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Bloom: 50 Things to Say, Think and Do With Anxious, Angry and Over-the-Top Kids
Written for real parents with anxious, angry and over-the-top kids, Bloom is a brain-based approach to parenting all children. Stop second-guessing the way you handle misbehaviors, and learn why they occur in the first place. Come to understand the developmental origins of behaviors and take a fresh look at how you can address them with skill-building techniques that produce real and lasting change.Taking its lead from neuroscience and best practices in early childhood mental health, Bloom offers parents, teachers and care providers the words, thoughts and actions to raise calm, confident children, while reducing the need for consequences and punishment.The first book of its kind, Bloom provides pages full of printable mantras you can carry with you, hang on your fridge or use in your classroom to raise emotionally competent kids. Bloom allows you to take a collaborative stance with your children, improving their cognitive, emotional and social skills. Bloom offers a new approach to human relationships that will change the way you perceive, think and feel about parenting, love, work and life. Bloom changes everything. If it works wonders with anxious, angry and over-the-top kids, imagine what it can do for your child.Filled with mantras you can cut right out of the book or download from the author's websites and use anywhere, it offers more than just a one-time read! And it's filled with resources to other great books and websites that are helpful to any parents!
- GenresParentingNonfiction
311 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 15, 2015
26 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 23, 2019
As is often the case when I read books like this, I have a complex set of feelings and opinions about this particular book and the approach of its authors. In many ways there is a strong temptation to review this book based the way I would have wanted it--with some strong biblical insights and a Christian perspective about how to help children cope with the struggles of their existence, recognizing the fallen nature but also the fact that children can and should learn how to communicate better and seek to explain where they are coming from rather than shutting down or resorting to violence against those who bother them. Yet this book is not the one I would have most preferred to read, and like many books of its kind it appears to lack both moral insight into children and the behavior of parents as well as a tendency to desire to smuggle in Buddhist rituals as worthy ways of reducing stress. As is often the case with books about anxiety, there are references to mindfulness as well as suggestions to practice in yoga and the authors seem uninterested in looking at the Bible as an inspiration in shaping behavior, which limits this book's appeal and effectiveness.
In a bit more than 200 pages this book contains eleven chapters that discuss some challenging situations for children and suggest what the authors view to be wise and compassionate responses to these situations on the part of parents (and to a lesser extent other adult authority figures). The authors discuss the skills-based approach of the book and point out that children, like flowers, are very different in the amount of care that they require in order to bloom. After that the authors discuss the problem many children have with getting up and getting ready in the morning (1) as well as the challenge that cleaning one's room is to children (2) and admittedly many adults as well. There are discussions about biting (3) and how to deal with it as well as help for parents to teach their children not to hit other people (4). The authors have some advice on sass (5), avoiding yelling (6), and children who fidget and simply cannot sit still (7), another problem some adults face. The book then closes with some discussion about better behavior at school (8), separation anxiety (9), trauma (10), and how children can effectively handle grief (11), which ends the book on a rather serious note, along with some more resources for the reader.
There is certainly a great deal to praise the book for, not least in the way that it encourages parents to help build up the skills their children have in communication. Children (and adults) who are able to make themselves understood and whose communication is respected are, after all, far less likely to resort to more violent means of making themselves heard. If this book is not the be and end all when it comes to addressing questions of morality and decency, the authors are savvy enough to point out that children learn a great deal of disrespect and sass from their parents, and the way that parents deal with each other and with other authority figures. It would have been worthwhile had the authors focused on the proper order of activities (think, say, and do) and if they had been able to view Christian approaches with the same degree of favor (if not more) than the fashionable siren call of Buddhism, but again, we must read and review the books we have and not the books we would wish. There are some worthwhile approaches to gain from the book, even if there is plenty of dross here as well.
In a bit more than 200 pages this book contains eleven chapters that discuss some challenging situations for children and suggest what the authors view to be wise and compassionate responses to these situations on the part of parents (and to a lesser extent other adult authority figures). The authors discuss the skills-based approach of the book and point out that children, like flowers, are very different in the amount of care that they require in order to bloom. After that the authors discuss the problem many children have with getting up and getting ready in the morning (1) as well as the challenge that cleaning one's room is to children (2) and admittedly many adults as well. There are discussions about biting (3) and how to deal with it as well as help for parents to teach their children not to hit other people (4). The authors have some advice on sass (5), avoiding yelling (6), and children who fidget and simply cannot sit still (7), another problem some adults face. The book then closes with some discussion about better behavior at school (8), separation anxiety (9), trauma (10), and how children can effectively handle grief (11), which ends the book on a rather serious note, along with some more resources for the reader.
