Positive Parenting | Mr. Dad

Terri Apter, author of Passing Judgment. Topic: Praise and blame in everyday life. Issues: The important role that praise and blame play in relationships (whether between adults or between parents and children); the “magic ratio” or praise to blame and how it correlates to a couple’s probability of staying together; the damage done by insincere praise; how social media has made it easier to gossip and blame others.

Sam Weinman, author of Win at Losing. Topic: How our biggest setbacks can lead to our greatest gains. Issues: How we win from losing (and sometimes lose from winning); inspirational stories from famous people on how they coped with loss and use it to propel them to even greater success.

Catherine Price, author of Vitamania. Topic: How vitamins revolutionized the way we think about food. Issues: How vitamins were discovered and named; the surprising story of America’s blind devotion to vitamins at the expense of our health; why so much we “know” about vitamins is actually wrong; what vitamins actually do (and don’t do).

Susan Greenhalgh, author of Fat-Talk Nation. Topic: The human costs of America’s war on fat. Issues: The politics and culture of fat in America; how the war on fat damages the physical and emotional health of our young people and disrupts families and intimate relationships; how to change the national conversation and reframe our relationship with our bodies and our health.

Leon Scott Baxter, author of Secrets of Safety-Net Parenting. Topic: Raising happy and successful children. Issues: The importance of letting our children fail—and learn from the experience; helping children find their passions and strengths; the difference between nudging a child in a particular direction and pushing; why you’re not your child’s friend—and shouldn’t try to be.

Tim Hollister, author of Not So Fast. Topic: Parenting your teen through the dangers of driving Issues: How brain development affects driving; what driver’s ed doesn’t produce safe drivers; how and why to prepare a “flight plan” for each drive before handing over the keys; how an when to say no.

Jennifer Tyler Lee, author of The 52 New Foods Challenge. Topic: A family cooking adventure for each week of the year. Issues: Creative ways to get your children to eat healthy, balanced meals; practical tips to change the way your family eats—one new food at a time; bringing back the joy of mealtimes; exploring new foods and bust boredom at your family table.

Elisha Cooper, author of Falling. Topic: A father, a daughter, and a journey back. Issues: A moving memoir of how a family copes with the discovery of a child’s cancer, sleepless nights, surgeries, and worry, and ultimately recovery.

Paula Fass, author of The End of American Childhood. Topic: A history of parenting from life on the frontier to the managed child. Issues: How the American understanding of childhood differs from that of many other countries; how the way we raise our children mirrors the way our society and culture has developed; why childhood lasts a lot longer now than it did 150 years ago or so; and much more.

Mai Vu, author of The Divorced Mom’s Guide to Datingg. @HotLifeHotLove Topic: How to be loved, adored, and cherished. Issues: The biggest question that tired, overwhelmed single moms struggle with: “Why do I work so hard, but I’m not getting the love, success, and support that I want?”

Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult. Topic: How to break free of the overparenting trap and prepare your kid for success. Issues: What we’re doing now and what overparenting looks like; the devastating results of overparenting (lack of life skills, psychological harm; damaged job prospects, substance abuse, and more); what we need to be doing instead (give them unstructured time, teach life skills, teach kids how to think, and more).

Amy Morin, author of 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do. Topic: Raising self-assured children and training their brain for a life of happiness, meaning, and success. Issues: Mentally strong parents don’t condone a victim mentality, don’t parent out of guilt, don’t make their child the center of the universe, don’t give their child power over them, don’t let their child avoid responsibility, don’t prevent their child from making mistakes, and many others.

Valerie Davis Raskin, coauthor of This Isn’t What I Expected. Topic: Overcoming postpartum depression. Issues: Symptoms of postpartum depression (PPD) and how it’s different than “baby blues”; dealing with panic attacks, stress overload, and obsessive urges; breaking the cycle of negative thinking; coping with the loss of self-esteem, when to get help; the dad’s role in support a new mom suffering from PPD

Heather Shumaker, author of It’s OK to Go up the Slide. Topic: Renegade rules for raising confident and creative kids. Issues: Risk vs. independence; why we need to put safety second; the importance of modeling mistakes; navigating technology; children’s rights at school; don’t banish scary stories; deal with disasters in the news; mean words matter learning to relax.

Jamie Glowacki, author of Oh Crap! Potty Training. Topic: Everything modern parents need to know to do it once and do it right. Issues: How do I know if my child is ready; why won’t my child poop in the potty; how do I avoid power struggles; How can I get their daycare provider on board? what about nighttime? why children regress.