The Happy Kids Handbook

“This practical and highly workable handbook details a broad selection of delightfully creative strategies for helping kids learn from play, manage strong emotions constructively, learn to forgive and empathize, build assertiveness, and accept difference in themselves and others… . Highly recommended for people who seek a parenting orientation rather than a method but still want a substantial toolbox of specific activities to use in understanding and connecting with their children.” —Publishers Weekly“A clear and thoughtful approach to parenting your individual child. In a world full of stresses on parents and children, what a relief to read about parenting strategies that focus on my unique child, and on raising an empathetic, happy, and confident person. I would highly recommend this book for all the individual parents and their one-of-a-kind kids!” —Idina Menzel, Tony Award-winning actress and singer “The Happy Kid Handbook is a must-read for parents who want joyful households without all the stress of ‘perfect’ parenting.” —Soleil Moon Frye, author of Happy Chaos and Let’s Get This Party Started “Any mother of big kids will tell you that the exhausting days of infancy were a breeze! I love Katie’s real-life approach to surviving our children’s childhood, and being the best parents we can for them. Here’s to happy kids… and sane parents!” —Jill Smokler, New York Times-bestselling author of Confessions of a Scary Mommy “We’ve all heard the popular saying, ‘To know you is to love you,’ but these words have never come to life quite the way they do in The Happy Kid Handbook. Katie Hurley has a profound understanding of how to tap into children’s individual strengths, personality traits, and interests to better connect, communicate, and empower them. Katie shows parents how to guide their children to their fullest potential without sacrificing their inner peace and inherent joy.” —Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times-bestselling author of Hands Free Mama“In a fun-to-read, conversational style, Katie Hurley brings her experience as a child psychotherapist and parent to bear in helping parents think clearly and calmly about their relationship with their child. The focus is right where it should be—on happiness. Children differ greatly from one to another; the parent’s task is to get to know the child and help the child be happy as the person that he or she is.” —Peter Gray, Research Professor of Psychology at Boston College and author of Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life “Compassionate, smart, and practical advice for raising your unique child. Big ideas—backed by clinical wisdom and research—and step-by-step guidance on how to apply them.” —Heather Turgeon, co-author of The Happy Sleeper “With an emphasis on taking back childhood and reducing stress for the whole family, The Happy Kid Handbook helps parents empower their kids to take control of their own happiness. Katie provides parents with easy, actionable steps to help them understand what makes their kids tick and how to help them carve their own paths and cope with obstacles along the way.” —Amy McCready, Founder of Positive Parenting Solutions and author of The “Me, Me, Me” Epidemic: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Capable, Grateful Kids in an Over-Entitled World “Looking at parenting from the child’s point-of-view changes the game and helps parents to become learning partners with their children rather than engineers of their future. Katie Hurley is a professional who knows and understands children, parents, families… and generally what it means to be human.” —Rick Ackerly, author of The Genius In Every Child: Encouraging Character, Curiosity and Creativity in Children

Katie Hurley, LCSW, is a child and adolescent psychotherapist, parenting expert, and writer. Katie earned her BA in psychology and women’s studies from Boston College and her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania. Katie has extensive training in Play Therapy. She worked for The Help Group, a large non-profit in Los Angeles, for seven years as a school-based therapist and a clinical director. Katie also launched her private practice, co-facilitated social skills groups, and taught parenting classes during that time. She currently practices psychotherapy in the South Bay area of Los Angeles and is a freelance writer for many online parenting publications. Her work can be found on EverydayFamily, Momtastic, mom.me, Yahoo Parenting and The Huffington Post. Katie writes for the parenting blog Practical Parenting. She splits her time between Los Angeles and the Connecticut coast with her rock and roll husband and their two happy children.

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