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WORK TITLE: Unselfie
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 3/2/1950
WEBSITE: http://micheleborba.com/
CITY: Palm Springs
STATE: Cw
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born March 2, 1950; married; children: three sons.
EDUCATION:University of Santa Clara, B.A., M.A.; University of San Francisco, doctorate; San Jose University, life teaching credential.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, educational psychologist, credentialed expert and educational consultant, and motivational speaker. Former classroom teacher; Goodwill Ambassador for One Laptop per Child (OLPC); contributor to the Today Show, National Broadcasting Company. Has appeared on television, including The View and Dr. Phil.
MEMBER:Edutopia
AWARDS:National Educator Award, the National Council of Self-Esteem; Outstanding Alumna Award, Santa Clara University; the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Educational Profession, the Bureau of Education and Research; named the honorary chairperson for the Implementation of Self-Esteem in Hong Kong.
WRITINGS
Author of daily column for her blog Dr. Borba’s Reality Check; writes as parenting expert for Dr. Oz’s Web site. Books have been translated into fourteen languages.
SIDELIGHTS
Michele Borba is an educational psychologist who specializes in issues associated with children, teens, parenting, bullying, and moral development. A primary focus of her work, including her books, is to help strengthen character and resilience in children and to strengthen families. She also is interested in school cultures and how to make them moe compassionate, including reducing peer cruelty. She is a contributor to the Today show and regularly appears on television and radio as a parenting expert. In addition she serves as a media spokesperson for major corporations and is an advisory board member for Parents magazine. She is also a motivational speaker and consultant to schools, parent organizations, and corporations. In these roles she addresses such as bullying prevention, charting education, and raising children.
Building Moral Intelligence and 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know
Borba is the author of books focusing on her areas of interest. For example, her book titled Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing warns against negative cultural influences and emphasizes the need for parents to become involved in their children’s lives in terms of providing more guidance. To do so, she discusses how parents can instill what she considers the essential virtues children need to make the right decisions in life: empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance and fairness. “A packed storehouse, this helpful, informative and hopeful book will be dog-eared over years of consultation,” wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor.
Although an expert herself on child rearing, in her book titled 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know: Getting Back to Basics and Raising Happy Kids, Borba cautions agains parents relying too much on the latest expert recommendations to model their parenting style on. She cautions parents to avoid the modern cultural phenomenon of children being over scheduled in various activities. According to Borba, this leads to stress and misunderstanding among parents about what propagates emotional well being in their children. Throughout the book Borba emphasizes that parents are to successful in raising their children by relying on outside tutoring or numerous activities. The book contains brief chapters focusing on the 12 secrets to successful parenting. Library Journal contributor Kay Hogan Smith remarked: “This book strives to help mothers get back to what’s “real” in parenting.”
The Big Book Parenting Solutions
In The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries, Borba addresses a wide range of issues that parents face in raising children, from sibling rivalry to being addicted to television and the Internet. Borba begins by addressing the increased stresses that parents face in modern society that previous generations of parents did not have to deal with, such as cyberbullying. She discusses seven bad parenting styles and a tendency for some parents to unconsciously let outsiders have too much influence on their children, especially the media. The book is broken up into nine sections under the headings of family, behavior, character, emotions, social scene, school, special needs, day-today, and electronics. She goes on to support what she considers to be instinctual parenting and how to use it and other methods to identify problems and address them.
“This manual does provide an excellent starting point to delving into practically any child behavior that we might encounter as parents,” wrote Mommy Blog Expert Web site contributor Janis Brett Elspas. Noting Borba’s “no-nonsense yet compassionate voice,” a Publishers Weekly contributor went on to remark: “Borba once again delivers an indispensable resource for parents of toddlers to 13-year-olds.”
UnSelfie
In her book titled UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-about-Me World, Borba addresses what she considers to be a growing problem, a lack of empathy in children. According to Borba, children who lack empathy tend to be more aggressive and embrace bullying. They are also extremely self-centered. Borba notes that children who lack empathy are not only problematic for their parents, children, and the wide community but also to themselves because they tend to have higher anxiety levels than other children. As a result, writes Borba, research has shown that teaching children to be empathetic is an important way for parents to help their children be happier.
Borba notes that most child-rearing approaches largely ignore the need to instill empathy in children, partly because the importance of empathy is so underestimated by not only parents but also the community as a whole. In addition, she believes that self-centerdness is a growing phenomenon and points to things such as the rise of “selfie” photos on the Internet’s social media sites. Borbo stresses that empathy can be taught and presents nine competencies that make a person empathetic: emotional literacy, moral identity, perspective taking, moral imagination, self-regulation, practicing kindness, collaboration, moral courage, and altruistic leadership abilities. Borba presents a nine-step plan to instill these competencies in children.
“Borba’s diagnosis and the prescription may not be perfect solution, but it is definitely part of the solution,” wrote Washington Book Review Web site contributor Richard Wright. Noting that research supports Borba’s take on empathy and children, Nanette Donohue, writing for Booklist, went on to remark that UnSelfie is not academic in nature and contains “useful tips to counteract the negative messages children are hearing.”
The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention
In her book title The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention: Best Proven Practices to Combat Cruelty and Build Respect Borba addresses an issue that has received growing national attention. Drawing on research concerning the best practices to prevent bullying, Borba provides guidelines for parents to implement what she considers the six essential things that need to be addressed in any process to reduce bullying: rules, recognize, report, respond, refuse, and replace. Throughout, Borba stresses the process should involve the entire school community. She notes the program can be used to further current anti-bullying programs or as a stand-alone approach.
The book includes digital content that feature forms in the book that can be customized and a PDF presentation for use in presentations for professional development. Also included are a resources and references section an an index. Margaret Lane, writing for Reviewer’s Bookwatch,called The 6Rs of Bullying “exceptionally well written, organized and presented.”*
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, June 1, 2016, Nanette Donohue, review of UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-about-Me World, p. 14.
