Why Doesn't Anybody Like Me? : A Guide to Raising Socially Confident Kids

A parent's love is absolutely essential, but there comes a point when it alone is not sufficient -- when the epiccenter of acceptance shifts from home to school, from family to peer.

This practical, persuasive guide shows parents how to raise their children so that they will be popular -- well liked by their peers. Social competence in children of all ages, Marano says, is not a luxury. Rather, it has an essential impact on a child's later life -- on his or her health, happiness, intellectual capacity, and above all, success.

But how can parents foster the qualities and skills shared by every popular child? And what can mothers and fathers do when their youngsters stumble, struggle, or suffer?

This friendly, impressively researched, and enormously informative guide explores a wide range of issues and concerns including:

• The perils of overprotective -- how to safeguard children without smothering them, and how to turn a shy boy or girl into a confident kid


• Good kids, bad kids, and outsiders -- who gets picked on, why schoolyard cruelty hurts everyone, and what a parent can do when a child is having trouble


• Peer pressure and interpersonal solutions -- how children learn to interact, from the playpen to the playground and beyond, and how parents can foster crucial social skills at every age


• Temperamanent and tantrums -- why youngster act up, from the Terrible Twos to teenage rebellion, what such behavior means in different situations, and how parents can turn conflict into cooperation

Prescriptive and practical, "Why Doesn't Anybody Like Me?" offers parents down-to-earth advice on everything from helping their children make new friends to managing schoolyard bullies. Marano's perceptive insights are powerful psychological strategies parents can use help their children build the interpersonal skills that will carry them through life that form the core of every strong friendship, every satifying marriage, and every successful business partnership.

Hara Estroff Marano, Editor-at-Large of Psychology Today, has been writing about psychological issues for more than twenty years. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.