Charley's New Friend

Charley's New Friend is an exciting children's book with a twist. The twist is that after the story, there is a section for parents and other readers to consider additional parenting material focusing upon issues raised in the story. Thus, the book offers information to you and an exciting story for your children.

The primary message of Charley's New Friend is that all our experiences even those that might be described as difficult contribute to shaping our beliefs and values. We can feel happy, excited, and positive or sad, angry, and fearful. Every experience shapes who we become, and parenting is about guiding children to become well-adjusted, compassionate, happy, and resilient. Every parent's hope is to help their children learn how to frame their perceptions, build strong values and develop the emotional strength to serve them into adulthood. Every day is full of opportunities to gain insight from one's own missteps, life's losses, the often unkind words and actions of others, and the many differences that divide us.

As a parent, being a good role model turned out to be the most challenging task I've undertaken. Hours of academic examination to obtain an M.A. in psychology and parenting classes yielded little more than abstract results. It was only with "on- the- job training" and constant self-reflection that I managed to find my individual parenting insight. For example, just what does one do when a daughter rolls her eyes at you derisively as though you're some sort of alien vegetable? No textbook prepares you adequately for your own emotional reaction, and an answer as to why you overreacted is helpful. The next step with the task of self-reflection will be to decide how to respond more effectively when similar circumstanced occur.

Along with the story I believe your children will enjoy, I wanted to share what I learned along the path of parenthood to help children and their parents cope better with challenging, real-life experiences.