Library Journal, July, 2001. Douglas C. Lord, review of Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids To Do the Right Thing, p. 116;February 15, 2006, Kay Hogan Smith, review of 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know: Getting Back to Basics and Raising Happy Kids, p. 141 .
Publishers Weekly July 2, 2001, review of Building Moral Intelligence, p. 69.
Publishers Weekly July 20, 2009, review of The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries, p. 137; May 2, 2016, , review of UnSelfie, p. 49.
Reviewer’s Bookwatch November, 2016, Margaret Lane, review of The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention: Best Proven Practices to Combat Cruelty and Build Respect.
ONLINE
Chicago Now, http://www.chicagonow.com/ (June 7, 2016), Carrie Goldman, “Unselfie, Empathy, the Brock Turner Case, and Parenting.”
Cyber Bullying, http://cyberbullying.org/review-of-unselfie/ (June 15, 2016), Justin W. Patchin, review of UnSelfie.
Edutopia Web site, https://www.edutopia.org/ (February 17, 2017), “Dr. Michele Borba.”
Family: Connecting the Savvy Moms of Michiana Online, http://www.michianamom.com/ (February 17, 2017), Lori Walsh, review of UnSelfie.
Michele Borba Home Page, http://micheleborba.com/ February 17, 2017.
Mommy Blog Expert, http://www.mommyblogexpert.com/ (March 2, 2010), Janis Brett Elspas, review of The Big Book of Parenting Solutions.
Washington Book Review, http://www.thewashingtonbookreview.com/ (July 1, 2016), “Teaching Your Children Empathy to Make Them Happy,” review of UnSelfie.
Michele Borba, EdD, is an internationally renowned educational psychologist and an expert in parenting, bullying, and character development. One of the foremost authorities on childhood development in the country, she is a regular NBC contributor who appears regularly on Today and has been featured as an expert on Dateline, The View, Dr. Phil, NBC Nightly News, Fox & Friends, Dr. Oz, and The Early Show, among many others. She lives in Palm Springs, California, with her husband, and she is the mother of three grown sons.
Joined 2014
Dr. Michele Borba
Educational consultant, social-emotional learning & bullying expert
Blogger
I am an educational psychologist and former classroom teacher who is passionate about educating strong, caring, resilient children and creating safe, caring learning communities. I've presented workshops/keynotes on social-emotional learning, character development and bullying prevention to hundreds of schools, organizations and US Army bases around the globe. My proposal "Ending School Violence" was signed into California law in 2002. Published book titles include: Building Moral Intelligence, The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, No More Misbehavin', Don't Give Me That Attitude, and Esteem Builders. I am also a TODAY show contributor reporting late-breaking educational and child related issues (as well as to Education Nation and Dateline) and serve as Goodwill Ambassador for One Laptop per Child (OLPC) whose goal is to bridge the education divide in third world countries so all children have a chance to receive an education. My Dateline specials (on mobilizing student bystanders), keynotes and articles on bullying prevention and cultivating student empathy are available on my website: http://micheleborba.com as well as how to contact me. My latest books (and passion) are The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention: Best Proven Practices to Combat Cruelty ad Build Respect (Free Spirit) and UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All About Me World (Simon and Schuster)
You can find my 20-minute speech "The 6Rs to Reduce Bullying" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSRYXA0UP3o and my TEDx Talk: Empathy Is a Verb: https://www.youtube.com/embed/tVTiplEG91s
Areas of Interest:
social and emotional learning,
bullying prevention and school climate ,
character development,
empathy developing
Follow Me
Website:
http://www.micheleborba.com
Blog:
http://micheleborba.com/blog/
Dr.Michele Borba is a TODAY contributor and regular parent expert on shows including The View, CNN and Dr. Phil. She is an educational psychologist, former teacher and mom who is recognized for her solution-based strategies to strengthen a child's behavior and character.Titles include PARENTS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, NO MORE MISBEHAVIN', BUILDING MORAL INTELLIGENCE, and 12 SIMPLE SECRETS REAL MOMS KNOW. Her latest book is THE BIG BOOK OF PARENTING SOLUTIONS: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries. Blog: www.micheleborba.com or twitter: @micheleborba.com.
About Dr. Michele Borba
micheleborba11aDr. Michele Borba is an internationally recognized expert and author on children, teens, parenting, bullying and moral development. Her work aims to help strengthen children’s character and resilience, build strong families, create compassionate and just school cultures, and reduce peer cruelty. Her practical, research-based advice is culled from a career of working with over one million parents and educators worldwide.
National Media Contributor
Media outlets regularly depend on Dr. Borba as the “go-to” expert on parenting, bullying prevention, education and child/teen issues. She is an NBC contributor appearing over 100 times on the TODAY show and is the regular parenting expert on Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers where she comments on late-breaking news and offers realistic solutions. Her work has been featured on Dr. Phil, Dateline, The View, The Doctors, Fox News, The Early Show and CNN and well as in Newsweek, People, Good Housekeeping, Chicago Tribune, U.S. News & World Report, Washington Post, The New York Times and The Globe and Mail. She was an MSNBC contributor to two televised “Education Nation” specials.
Award-Winning Author
Dr. Borba is the award-winning author of 22 parenting and educational books translated into 14 languages. Titles include: Don’t Give Me That Attitude!, Parents Do Make A Difference, The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries, and Nobody Likes Me, Everybody Hates Me!, No More Misbehavin’, Building Moral Intelligence (cited by Publishers’ Weekly as “Among the most noteworthy of 2001”), and Esteem Builders used by 1.5 million students worldwide. She writes as the parenting expert for Dr. Oz’s website, powered by Sharecare as well a daily column for her blog, Dr. Borba’s Reality Check.
National Spokesperson
Dozens of major corporations, including General Mills, 3M, Ragu, All Detergent, Splenda, Office Depot, Similac, Galderma, V-Tech, Cetaphil, Learning Curve, Florida OJ, and Mastercard, have enlisted Dr. Borba as a media spokesperson. Her services include conducting satellite-media tours (radio, TV and print) as well as live Facebook chats, blogger events, U-Stream Q and A’s, and event speaking. She served as a consultant for Wall Mart, McDonalds and Johnson & Johnson on parenting and is an advisory board member for Parents magazine.
Bullying Prevention, Parenting and
Character Development Expert
Dr. Borba is recognized globally for her work in bullying prevention and character education. Her strategies to mobilize student bystanders to reduce peer cruelty were featured on Dateline and NBC’s Nightly News. She appeared as the bullying expert in the documentary, “Bullied to Silence” and is on the advisory board for the film “The Bully Project.” Her proposal: “Ending School Violence and Bullying” (SB1667) was signed into California law in 2002.
Her thirty-year career has been devoted to developing a framework to strengthen children’s character and build moral school climates. Her best-selling book, Building Moral Intelligence, and her Character Builders program for young children (Respect, Responsibility, Caring, and Peace-Making) are used in hundreds of schools and organizations worldwide. She served as a consultant for the Center Resource Group for Character Education and Civic Engagement for the U.S. Department of Education and is on the board for Character Education Partnerships.
Motivational Speaker
Dr. Borba has presented keynote addresses throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the South Pacific and has served as a consultant to hundreds of schools, parent organizations, and corporations on bullying prevention, character education, and raising strong, caring kids. Audiences include McDonald’s Global Women’s Leadership Network Conference, American Academy of Pediatrics, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Character Plus, Phi Delta Kappa, Character Education Partnerships, the Malaysia Ministry of Education, and La Leche League.
Credentialed Expert and Educational Consultant
She received a Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Counseling from the University of San Francisco, an M.A. in Learning Disabilities and B.A. from the University of Santa Clara, and a Life Teaching Credential from San Jose State University. She is a former classroom teacher who has worked in regular education as well as with children with learning, physical, behavioral and emotional disabilities, and in a private practice for troubled youth.
Her numerous awards include the National Educator Award, presented by the National Council of Self-Esteem; Santa Clara University’s Outstanding Alumna Award; and the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Educational Profession, presented by the Bureau of Education and Research. She was named the Honorary Chairperson for the Implementation of Self-Esteem in Hong Kong.
Wife and Mom
Dr. Borba lives in Palm Springs, California with her husband and has three grown sons.
LC control no.: n 79012596
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Borba, Michele
Birth date: 19500302
Found in: Her Self-esteem, c1978: t.p. (Michele and Craig Borba)
Home esteem builders, 1993: CIP t.p. (Dr. Michele Borba)
data sheet (b. Mar. 2, 1950)
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-about-Me World
Nanette Donohue
Booklist. 112.19-20 (June 1, 2016): p14.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
* UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-about-Me World. By Michele Borba. June 2016. 288p. Touchstone, $25 (9781501110030). 649.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Education expert Borba has noted a troubling trend among young people: a lack of empathy, leading to increases in aggression and bullying, higher anxiety levels, and self-centered rather than community-centered ways of thinking. Her practical solution, which she calls the "empathy advantage," helps combat these issues. Drawn from years of research and observation, Borba presents a nine-step plan intended to help children and teens develop the essential skill of empathy. Each chapter focuses on a specific aspect of empathy, and Borba presents case studies, practical steps parents and educators can take to instill the value of empathy in children, and specific strategies and activities that can be used for preschoolers, school-age children, and tweens and teens. Though Borba's suggestions are supported by research, the presentation is anecdotal and readable rather than academic, and the empathy-building activities are generally simple, fun for children, and easy to implement into daily life. Shelves' worth of books have been published over the years highlighting what characteristics children need to succeed, but Borba builds an excellent case for empathy, and parents concerned with the trend toward self-absorption and bullying among young people will find useful tips to counteract the negative messages children are hearing.--Nanette Donohue
Donohue, Nanette
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Donohue, Nanette. "UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-about-Me World." Booklist, 1 June 2016, p. 14. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA456093973&it=r&asid=ad2669a7b4ee574f03f4ae269a3392c1. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A456093973
Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World
Publishers Weekly. 263.18 (May 2, 2016): p49.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World
Michele Borba. Touchstone, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-1-5011-1003-0
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Parenting expert Borba (Building Moral Intelligence) traveled the world and researched for decades before writing this fresh and powerful primer on raising caring kids. The book came into focus, she explains, while she was visiting the Cambodian killing fields outside Phnom Penh. Her resultant goal--find out what causes inhumanity and how to stop it--led her to visit Dachau, Auschwitz, and Rwanda, as well as school classrooms. By consulting current research, she discovered that a strong sense of empathy is not only a moral imperative, but also an advantage in attaining health, happiness, and career success. In separate chapters, Borba presents nine essential empathetic skills: emotional literacy, moral identity, perspective talking, moral imagination, self-regulation, practicing kindness, collaboration, moral courage, and compassionate leadership abilities. In each section, she provides a wealth of exercises, activities, and age-by-age strategies to help parents nurture empathy--a trait, she stresses, that is not innate but can be taught and developed. With narcissism and self-absorption on the rise in our digital age, she argues, this trait is in danger. Her thought-provoking and practical book may very well tip over the parenting priority applecart--and rightly so. Agent: Joelle Delbourgo, Joelle Delbourgo Associates. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World." Publishers Weekly, 2 May 2016, p. 49. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA452884050&it=r&asid=cae30dcfd80908b12c8058e820049d52. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452884050
The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries
Publishers Weekly. 256.29 (July 20, 2009): p137.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries
Michele Borba. Jossey-Bass, $19.95 paper
(710p) ISBN 978-0-7879-8831-9
Borba, author and Today Show regular, employs a cookbooklike approach in her latest volume: rather than read through the entire tome, parents can flip to topics pertinent to their family. Borba opens with a friendly overview, noting that contemporary parents feel more stressed and find their roles increasingly difficult (June Cleaver, she points out, didn't have to deal with cyberbullying or Facebook). With characteristic wit, Borba identifies the "seven deadly parenting styles," including helicopter, buddy, incubator, bandage, paranoid, accessory parenting (judging themselves by their kids' accolades) and secondary parenting (relinquishing power to such outsiders as marketers or the media). In nine sections on family, behavior, character, emotions, social scene, school, special needs, day-today and electronics, the author urges readers to roll up their sleeves and get back to basic, instinctual parenting. As she tackles 101 issues ranging from sibling rivalry, lying and peer pressure to cell-phone use and TV addiction, Borba helps readers identify the reason underlying the behavior or problem, and work with 10 essential principles of change. With her no-nonsense yet compassionate voice, Borba once again delivers an indispensable resource for parents of toddlers to 13-year-olds. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries." Publishers Weekly, 20 July 2009, p. 137. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA204319198&it=r&asid=5fa0c96d43b8b854187f1448c7fdbd4e. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A204319198
