The Crucial Years

‘The Crucial Years is more than a book-it is a road map for any adult supporting children. Dr. Ziegler addresses science and strategies that aim to strengthen our children and ourselves. Forward thinking and prevention based, The Crucial Years is a must read!’ - Eve Rodsky New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play‘An essential read for every parent. The elementary school years are a time of incredible growth and change and can also be fraught with challenges that you don’t see coming. Dr. Ziegler prepares you for tough conversations so you can raise happier, healthier kids who quickly become happier and healthier teens.’ - Dr Michele Borba, educational psychologist and author of Thrivers‘The Crucial Years is the ultimate survival guide… Reassuring, empowering and grounded in research, this book is a must-have roadmap for any parent seeking to preserve their child’s well-being as they make their way through middle childhood.’ - Phyllis L. Fagell, licensed therapist, school counsellor, and author of Middle School Matters‘No longer the forgotten years, The Crucial Years redefines the ages from 6-12 as a time of opportunity to educate and empower kids. With puberty beginning much earlier, Ziegler provides a developmental framework for understanding the intersection of kids physical and emotional transformation during middle childhood. Her clear explanations and parenting scripts will be a useful tool for any parent navigating this period!’ - Vanessa Kroll Bennett, co-author of This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained‘I wish this book were around when my kids were younger. At least I have an excuse for doing it all wrong.’ - Karen Alpert, author of the New York Times bestseller I Heart My Little A-Holes

‘Seems like every stage of childhood is fraught with some kind of anxiety – often on the part of the parents! Sheryl Ziegler helps us realize that discomfort does not mean disaster, and that as our ‘middle childhood’ kids surprise and sometimes worry us, that’s not only normal, it’s good. Changes ahead! Yikes! Yay!’ - Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids

Dr. Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler, Psy.D., is an acclaimed expert on children’s mental health with a deep understanding of the needs of today’s tweens, teens, and their families. A first-generation Latina with Puerto Rican and Cuban roots, Dr. Ziegler was born in Harlem and raised in Washington Heights. She completed her advanced doctoral training at The Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck, NY, where she was supported by The Bill and Melinda Gates Scholarship Foundation, and began her professional career treating the highest acuity patients in subsequent youth residential treatment centers. Her group private practice, The Child & Family Therapy Center at Lowry, was established in 2006 in Denver. Dr. Ziegler appears weekly on Denver’s NBC-TV’s 9News as their on-staff mental health and parenting expert and has been featured in such national media as The Today Show, CNN Headline News, and The Katie Couric Show. She has contributed to or been interviewed by The New York Times, Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Time, Parents, Elle, Better Homes and Gardens and more.

Dr. Ziegler has been named a Luminary in the field of Psychotherapy and was recognized as such at the 2022 Evolution of Psychotherapy conference in Orlando. She is the author of Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim your Life and Raise Healthier Children (Dey Street, 2018), which won Best Parenting Book of the Year by the International Latino Book Awards Foundation. She is a board member of Detach, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping teens achieve digital balance and advises major national corporations on tween and teen mental health initiatives. She is also the mother of a tween and two teens.