Adjusting the Boundaries

Registered social worker Anne Cawood works as a school counsellor at Herschel Preparatory School while running a private practice in the afternoons. Trained to run Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) she has developed and presented workshops on a host of parenting related topics for many years. In her work she places a strong emphasis on problem-solving and life-skills training, and her workshops for children on topics related to self-esteem, peer relationships and assertiveness are very popular.

Aimed at families facing separation and divorce, this book will be enormously helpful for parents confronted with the challenges of traumatic change and the need to adjust their family’s boundaries. Using her many years of practical experience in the field, highly regarded counsellor Anne Cawood will empower you to contain your children’s anxiety and feelings of insecurity and to re-establish a measure of equilibrium as effectively as possible. Using loads of case studies from her extensive files, she highlights the following:

• How, when and where to inform your children in an age-appropriate and honest way

• Emotional support for you, the parent

• The ‘how to’ of active listening, anger management and clear, firm and consistent boundary setting

• The legal process and the New Children’s Act – which emphasizes the best interests of the child

• Co-parenting agreements

• Ongoing relationships with extended family and the introduction of new partners

• Advice to step parents and parents who were never married before their separation

Easy Answers to Awkward Questions

Written by two of South Africa’s well known authors Ilze van der Merwe and Nikki Bush, this book has all the ‘how’ and the ‘when’ to tell children about the birds and the bees. Ilze is an educational psychologist in private practice with a passion for families. Nikki is a creative parenting expert, inspirational speaker and author on child and parent development issues.

Children today want and need answers to questions about physical changes in puberty and related matters, much sooner than their parents did. They grow up faster, entering puberty earlier than ever before. Yet many parents still either avoid sexuality education or miss it completely through ignorance or fear. Written for children from 8 to 13 in an easy question and answer format, with delightful illustrations to add a fun element, it will double as an invaluable guide for parents so that they can answer their children’s questions candidly, with knowledge, sensitivity and humour.

This book is also available in Afrikaans.

Get the balance right

Author: Dr Colinda Linde

MamaMagic requires juggling skills - this book tells you how

Every working mom needs fast, effective tips on juggling her different roles without losing sight of herself and her personal needs. This user-friendly practical book gives you a framework for understanding and creating balance and avoiding imbalance in your lives with your young family. Discover your unique way of managing stress

• learn how to manage stress to maintain balance
• build up a supply of good coping mechanisms
• learn how to make the most of your time and effort and
• apply easy to use, practical ideas for multitasking.

The Post-Baby Conversation

Author: Alison Osborne 

Boost MamaMagic in a happy relationship

This relationship book by US author and mother of two Alison Osborne is a book for new parents. BUT it’s not a book about babies or how to be a parent - it’s about how to be a happy couple with children! Some of the important issues it covers are:

• Has your relationship changed since you had a baby?
• Do you ever get to talk or spend time as a couple?
• Do you feel your partner understands your life now?
• Do you have less sex?
  

Most couples experience relationship issues after the arrival of a baby. The chaos and exhaustion, the changes to both partners’ lives, often mean that many couples find it impossible to communicate effectively. This book is all about conversations on:

· Responsibilities and sharing the workload of a new baby

· What will happen on weekends

· Whose job it is to cook and clean often.

When these conversations do happen, they often produce tension rather than solutions.

Many couples fall back on expectations of what their partner should do and provide that are based on outdated stereotypes; and many live unhappily with those expectations for years.

Find out how other couples feel post-baby. Learn how to create equality, understanding and fulfilment in your post-baby relationship. The book’s ‘What we can do’ sections will help you design you own kind of family, one that suits you and your partner and provides a happy, nurturing environment for your children. Building a strong and sustainable partnership is the biggest challenge facing new parents today – this book helps you face that challenge and find the best way forward.

eBook: Baby Sense – The new edition 

Authors: (Occupational therapist) Megan Faure and (specialist nursing sister) Ann Richardson.

Gain an intimate knowledge of your baby's sensory experiences to activate your MamaMagic

South African baby care consultants Megan Faure and Ann Richardson have once again teamed up to bring you an updated version of their best selling book Baby Sense.

Having received a Gold medal in the UK’s Practical Pre-school Awards of 2008/9 they are excited about the response to this new edition of the book.

Now updated with the latest research but still written in a user friendly manner, the focus of this best-selling babycare book remains the three most common concerns of parents in their baby’s first year:

• Why is my baby crying?
• How can I get my baby to sleep well?
• How can I enhance my baby’s development?

The new and expanded sections include:

• How different babies cope differently with sensory information.
• How you can help your baby maintain the Calm-Alert state – the ideal state for learning.
• The relationship between tiredness and crying.
• More on breast-feeding.
• More on colic, including a step-by-step response plan.

Once again this new edition of Baby Sense is sure to hold the same appeal for parents offering practical solutions for the common issues of infancy. The new content will enhance parents’ responses to their baby’s sensory needs in a sense-able manner. Baby Sense is your key to

• A calm, contented, colic-free baby.
• Establishing good sleep habits and enjoying peaceful nights.
• Your baby’s optimal development and positive early experiences.
  

This is a must for all new parents.