Parenting for the GENIUS is for parents who would rather spend time with their families than read this book. It offers a no-nonsense approach to parenting that presents values you can proudly parent and live by in an accessible and enjoyable way. Parenting for the GENIUS is a guide for parents of children of all ages. It's a how-to book that supports parents in creating clear and realistic strategies based on reflective practice.
As a resource, Parenting for the GENIUS is full of usable strategies for a host of situations that are discussed with honesty, complexity, and care—in the comforting style of discussing difficult problems with a good friend. Amy Alamar delivers her wisdom and expertise through insightful, familiar, and charming examples. The anecdotes and practical advice come together to illustrate the importance of reflecting on your parenting practice to inform your future decisions.
Parenting for the Genius is a comprehensive source for parents that discusses:
- Helping your child develop an authentic identity
- Developing character in your kids by addressing who your child is and who your child will be
- Promoting independence by focusing on opportunities to let your child go and encouraging and honoring that independence
- Nurturing well-being and healthy choices for your child, including ways to increase your family's health and wellness both in mind and body
- Exploring how parents relate to their community and ways to support their children's entry into that community
- Helping your child build, enjoy, and benefit from the people and institutions around your family
Additionally, Parenting for the GENIUS provides day-to-day practical advice in areas such as:
- Thinking big picture, even when invested in the small stuff
- Finding clarity in anger, frustration, or disappointment
- Creating a space for yourself and identifying when you need that space
- Negotiating with control and supporting your child's confidence
- Encouraging your child's healthy choices
- Focusing on learning and not performance
Parenting for the GENIUS is from a fellow parent—in the trenches with you—offering sound and productive advice based on research, professional experience, and personal practice. This is advice you can start using in the moment that is designed to help you make parenting decisions with confidence.
Like Thomas Edison's definition of genius, the best parenting is 99 percent perspiration (i.e., a lot of hard work). You cannot master the art of parenting until you've done it, and it's really never over. Every day that you parent your child (no matter how many you've had or will have) will be different. You've never before parented this particular child through this particular age. It's literally all new every day. Benefit from your newfound reflective practice to learn from your own experiences to continually improve and feel good about your parenting and your family.
Amy Alamar, EdD, is the director of school partnerships at Girard Education Foundation, where she works with K–12 schools on integrating Activate Instruction, an interactive, online curriculum tool. In this role, she gathers and disseminates best practices and works with teachers, administrators, parents, and students to implement this tool. Previously, she served as the schools program director for Challenge Success at Stanford University. In her role there, she oversaw all the programming for member schools and conducted professional development for middle and high school faculty and parent education presentations. Amy has been working and researching in the field of education as a teacher, teacher educator, researcher, and reformer for over fifteen years, with a focus on underresourced students, literacy, curriculum design, and constructivist education. She has also done additional research in the areas of utilization of multimedia in education and student stress. In her role as an educator, Amy has been in classrooms ranging from elementary all the way through higher education. In her role as a frequent speaker for parent and faculty groups, Amy has facilitated parent education sessions focused on student stress and well-being as well as faculty development workshops focused on engagement with learning, professional communication, and curriculum design. Amy is the mother of three of her very own research subjects whom she learns from and enjoys each and every day.