Borba, Michele. 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know: Getting Back to Basics and Raising Happy Kids
Kay Hogan Smith
Library Journal. 131.3 (Feb. 15, 2006): p141.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2006 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Borba, Michele. 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know: Getting Back to Basics and Raising Happy Kids. Jossey-Bass. Apr. 2008. c.288p. ISBN 0-7879-8096-X. pap. $15.95. CHILD REARING
It is disconcerting for a parenting book to end with the hope that readers will make it the last guide read for a long time. However, educator and motivational speaker Borba (Parents Do Make a Difference) puts forth the premise that parents--especially mothers--have become too caught up in molding their parenting style to the latest experts' recommendations. Herself a mother of three, Borba is particularly averse to the modern parent's surrendering to a culture in which kids are overscheduled to the point where the parent (again, especially the mother) is too stressed to remember what really matters in raising emotionally healthy children. The author is here to remind us that it isn't the tutoring and planned activities that make parenting successful. Through a series of brief chapters that each focus on a particular "secret"--e.g., "A mother who applauds effort nurtures perseverance"--this book strives to help mothers get back to what's "real" in parenting. A worthy addition for most parenting collections.--Kay Hogan Smith, Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham Lib., Lister Hill
Smith, Kay Hogan
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Smith, Kay Hogan. "Borba, Michele. 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know: Getting Back to Basics and Raising Happy Kids." Library Journal, 15 Feb. 2006, p. 141. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA142637570&it=r&asid=54139b77390579d139ee85165648d0b2. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A142637570
BUILDING MORAL INTELLIGENCE: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing
Publishers Weekly. 248.27 (July 2, 2001): p69.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2001 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
MICHELE BORBA. Jossey-Bass, $24.95 (310p) ISBN 0-7879-5357-1
Television, games, the Internet, peers and other forces shape children's morality, but consultant and educator Borba (Parents Do Make a Difference) argues that it is parents who provide the most enduring modeling and instruction. Kids, she asserts, should be fortified against the onslaught of increasingly negative cultural influences--violent video games, nasty music lyrics--by parental involvement and guidance. Designed as a guide for parents and caregivers of children from three to 15 years old, the book describes an epidemic deficiency in the moral development of American kids and outlines seven virtues (Empathy, Conscience, Self-Control, Respect, Kindness, Tolerance and Fairness) to be engendered in children. Devoting an identically designed chapter to each virtue, she defines the virtue in accessible and secular language. She then provides a test for parents to assess their children and offers practical actions parents can take on a daily basis. Throughout, her tone is pragmatic and optimistic. She advi ses parents to make sure they are providing a moral example that they would want their children to follow--in other words, watch their own behavior. She advises parents to be direct about their own moral beliefs and encourage specific virtuous behaviors. Borba concludes the book with a helpful resource list. A packed storehouse, this helpful, informative and hopeful book will be dog-eared over years of consultation. (July)
Forecast: Many readers will recognize Borba's name; as an expert on "bullying," she makes frequent TV appearances, and on Oprah's Mom Online she is the "Moral Intelligence Pro." This book is timely; given public debates on media violence, and the prevention of juvenile crime, it's likely to be widely read and referenced.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"BUILDING MORAL INTELLIGENCE: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids to Do the Right Thing." Publishers Weekly, 2 July 2001, p. 69. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA76498018&it=r&asid=5120907482213392d3f625f4f9943c1a. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A76498018
Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids To Do the Right Thing
Douglas C. Lord
Library Journal. 126.12 (July 2001): p116.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2001 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Borba, Michele. Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids To Do the Right Thing. Jossey-Bass. Jul. 2001. c.310p. index. ISBN 0-7879-5357-1. $24.95. CHILD REARING
Writing with confident authority and providing good, current references, Borba offers "a step by step blueprint for enhancing your child's moral capacity"--the ethical compass that charts a youngster's moral fate. She first defines seven intertwining "essential virtues of moral intelligence and solid character": empathy, conscience, self-control (these first three form a "moral core"), respect, kindness, tolerance, and fairness. Ensuing chapters suggest how to incubate, nurture, and master individual virtues using realistic, workable methods. The book recalls Becky A. Bailey's Easy To Love, Difficult To Discipline (LJ 2/15/00), which frames "loving guidance" in seven-part structures (seven values for living, seven powers of self control, etc.). It's also similar to Borba's own Parents Do Make a Difference (Jossey-Bass, 1999). All these books have noble goals yet require a high initial investment of energy and time; this is not a quick fix but a way of living. Of course, many of those who really need Borba's book won't read it; if more people mastered these traits, the world would be a different and better place. Recommended for larger public libraries.--Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Hartford
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lord, Douglas C. "Building Moral Intelligence: The Seven Essential Virtues That Teach Kids To Do the Right Thing." Library Journal, July 2001, p. 116. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA76628086&it=r&asid=196a46b6d0a23d3ef17d7ff387f0e402. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A76628086
The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention
Margaret Lane
Reviewer's Bookwatch. (Nov. 2016):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Midwest Book Review
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Full Text:
The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention
Michele Borba
Free Spirit Publishing
217 Fifth Avenue North, Suite 200, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1299
www.freespirit.com
9781631980206, $34.99, PB, 288pp, www.amazon.com
Synopsis: "The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention: Best Proven Practices to Combat Cruelty and Build Respect" by educator and bullying prevention expert Michele Bora utilizes the strongest pieces of best practices and current research for ways to stop bullying. Based on a practical, six-part framework for reducing peer cruelty and increasing positive behavior support, "The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention" includes guidelines for implementing strategies, collecting data, training staff, mobilizing students and parents, building social-emotional skills, and sustaining progress. Used on its own or to supplement an existing anti-bullying program. "The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention" (Rules, Recognize, Report, Respond, Refuse, and Replace) are not a program, but a comprehensive process for reducing bullying from the inside out, involving the entire school community.