There is certainly a great deal to praise the book for, not least in the way that it encourages parents to help build up the skills their children have in communication. Children (and adults) who are able to make themselves understood and whose communication is respected are, after all, far less likely to resort to more violent means of making themselves heard. If this book is not the be and end all when it comes to addressing questions of morality and decency, the authors are savvy enough to point out that children learn a great deal of disrespect and sass from their parents, and the way that parents deal with each other and with other authority figures. It would have been worthwhile had the authors focused on the proper order of activities (think, say, and do) and if they had been able to view Christian approaches with the same degree of favor (if not more) than the fashionable siren call of Buddhism, but again, we must read and review the books we have and not the books we would wish. There are some worthwhile approaches to gain from the book, even if there is plenty of dross here as well.
October 5, 2017
Usefull one!
این کتاب از آن باید ترجمه شود هاست با همین سبک و سیاق
این کتاب از آن باید ترجمه شود هاست با همین سبک و سیاق
September 3, 2017
Yang paling aku sukai dari buku ini adalah penulis mengibaratkan anak bagaikan bunga-bunga di taman dan orang tualah sebagai tukang kebunnya. Hal pertama yang harus dilakukan tukang kebun yang baik adalah mengenali apakah dia memiliki bunga mawar atau zinnia (bunga yang paling mudah tumbuh dan hanya perlu sedikit perawatan tapi terus menghasilkan bunga yang indah). Karena tiap bunga akan berbeda cara perawatannya. Jika sebuah bunga di taman layu kita tidak segera mencabutnya, tapi kita beri air dan pupuk untuk menjadikannya indah kembali. Begitu pula halnya dengan anak-anak.
January 6, 2020
The book is split into 11 chapters on a variety of subjects from Biting to Grief. Within each chapter, there are also examples of What to Say, What to Think, What to Do when you encounter each behaviour, with the aim that your own reaction doesn't exasperate the situation - something I admit I need help with as DD1 is a teeny weeny little bit like me...
I thought this was a good book, and would be really useful for some children and parents.
The downside, for me, is that it concentrates on young children, up to age 10. Now ideally, all this issues would be sorted by then, but DD1 is older and still gets anxious, angry and over-the-top. Maybe because she is [undiagnosed] on the autistic spectrum, maybe because I'm a crap parent, maybe because we're too similar and I can't see the wood for the trees as I empathise with how she's feeling whilst also trying to gain the control that my parents had over me when I was that age. Either way, I didn't find the book as useful as I had hoped, but I wish I had discovered it earlier.
If you have a young child who sounds like the description, I would recommend this book to you.
I thought this was a good book, and would be really useful for some children and parents.
The downside, for me, is that it concentrates on young children, up to age 10. Now ideally, all this issues would be sorted by then, but DD1 is older and still gets anxious, angry and over-the-top. Maybe because she is [undiagnosed] on the autistic spectrum, maybe because I'm a crap parent, maybe because we're too similar and I can't see the wood for the trees as I empathise with how she's feeling whilst also trying to gain the control that my parents had over me when I was that age. Either way, I didn't find the book as useful as I had hoped, but I wish I had discovered it earlier.
If you have a young child who sounds like the description, I would recommend this book to you.
December 7, 2018
Highly recommend for any parent, whether your child is difficult or not. I'll be rereading this every few months. Easy to read in small parts or as a whole. Perfect to skip to the chapter addressing your problem without having to read the rest.
January 12, 2023
Wish I would have had this book years ago as a new parent of a special needs kid. Highly recommend. So helpful. I especially appreciate the scripts of what to say. I wish I could commit them all to memory!
January 11, 2018
The best parenting book I've ever read. Quick to read and easy to apply to everyday parenting situations! So grateful for this book!!
August 27, 2015
Bloom is a wonderful tool for parents of children who are angry, unhappy, reactive, impulsive and, well...just kids. Each chapter has a question or scenario about challenging situations, transitions and other hot spots. The authors, Dr Lynne Kenney and Wendy Young then give suggestions and ideas how to manage, diffuse or stop the behavior. They do this by helping parents understand the behavior; how to think about them, what to say to yourself as a parent when it occurs and what to do about the behavior in the moment in simple and doable steps. I really appreciate the simplicity of the book, the soothing tone and the practical printable cut-outs mantras for parents to use to keep calm during the situations. I also appreciate its strength-based approach and that it helps to teach parents to stay calm and connected rather than escalate and threaten with punishment. This is really skill-building at its finest.
Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me to review this book.
Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me to review this book.
August 1, 2015
Lots of helpful tips. Just wish they'd included a chapter on sleep/bedtime issues.
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September 30, 2015I really liked this. Short. Easy to read. Practical.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews