do well in school, or simply sleep in his or her own bed at night--and rightly so! To a great extent, a child's ability to deal with life's everyday problems will determine his or her lifelong potential for happiness and well-being. Yet, ironically, the current emphasis on the crises of childhood--divorce, drug abuse, step families, AIDS, etc.--overshadows the critical need parents have to identify and resolve the problems their child faces each and every day. Life's Little Miseries shows parents the way their children see them and it helps them to find solutions.

Library Journal

Every day, children are confronted with a variety of problems, from starting school to losing a friend, from having a nightmare to feeling humiliated. Recognizing the importance of successfully handling ``life's little miseries,'' Lynch-Fraser provides an excellent guide for parents and teachers of children ages three to 12. She identifies a number of these daily dilemmas and examines their characteristics and psychological implications. In the most useful sections of the book, she suggests methods for helping children to develop constructive coping strategies and problem-solving techniques. She effectively argues that these skills will directly enhance their self-concept, lifelong development, and ability to address the ``bigger'' issues in life should they arise. This accessible, thought-provoking, and insightful book reflects the latest research in child development. Recommended for public and school libraries with parent-child collections.-- Linda Cullum, Lake Superior State Univ. Lib., Sault Sainte Marie, Mich.