Drawing upon her years of experience and expertise, Michele Borba (who has worked with over 1 million parents and educators worldwide) offers realistic, research based strategies and advice. Digital content includes customizable forms from the book and a PDF presentation for use in professional development.
Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention" is enhanced with fourteen pages of Resources, six pages of References, and a twelve page index, making it an invaluable and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Educational reference collections in general, and bullying prevention supplemental studies reading lists in particular.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lane, Margaret. "The 6Rs of Bullying Prevention." Reviewer's Bookwatch, Nov. 2016. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA472679029&it=r&asid=7357bde77603e86ddfbbccaa40e43e68. Accessed 23 Jan. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A472679029
Review of “UnSelfie”
June 15, 2016Leave a commentBlog, FeaturedBy Justin W. PatchinEstimated reading time: 6 min
Review of “UnSelfie” Cyberbullying Research Center
Parenting expert and educational psychologist Dr. Michele Borba released a new book last week. This by itself isn’t newsworthy (she has, after all, published roughly a book a year for the last quarter of a century). But this latest contribution has the potential to have a significant impact on parents and their children.
I’ve followed Dr. Borba’s contributions over the last several years and find her to be a caring and committed commentator on all things parenting. She doesn’t purport to be omniscient about everything parents might confront, but she is connected to those who have deep knowledge in a variety of areas. And she is a voracious learner. She takes the time to interview specialists, to speak with researchers and scour academic journals, to visit treatment program sites, and to interact with parents and children. Dr. Borba’s gift is being able to take in these varied perspectives, reflect thoughtfully, and distill them into bite-sized bits of wisdom that parents and others can understand and incorporate into their daily activities.
The Power of Empathy
In this most recent book, “UnSelfie: Why Empathic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World,” Dr. Borba argues that empathy-building is the key to raising kids who can rise above the problem behavior producing situations they might find themselves in. As someone who studies teen technology use and misuse, I know well how problems can develop in online environments. Many of these can be prevented–or at least curtailed–if teens possess empathy. I downloaded the audiobook version of this text (since most of my “reading” these days is done while driving or mowing my lawn). It was nice to hear directly from Dr. Borba’s as she read the introduction.
Dr. Borba makes a strong, research-supported case for the power of empathy. Early in the book she refers to several studies that clearly demonstrate that empathetic youth do better in interpersonal contexts and are less likely to resort to hurtful behaviors. But more than that, she offers numerous practical strategies that parents and educators can employ to teach empathy and self-regulation, as well as to promote collaboration and kindness. For example, parents can help their children take the perspective of others during a disagreement. Or teachers can have students literally step in the shoes of someone else to get a sense of what it might be like to be them. Sometimes simply stopping to breathe deeply is all that is necessary for worked-up kids to cooldown. Popular books and movies can also be useful, if parents take the time to consider scenes that can be discussed during or immediately upon completion. In short, all adults who work with youth should model empathy every day and can capitalize on situations that come up to demonstrate appreciation and care for others.
The emphasis on teaching children to be kind to others resonates with our work to prevent and respond to online harassment. There are dozens of examples of teens using technology to counter cruelty in their communities, and these stories need to be championed! Too much focus in the media is placed on the bad decisions of a few, instead of highlighting the good behaviors of the majority. Showing our children the kind acts of others can encourage them to think about creative ways to show care and concern.
Don’t Misunderstand: The Kids Are Alright (But Parents Might Not Be)
There are some occasions early on where Dr. Borba slips into the time-honored tradition of bashing the younger generation. This isn’t the first time adults have implied that “kids these days” are lazy, self-centered, and amoral (compared to when “we were their age“). But this current crop of kids seem to be targeted more frequently and vehemently than others who’ve come before. I don’t believe youth today are any worse than those in previous generations. (Though their misdeeds are certainly magnified online and in the media.)
From conversations with Dr. Borba, I know that she stands with youth (and works tirelessly to help them realize their full potential). In fact, if you read closely, I think it is fair to say that the criticisms leveled against youth can be more accurately interpreted as a veiled indictment on adults and 21st Century parenting generally. Yes, more college grads live at home than ever before. But it’s adults who set the minimum wage, college tuition fees, and student loan interest rates. Yes, teens seem more concerned with individual success (and believe they have the capability to be special and unique) than in previous generations. But who was it that started handing out participation ribbons and (perhaps) overemphasized self-esteem building? Yes, children spend more time online than ever before. All I can say about this is that it is a good thing social media and smart phones weren’t around when I was in middle and high school. So, if kids are so bad these days, whose fault really is it?
Technology is Not Inherently Evil
I also question some of the statistics Dr. Borba utilizes to paint a picture of certain adolescent problems. For example, in discussing youth’s dependence on technology in relation to peer harassment she refers to a survey which argued that “cyberbullying has tripled in the last year.” We’ve studied cyberbullying for over 15 years, surveying over 15,000 students from around the United States, and have never seen that kind of jump in our work (or the work of reputable others). I wrote a post two years ago when this headline first emerged questioning its validity. That’s not to say cyberbullying isn’t a problem (it certainly is). But relying on hyperbole or one-off statistics from unreliable sources doesn’t help to make the case. This seems to be common practice in many public-market parenting books, but with her extensive knowledge of these issues, Dr. Borba simply doesn’t need to go there.
