“Covers more aspects of bullying than other sources.”

We wanted to share this wonderful review on Amazon. It has been edited slightly to include both authors:

The Bullying Antidote by Louise Hart and Kristen Caven triumphs as an in-depth guide to the troubling world of bullying. The authors speak throughout the book with candor and much study to support their statements. They also cover more aspects of bullying than other sources I have found. Mental illness is rarely included in discussions of bullying; Dr. Hart explores this in great detail. The section of chapter 1 entitled “Sharing the Responsibility” was particularly engaging, and full of anecdotes that might be quoted in any discussion of abuse among children and adolescents. 

A continuous theme of the book is that no single source shoulders all of the responsibility for bullying, but instead many levels of environment and society lend to these unfortunate scenarios. Another great strength of the book is that it empowers the reader to take an active role in combating cultural trends that lead to children behaving violent. Caven and Hart go into how one should speak to children about the importance of peace, and being critical thinkers instead of passive consumers of conflicting media. Many examples of how fostering a child’s need to feel accepted and engaged with their peers in a healthy way can be approached in so many ways, and the guide remains adaptable to almost any situation and scenario. Conflict between children of different cultural identities and gender is also explored. Hart and Caven encourage the reader to engage children in the conversation of bullying, what it means, and what consequences it could yield. For an in-depth trove of easy-to-implement strategies in abuse prevention, look no further than this great book!

—Omar Cosme, Amazon Reviewer

“Congratulations on a huge achievement.”

Dr. Laura Markham

When Dr. Laura Markham, author of Peaceful Parents, Happy Kids and founder of Aha! Parenting, started reading our book, she wasn’t thrilled at an early part that says “hitting kids in anger contributes to bullying.” Because, she says, “I think all hitting contributes to bullying.” But after she finished the The Bullying Antidote, she said:

The National Institute of Health reports that 15% of students in the US miss school every day because they’re afraid of being intimidated or even attacked by other students. Clearly, something is very wrong with a culture that creates such stressful, dangerous conditions for kids and teens. But what is it about our culture that has given rise to such pervasive bullying?

Hart and Caven’s comprehensive book acknowledges societal pressures, but suggests that our culture’s child-raising practices too often lay the foundations of bullying. Certainly, they point out, kids who are abused at home are at risk of becoming bullies. But even children who are raised “in good homes” can feel bullied when parents shame them, call them names, spank them, or don’t protect them from sibling violence. Kids who feel bullied at home are primed to become victims with their peers, or to become bullies themselves.

Luckily, most of The Bullying Antidote focuses on solutions. Parents will find pointers to help kids who are being bullied, as well as to help kids who witness bullying, and even to intervene to help their child who is acting like a bully. The last half of the book is essentially a primer on positive parenting, designed to help parents evolve their child-raising to give their child the self-regard and social skills that are so essential to navigate a complex social world without bullying or being bullied.

“Customers will be relieved to find on your shelves”

Tell your local bookstore about The Bullying Antidote! Here’s a review from Retailing Insight, a trade magazine:

Parents today are in competition with cultural trends in general, and advertising specifically, for the health and well-being of their children. One of the side effects has been an epidemic of bullying. 

Whether your customers have children or not, they will have been affected in one or another by aggressive children without good boundaries. Any parent who has school-age children will have bullying at the top of their list of things to worry about. Louise Hart and Kristen Caven have tackled the problem head on, armed with cutting edge research and neuroscience.

This mother-daughter team believes that we are close to the tipping point when it comes to bullying, because the majority of parents have had enough and are ready to initiate a cultural change. This book will not only fuel that fire, it will give readers the information, insight, and specific tools they need to begin creating a better environment for all our children. By raising self-esteem, instilling assertive communication skills, and creating action for children to use when bullying occurs, parents can make their children more resilient and bully proof.

This is a well-written, understandable, and comprehensive book which many of your customers will be relieved to find on your shelves.

Susan Heim on Parenting: Back-to-School: Anti-Bullying Books for Parents and Kids

Our first book review from the blogosphere:

Back-to-School: Anti-Bullying Books for Parents and Kids

For some children, the return to school can be filled with dread, especially if they’re the victim of bullying. As we’ve seen in the news, bullying can be devastating to a child, and can even lead to suicide. Many schools now have anti-bullying programs to discourage bullying at school, but these messages need to be reinforced in the home, through good parenting. Two new books can help parents and children address and prevent bullying.

For parents:

The Bullying Antidote: Superpower Your Kids for Life

By Dr. Louise Hart and Kristen Caven

We will never be able to make bullying go away entirely, but we can equip our kids with a “superpower” that enables them to restore their “health, happiness, and balance” in the face of bullying. The authors present both an “outside-in” approach, whereby the adults in kids’ lives are “enforcing rules and laws, and holding kids accountable in order to change behavior,” as well as an “inside-out” approach, whereby adults help “children develop attitudes, values, and skills that empower them to have respectful relationships based on rights and responsibility.” This is a comprehensive parenting strategy to help parents raise children who can resist bullying, as well as prevent them from becoming bullies themselves.

via Susan Heim on Parenting: Back-to-School: Anti-Bullying Books for Parents and Kids.

via Susan Heim on Parenting: Back-to-School: Anti-Bullying Books for Parents and Kids.

Bullying Antidote offers hope and explores options

The bloggers have started talking!