Parenting & Relationships

Parenting Talent: The Grown-Up’s Guide to Understanding and Supporting Creatively Driven Teens and Tweens

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Are you the parent of a tween or teen who is passionate about a creative art? Do you ever find yourself wishing that you had a little more parenting talent to help you . . . parent your talent?

Whether your teen’s passion is singing, dancing, acting, art, music, content creation, or another creative art form, parenting “talented” tweens and teens can at times be a wonderful journey of inspiration and celebration—but it can also be a jarring experience full of worry, frustration, confusion, and lack of direction. You may be wondering if some of the challenges your teen is facing are directly connected to their relationship with their art.

In “Parenting Talent: The Grown-Up’s Guide to Understanding and Supporting Creatively Driven Teens and Tweens,” psychologist, author, and fellow parent Dr. Alaina Johnson uses her professional expertise and personal experience to help you guide your tween or teen through the challenges unique to being a young person in the arts.

“Parenting Talent” will teach you:
• How to become the type of parent your teen turns to for support (when they’re not asking you for rides to their activities, of course).
• What to do when perfectionism, procrastination, fear, and anxiety rear their ugly heads (because unfortunately, denial won’t make them go away).
• How to use your tween or teen’s specific personality type to help them find and sustain motivation (because every teen is different!).
• Strategies for helping your teen build their skills, share their art, and face rejection (because your teen didn’t come with a manual).
• Tips for navigating the modern technological landscape of social media and cyberbullying (without feeling like you should just toss your teen’s mobile phone into a river and avoid the internet altogether).
What to do when your teen utters one of two dreaded phrases: “I quit” or “I want to go pro.” (Hint—it’s not running away screaming, “Nooooo!”)
Whether you’re parenting an amateur artist or an aficionado, “Parenting Talent” will become an invaluable resource in your quest to understand, support, and affirm your talented tween or teen.

Meet Alaina Johnson

Dr. Alaina Johnson is a psychologist with twenty-plus years of clinical experience. She created Parenting Talent to offer support and guidance to parents of creatively driven tweens and teens. Dr. Alaina lives with her husband, their three sons, and a sizable collection of music-related gear outside of Chicago.
Website : https://parentingtalent.com/

Life Calling

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Life is no stranger to anyone who has ever taken a breath, yet it remains a mystery that very few have been able to solve.

When Kaanja finds himself at an uncomfortable crossroad in his life, he is determined to answer the call of Life. This kicks off a chain reaction for his father, mother, and sister, each of whom end up discovering a facet of Life that is meaningful for them. Guided by Life itself, they unlock the mystery of life piece by piece, learning to deal with everyday issues haunting both older and younger generations, such as unfulfilled expectations, worry, fear, lack of confidence, and nonconformity.

As the pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place for Kaanja and his family, will Life finally reveal Itself?

Meet B.J.B Phoenix

Lady and the Tribe, How to Create Empowering Friendship Circles

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Wives, mothers and career women – we have all fallen victim to the silent epidemic that is, literally . . . letting ourselves go. Not the weight-gain, makeup-free, yoga-pants routine. Little by little, we have allowed our preferences, interests, and individuality to slip away until we no longer recognize ourselves outside of our role as wives, mothers, or professionals. Who we are has become what we do.

In the process, our friendships have become the casualty of a “busy life” and lack consistency and depth. We have a gaping hole inside us that longs to be filled. How do we reclaim who we really are and fill this empty space that seemed to appear from nowhere?

The answer lies in our Tribe. Our best friends see us more clearly than we see ourselves and are representations and extensions of our individuality. They are our companions, cheerleaders, and counselors—always in our corner. They are the branches of our tree of life that lift and support us, so we can flourish. Our Tribe is the family with whom we choose to live our life . . . with no strings attached.

Lady and the Tribe is a blueprint for building deep connections. As you read, you’ll be swept away on a journey of friendship as the author shares her own personal stories and those of other women. In the process, you’ll discover how to find, nurture, and deepen friendships and create a Tribe culture that is unique to you.

We can become whole again through the power of connection.

When three or more gather, we are Tribe.

Meet Brenda Billings Ridgley

BRENDA RIDGLEY is a midlife women’s life coach, author, speaker, and girlfriend guru who loves helping women connect, find success, and discover joy through friendship. Her mission is to support women who have lost themselves in their roles as wife, mother and professional and help them connect to their passions, purpose and people. Through her coaching, workshops, retreats, and podcast ~ Find Your Lady Tribe, Brenda helps women connect and communicate with respect, love, and trust. She holds an MA in human resources and has spent decades cultivating her own Tribe. A Colorado girl at heart, Brenda lives in the Carbon Valley area with her husband, Parker, two kids, Parker Jr. and Gillian, and pooch, Perry. She enjoys hiking and has conquered Longs Peak and several other 14’ers.

Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging

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Julie is adopted. She is also a twin. Because their adoption was closed, she and her sister lack both a health history and their adoption papers—which becomes an issue for Julie when, at forty-eight years old, she finds herself facing several serious health issues.

To launch the probe into her closed adoption, Julie first needs the support of her sister. The twins talk things over, and make a pact: Julie will approach their adoptive parents for the adoption paperwork and investigate search options, and the sisters will split the costs involved in locating their birth relatives. But their adoptive parents aren’t happy that their daughters want to locate their birth parents—and that is only the first of many obstacles Julie will come up against as she digs into her background.

Julie’s search for her birth relatives spans eight years and involves a search agency, a PI, a confidential intermediary, a judge, an adoption agency, a social worker, and a genealogist. By journey’s end, what began as a simple desire for a family medical history has evolved into a complicated quest—one that unearths secrets, lies, and family members that are literally right next door.

Meet Julie Ryan McGue

Julie Ryan McGue was born in Chicago, Illinois. She and her identical twin sister were adopted together. Julie’s debut memoir is about the search for birth relatives. She writes about finding out who you are, where you belong, and making sense of it. Her weekly blogs focus on identity, family, and life’s quirky moments. If she’s not at her computer writing, she’s out exploring with her camera, or on the tennis court. She is the mother of four adult children and splits her time between NW Indiana and Sarasota. You can follow her at https://www.juliemcgueauthor.com.

The How-Not-To Guide To Parenting And Marriage

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“Why do you always have to say something? Can’t you, just once, not say anything?” I had just annoyed my daughter for the third time in a five-minute conversation by telling her she was making a poor choice by paying more for jeans that came with holes already in them. . . which was true . . .but why did I have to say it? She was twenty years old, and if she wanted to pay more for jeans that were ripped and holey rather than pay less for jeans with no holes or rips, who was I to say anything about it? Yet, I couldn’t stop myself. I was that dad.

Meet Jon Ziegler

A few years ago, I decided to write a book filled with the funny stories I had been telling to friends and family, and much to my delight, some people actually found it to be entertaining.

Bonding Family through Business: A Map to Thriving in a Family Business

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No family business is free from challenges, but with Liza Perks’s help, you will learn a powerful framework of principles that enable family members to thrive within the business while creating generational wealth.

Meet Liza Perks

Liza Perks is a wife, mother, and businesswoman who has been running successful family businesses for decades. Her whole family works in their family businesses. Liza has more than twenty-five years’ experience in the fast-paced and high-pressure hospitality industry, which was the industry hit the hardest in the global pandemic. Liza is also a clinical hypnotherapist and master NLP facilitator and trainer. Liza and her husband have employed thousands of staff over their business journey, and Liza has used her expertise for the betterment of her teams, including through online and leadership programs and coaching and counselling within their company. No map was available for the family business when they started back in the late ’90s. Since then, Liza has been able to combine mindset skills, business coaching and leadership knowledge with the power of family to create a thriving and abundant business.

Moraline

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Moraline is a gentle, empowering novel in which young advocates find their work enhanced by moments of magic.”— Foreword Clarion Reviews Twelve-year-old Moraline Reed is about to run away from her problems—again. Since moving from New York to California, Moraline has been pushing against a hot, dry wind whenever trouble happens. When she ends up on the wrong end of a cruel prank, she leaves the school camping trip, running, as always. This turns into the chance of a lifetime as Moraline meets a Lakota holy man who tells her she is the girl who runs against the wind, destined to put the winds back into balance by combatting injustice wherever she finds it. A breath of magic leads her to new friendship and a mysterious stray fox who support her as she advocates for building peace both close to home and throughout her community. Together, they face some of the biggest issues of their time head-on.

Meet Cintia Alfonso Fior

Author, Cintia Alfonso Fior is an educator, clinical psychologist, and the founder of Rising Advocates, an advocacy and educational platform dedicated to promoting children’s rights and environmental justice through storytelling and education. Fior has a MA in Peace and Justice Studies from the Kroc Institute of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego and serves as the current chair of the American Family Therapy Academy’s (AFTA) Family Policy and Human Rights committee.
Website : https://amzn.to/3KC0g5H

A Heart Without A Home

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9-year-old Nichole and her parents are evicted from their home because of her parents’ heroin addiction. With nowhere left to turn, they are now homeless. In order to survive they must dig through dumpsters, beg, and steal. While living on the streets, Nicole struggles to understand why people treat them differently.

Meet Nichole Carpenter

NICHOLE CARPENTER is a wife and mother living in Orange County, CA. She is passionate about sharing her testimony of overcoming homelessness with others.
Website : https://nicholebarber.com/

The Bad Manners Monsters & The Kindness Keys

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Something is wrong.
Something is terribly wrong.
Suddenly, everyone in town has become grouchy, whiny, wiggly, grabby, slobby, and messy!

Zack and Zoe to the rescue!
As professional Bad Manners Busters, they must save the town from the Bad Manners Monsters before it is too late.

Children and parents love Judi the Manners Lady’s Bad Manners Monsters song from her award-winning CD, and now they love learning how to use their three Kindness Keys to capture and lock up the Bad Manners Monsters that are invading our communities, schools, and our families.

Sing along with Judi The Manners Lady and then enjoy The Bad Manners Monsters book with your children, grandchildren, and your students at school.

Children are both inspired and empowered with the attitudes, words, and actions to capture the Bad Manners Monsters in their lives and to live with Kindness.

Kids of all ages 2-102 love this delightful allegory.

Coming soon in French and Spanish. Teachers’ and parents’ resources are available by emailing Judy at [email protected].

Take a listen to “It’s Fun to Have Good Manners!” by Judi The Manners Lady
https://judithemannerslady.hearnow.com/

JUDI THE MANNERS LADY Live in Concert! with Lyrics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9prLbM7yALo

The Toxic Family Solution: Surviving Your Toxic Family & Reclaiming Your Life After Toxic Parent

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***Amazon #1 Best-Seller***

Are You Ready to Take Back the Life You Were Born to Live?
“For eighteen frightening and painful years, a young boy was abused, neglected, and traumatized by his toxic family. He endured a lifetime of pain and suffering until one day, he decided to take back his life.”

Time Does Not Heal Toxic Family Wounds
The passage of time is powerless to heal the deep hurts caused by toxic family relationships. This straightforward, transformational and empowering self-help guide provides strategies for coping with the pain, trauma, anxiety, stress, and suffering caused by your toxic parents and toxic family members.

Therapist-Recommended Toxic Parent and Toxic Family Book
“Fantastic! I wish I had read this book 30 years ago when I first started my practice. The Toxic Family Solution conveys complex concepts in a manner that is easy to understand for both novices and the experienced alike.” —William E. Range MC, LMHC, Licensed Therapist

“The Toxic Family Solution provides readers with a roadmap to move forward from family trauma and suffering. Wherever you are in your journey following a painful home life, this book can help you move forward and make peace with your life.” —Caleb Sheldrup, M. Psych.

Written by a Toxic Family Survivor and Crisis Counselor
After years of struggling with addiction, chronic depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Steven Todd Bryant began a three-year journey to face his pain and heal his toxic family wounds caused by years of family abuse. Steven is an author, a crisis counselor, and a toxic family survivor. He was on staff for 19 years at the University of Southern California, holds a BA in Communications and an MA in Theology, and is the founder of ToxicFamily.org.

Does your family cause you anger, anxiety, stress, pain, or harm?
If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, The Toxic Family Solution will provide information to help you on your healing journey:

  • Do you feel like walking away from harmful family members?
  • Does your family pick fights or make you feel unsafe?
  • Does their criticism lead to worry, overthinking, self-criticism, or perfectionism?
  • Does your family try to control, manipulate, or change you?
  • Does your family harass and discriminate against you for being yourself?
  • Do you have to keep secrets from your family to survive?
  • Do you use food, alcohol, or drugs to cope with the stress and pain they cause?
  • Does your family cause you anxiety and stress or make you angry or fearful?
  • Are you following your heart and pursuing your dreams, or living to please others?

Seven Strategies to Survive Your Toxic Family
Discover seven strategies to survive your toxic family and reclaim your life after toxic parents. The author provides examples from his personal journey and lessons learned from psychology, counseling, therapy, and recovery.

Learn How to Live Your Best Life Starting Today
The Toxic Family Solution discusses the problems caused by unhealthy families: abuse, addiction, anxiety, codependency and people-pleasing, fear, depression, harassment, neglect, PTSD, trauma, and more. Learn effective methods to cope with toxic family members, care for yourself, set strong boundaries, stop toxic thinking, and walk away from loved ones who won’t stop hurting you to live a life you love!

The Toxic Family Solution—You deserve a life filled with love, joy, peace, and happiness! Embrace your destiny and live the life you were born to live. BUY NOW!

Meet Steven Todd Bryant

Steven Todd Bryant is a best-selling author, a crisis counselor, and a toxic family survivor. He was on staff for 19 years at the University of Southern California, holds a BA in Communications and an MA in Theology, and is the founder of ToxicFamily.org.