Dr. Borba points out that teens use digital devices for “at least 7 and a half hours each day.” She portrays this estimate axiomatically as a bad thing, suggesting that as a result of all of this online activity adolescents are missing out on valuable learning and family time. This obscures the fact that most teens routinely use technology to complete school work (it is one of the most commonly cited uses of technology in our surveys of students), and that many parents take advantage of technology to connect and communicate with their children. In fact a parent recently commented on our blog that she frequently takes “silly pictures with my 8 and 9 year olds on Snapchat to send to our family and friends. Hopefully this shows them it is a fun and silly way to keep in touch.” Not all technology use is bad; it can also be very positive (such as Skyping with grandparents, researching solutions to problems, or interacting with individuals with similar life experiences, as Dr. Borba rightly points out in other parts of the book).
The Bottom Line
Read this book! (Or listen to it like I did.) As a parent of a 6-year old, I listened to this book with bated breath. I picked up numerous tricks and tips to add to my parenting tool belt. In this brief review I’ve only scratched the surface of all the wonderful insight this book has to offer. If you are like me you will find yourself frequently nodding your head in agreement and regularly mumbling “that is so true” to no one in particular. Despite my minor misgivings about her characterization of the scope of some of the problems she seeks to solve, her offered solution is spot-on. Instilling empathy in youth certainly holds much promise in preventing hurtful behaviors in every generation.
Unselfie, Empathy, the Brock Turner Case, and Parenting
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By Carrie Goldman, June 7, 2016 at 8:19 am
Five years ago, I first encountered the phenomenal Dr. Michele Borba, a parenting expert and bestselling author of more than twenty-two books. We connected because I was in the process of writing a book about bullying, and Michele was one of the experts I interviewed.
During that summer of 2011, we spoke several times on the phone, and I was struck by Michele’s vast knowledge, warm personality, and – most of all – her instant supportiveness. In today’s world, where many professional women view other women working in the same field with a competitiveness that borders on hostility, Michele embraced me, even though our topics went hand-in-hand.
Why? Why was Michele so quick to help? Quite simply, it is because Michele is one of the most empathetic people I have ever met. She is focused not on herself but on how she can help others. So, it came as no surprise that Michele has synthesized her life’s work in a masterful new book called Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed In Our All-About-Me World.
Michele has traveled far and wide to study practices of empathy and the horrific results of a lack of empathy. Among other places, she visited an amazing camp that brings together young Palestinians and young Israelis, with the goal of teaching them to see each other as human beings instead of as stereotypes. In Unselfie, she shared the following conversation from her visit to this camp:
“I had beliefs that were in my mind since I was young and I couldn’t accept the other side,” said a camper from Palestine. “But then I realized that they [Israelis] have peaceful people just like us. . . . I believe that at the end of the day, we are all humans.”
That moment confirmed thirty years of research and touring the world for answers. Empathy can be instilled, and it is composed of teachable habits that can be developed, practiced, and lived. Empathy is what lays the foundation for helping children live one essential truth: We are all humans who share the same fears and concerns, and deserve to be treated with dignity.”
The problem with our current society, as Michele explores in Unselfie, is that today’s teens are 40% less empathetic than teens were 30 years ago, and one of the main reasons is today’s self-absorption epidemic, which she coins the Selfie Syndrome. It’s a fascinating concept that makes perfect sense. I’ll let Michele tell you more in her own words about her work, and then I’ll share some thoughts about how a lack of empathy plays a critical role in the outrage around the lenient sentencing of Stanford rapist Brock Turner:
WHAT IS THE “SELFIE SYNDROME?”
I call this new self-absorbed craze the Selfie Syndrome which is all about self-promotion, personal branding, and self-interest at the exclusion of others’ feelings, needs, and concerns. It’s permeating our culture and slowly eroding our children’s character. Self-absorption kills empathy, the foundation of humanity, and why we must get kids to switch their focus from “I, Me, My, Mine” to “We, Us, Our, Ours.”
HOW DOES THE SELFIE SYNDROME HARM KIDS?
The me-centered culture is doing irreparable harm to today’s young people. Today’s college students are now 40 percent lower in empathy levels than three decades ago, and in the same period, narcissism has increased 58 percent. Peer cruelty is increasing and starting at younger ages. Today’s kids appear to have weaker moral identity and an increase in cheating so they are less likely to consider other’s concerns. We see a rise in a culture of bullying, cheating and unhappiness. One in five middle school students contemplate suicide as a solution to peer cruelty, and 70% of college kids admit to cheating in class. As anxiety increases, empathy wanes: it’s hard to feel for others when you’re in “survival mode.” One-third of all college students report having felt so depressed that they had trouble functioning.
DOES PARENTING MAKE A DIFFERENCE ON THEIR KIDS’ EMPATHY?
The one certainty I learned in all my classroom visits is that empathy can be instilled. Though our children are hardwired to care, they don’t come out of the womb empathetic, just like they aren’t born knowing that 2 + 2 = 4 or who the president of the United States is. And it’s a talent that kids can cultivate and improve, like riding a bike or learning a foreign language.
BUT WHY SHOULD WE WANT OUR KIDS TO EMPATHIZE?
For starters, the latest science says that the ability to empathize affects our kids’ future health, wealth, authentic happiness, relationship satisfaction, and ability to bounce back from adversity. It promotes kindness, prosocial behaviors, and moral courage, and it is an effective antidote to bullying, aggression, prejudice, and racism. Empathy also prepares kids for the global world, and gives them a job market boost. In today’s world, empathy equals success, and it’s what I call the Empathy Advantage that will give our children the edge they need to live meaningful, productive, and happy lives and thrive in a complex new world.
WHAT MADE YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN EMPATHY?
The moment I realized how vital it is to cultivate empathy was when I visited the Cambodian Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh more than a decade ago. It shook me to my core. All I could think about was what causes such inhumanity and how to stop it. I began a decade-long journey to find the answer and visited sites of unfathomable horrors: Dachau, Auschwitz, Armenia, and Rwanda. I learned that a common cause of genocide was always a complete lack of empathy for fellow human beings. I also studied holocaust rescuers and discovered that early experiences that are seeped in warmth, model kindness, and stress “You will be kind” are key to reducing cruelty. Each role helped me discover powerful but simple ways parents, teachers, counselors, and communities can cultivate empathy and raise humanness.
HOW DID YOU DISCOVER THE HABITS THAT GIVE EMPATHY ADVANTAGE?
I combed research and read memoirs of Nobel Peace prize winners and found that empathy is composed of nine teachable habits that can be developed, practiced, and lived: Emotional Literacy, Moral Identity, Perspective Taking, Moral Imagination, Self-Regulation, Practicing Kindness, Collaboration, Moral Courage, and Altruistic Leadership. With practice, those competencies and skills become habits that our children will use for a lifetime to maintain their caring capacities. Those same habits are not only crucial to developing empathy but also for boosting resilience, well-being, academic success, mental health and purposeful living.
As Michele writes in Unselfie, “Bullying is learned, but it can also be unlearned, and cultivating empathy is our best antidote. If you can imagine a victim’s pain, causing that suffering is a near impossible feat.”
I’ve thought quite a bit about this concept of empathy in the past few days, as a statement written by a victim of campus rape has gone viral. In her raw, heartbreaking words, the victim explains how her rapist, a privileged Stanford underclassman named Brock Turner, was able to brutally violate her because he refused to see her as a person.
In the aftermath of the rape, his actions and those of his family and his attorney have continued to be all about self-preservation. His attorney worked to portray the victim as an object, so that the judge wouldn’t empathize with her pain, and it worked, because the sentencing was a joke. Even now, as the public roars in fury about this case, the rapist won’t take accountability for his crimes. But the victim has used her voice to show that she is a person, a human being, and her powerful statement has elicited an outpouring of empathy from the Internet.
How do we prevent the raising of kids such as Brock Turner? We cultivate empathy and value it above GPAs, SATs and Olympic swimming times. We turn toward resources such as Unselfie to help us figure it out, and we do the best we can to see the world through the eyes of the diverse and unfamiliar people around us.
In 2014, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Michele Borba in person, because we were both speaking at the Hero Roundtable Conference in Flint, Michigan. We spent the entire conference glued together, kindred spirits, giggling and talking and swapping stories. It was during that visit that she was finalizing the publishing plans for Unselfie, and I’ve waited two long years to see the spectacular results. I was not disappointed.
And as an adoptive mom – particularly of a middle schooler! - I find that empathy is a critical parenting skill. To successfully raise an adopted child, empathy is what helps me make sense of behaviors and actions that can drive me to madness. Just when I am at the limit of my patience, I step outside of myself and try to imagine what my child is feeling, what her birth family is feeling, and suddenly things make sense, and my frustration melts.
So empathy helps us all.
Michele-Borba Unselfie
Carrie Goldman is an award-winning author, speaker, and bullying prevention educator. Follow Carrie's blog Portrait of an Adoption on Facebook and Twitter
Teaching your children empathy to make them happy
UnSelfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World by Dr. Michele Borba, Touchstone (Simon & Schuster), US $25.00, Pp 288, June 2016, ISBN 978-1501110030
When you are a parent, you constantly think of what your children need in order to be happy and successful. Some parents experience sleepless nights over this question. Dr. Michele Borba has a simple one-word answer to this mind-boggling question: empathy. She writes, “The trait that allows us to feel with others has the reputation of being ‘touchy-feely,’ but new research reveals that empathy is far from ‘soft’, and it plays a surprising role in predicting kids’ happiness and success. The problem is that empathy is widely underestimated by moms and dads, as well as the general public, so it’s low on most child-rearing agendas.” In UnSelfie, Dr. Michele Borba introduces a new and simple idea that will transform your kids’ lives: that empathy — rather than being a nice ‘add-on’ to our kids’ development – is in fact integral to their current and future success, happiness, and well-being. She argues that empathy is not an inborn trait, but it can be taught. She says though our children are hardwired to care, they don’t come out of the womb empathetic, just like they aren’t born knowing that 2 + 2 = 4 or who the president of the United States is. Empathy is a quality that can be taught – in fact, it’s a quality that must be taught, by parents, by educators, and by those in a child’s community. And what’s more, it’s a talent that kids can cultivate and improve, like riding a bike or learning a foreign language.
Dr. Borba outlines nine essential competencies which comprise empathy. She says, “With practice, those competencies and skills become habits that our children will use for a lifetime to maintain their caring capacities.” They include emotional literacy, moral identity, perspective taking, moral imagination, self-regulation, practicing kindness, collaboration, moral courage, and altruistic leadership abilities. ‘Selfies’ are all the rage as people take endless photos of themselves and post them on social media for others to view, to “oooh” and ahhh” their every “me” and “my” accolade. She tells us that the term has become so ubiquitous… that Oxford Dictionaries chose it as its Word of the Year in 2014. A review of hundreds of books published since 1960 found a stark increase in phrases that included that word ‘self’ or stressed personal uniqueness or being better than others. (“I come first” and “I can do it myself”). But that ‘look at me looking at you’ digital craze is spilling into the real world, altering our kids’ offline attitudes, and creating the most entitled, competitive, self-centered, and individualistic breed on record.
UnSelfie is a much needed book for every parent. It looks at one of the major social issues of our times in a fresh way. This book shows what is wrong with our kids and why they are not happy. It also suggests the way we can turn our children into happy and successful members of the society. Dr. Michele Borba’s diagnosis and the prescription may not be perfect solution, but it is definitely part of the solution. Every parent should read UnSelfie. Reviewed by Richard Wright
Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All About Me World By Michele Borba By Reviewed By: Lori Walsh, Youth Services Associate Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library
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Every parent and grandparent wants to know what they can do to raise a well-rounded child. The answer to that is empathy according to Michele Borba, internationally renowned educational psychologist and an expert in parenting, bullying, and character development. Empathy is defined as the ability to share and understand the feelings of another.
The catch is that empathy is widely undervalued by parents as well as the general public, so it’s low on most child-rearing agendas. Empathy is a quality that needs to be taught to children. They are not hardwired with it. Why do we want our children to be able to empathize? The ability to empathize affects our child’s ability to have authentic happiness, relationship satisfaction, and the ability to bounce back from adversity. Empathy is also a positive predictor of children’s reading and math test scores and critical thinking skills. It prepares children for the global world. Empathy equals success. Empathy is core to everything that makes a society civilized. As important as it is to read, it’s also as important to learn to relate--emotional literacy.
Today’s culture values “Me” more than “We”.
While we may be producing a smart, self-assured generation of young people, today’s children are also the most self-centered, saddest, and stressed on record. Producing thoughtful, content, and fruitful people will require a major change in child-rearing and teaching, one that is aligned with the latest science.
Empathetic children use nine essential habits to help them steer the emotional minefields and ethical challenges they will inevitably face throughout life. All nine are teachable.
Part I of the book will show you how to help your child develop the first four crucial fundamentals of empathy. Part II is all about helping your child practice the habits of empathy. Part III provides ways to help your child live empathetically.
Children need to be taught emotional vocabulary to discuss emotions and guidance for using it to become emotionally literate. Having an emotional vocabulary doesn’t assure that a child will share, care, or comfort. The right nurturance, modeling, reinforcement, experiences, and cognitive development are needed for empathy to blossom fully.
Friday, March 12, 2010
The Big Book of Parenting Solutions by Michele Borba - BOOK REVIEW
by Janis Brett Elspas
MommyBlogExpert
As avid reader and mom, I have an affinity for reviewing books, especially those about parenting -- a subject that is near and dear to me and to many of this blog's readers. Usually ideas for these types of posts pour easily out of my mind, translating almost magically into prose for the in-depth book reviews that are my specialty. Not so with this book.
In fact, when The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, by Michele Borba, Ed.D., first arrived in the mail for this review, I didn't expect it to be much different than the many other parenting self-help books I've seen. In fact, before I scanned through it, I thought that this one was like others and would not only be an easy read, but would also be one that I'd be able to comment on effortlessly. No sooner had I flipped through its pages, did I discover how wrong I was on both counts. Struggling to find the words to discuss this with both compassion and intelligence, I came to the realization that there are two things about this title that standout from others in this genre.
First of all, this is not a mere parenting book, it's an essential manual for raising kids in today's hi tech world and it was written with that intention in mind. Secondly, good parenting is never easy to either write about or to put into action because each child's behaviors (and each parents' responses to that child's imperfections) are unique. Yet, this book presents a good range of scenarios and possible solutions that serve as to point us in the right direction to analyze and start working through a variety of situations as well as how to know when seeking professional advice might be the next step.
Amounting to a nearly 700 page reference guide, the sheer telephone book size of this paperback at first glance will most certainly be daunting to just about all parents no matter where you are on the spectrum of raising preschoolers, tweens, and/or teens. A word of caution though. Don't attempt to read this cover to cover because the amount of knowledge presented, backed with solid research, will certainly consume you. Instead, because this text is organized by problematic issues rather than age group, use it as a manual to refer to as needed whenever you are faced with a particular parenting challenge.
Michele Borba, a prolific author of 22 books, speaks from experience. She is a mom of grown-up children, as well as an educational psychologist, former teacher, and popular media expert who is a frequent contributor to the Today Show. She also has been a guest on other high profile programs including The View, CNN, Dr. Phil, and others. In her latest book, The Big Book of Parenting Solutions, this parent extraordinaire reenacts her advice from actual cases of children she has treated as well as from the personal queries she has fielded on her iVillage Parenting Solutions Blog and on MicheleBorba.com .
Here are just of the few issues Borba discusses in the new guide's nine sections
Family - Adopted and divorced to twins and multiples
Behavior - From biting to impulsitivity
Character - Cheating to Materialism
Emotions - Separation Anxiety to Stressed Out
Social - Bullying, Cliques, Crushes, and Drinking
School - Daycare, Organized Sports, and Homework
Special Needs - ADD, Learning Disabilities Depression, Eating Disorders, and Gifted
Day-to-Day - Chores, Picky Easters, and Disorganization
Electronics - Cell Phone, Internet Safety, Cyber Bullying, and Video Games
After reading the above list of parental struggles and imagining all the others that you are personally struggling with right now, you are probably just as exhausted thinking about parenting as I am. The good news is Borba's manual covers almost anything you might experience as a mom or dad. Though I think it's a stretch to say -- as this book claims on its cover -- that this is, "The Only Parenting Book You'll Ever Need For Kids 3-13." I think it does come darn close, though, to being the most comprehensive book to come out thus far on the age-old challenges of parenting.
For certain, this manual does provide an excellent starting point to delving into practically any child behavior that we might encounter as parents. However, because of its range of topics and the breadth of ground that this covers, it is also understandable that The Big Book of Parenting Solutions does not get into much depth in any particular area that we might need to address in our own family situations. Luckily, Borba covers that angle, too, thanks to an extensive bibliography of references and suggested additional reading at the back of the text in virtually all the areas that might be troubling you and your child.
The Big Book of Parenting Solutions: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries, by Michele Borba, Ed.D., Jossey-Bass/An Imprint of Wiley, September 2009, ISBN 978-0-7879-8831-9. Cover Price $19.95, available at bookstores nationwide and from online booksellers.