Bloom: Helping Children Blossom

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By Dr. Lynne Kenney and Wendy Young

Bloom presents a brain-based style of parenting that helps children learn to develop the social-emotional, behavioral and communication skills to grow and thrive as productive social beings.  Moving away from consequences as a primary method of behavioral change, Bloom offers the thoughts, words and actions needed to raise socially competent, thoughtful, ethical children who grow and prosper with confidence and caring.

Available on Kindle for ipad, iphone and android, Bloom can help us transform families and classrooms by teaching children the skills they need to thrive.

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Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life

By John E. Mayer

In Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, John E. Mayer outlines a program to alter negative eating behaviors and change the social/emotional forces that contribute to obesity in all family members regardless of age. The program is based on three pillars of planned Diet and Nutrition, fun Activities for the family, and Motivational words of encouragement and praise. The book also includes planning tools, examples, and real-life stories to ensure success and make the reading fun.

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“Dr. John Mayer has invented an ingenious solution to the epidemic of childhood obesity that masquerades as an enjoyable family outing.

His unique approach employs the latest research on human health and behavior and is shaped by his 30 years experience as a beloved family pychologist.

Effective and fun, Dr. Mayer’s program can help anyone achieve extraordinary fitness.”
—Mark Bryan, founding member of Oprah’s Change Your Life Team

Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and Kid Needs to Know About Ending the Cycle of Fear

By Carrie Goldman

Carrie Goldman became an unexpected voice for the antibullying movement after her blog post about her daughter Katie's bullying experience went viral and an online community of support generated international attention. In Bullied, Goldman brings together the expertise of leading authorities with the candid accounts of families dealing firsthand with peer victimization to present proven strategies and concrete tools for teaching children how to speak up and carry themselves with confidence; call each other out on cruelty; resolve conflict; cope with teasing, taunting, physical abuse, and cyberbullying; and be smart consumers of technology and media. As a mother, she calls on us all—families, schools, communities, retailers, celebrities, and media—to fiercely examine our own stereotypes and embrace our joint responsibility for creating a culture of acceptance and respect.

For parents, educators, and anyone still wrestling with past experiences of victimization and fear, Bullied is an eye-opening, prescriptive, and ultimately uplifting guide to raising diverse, empathetic, tolerant kids in a caring and safe world.

At least 25 percent of kids have been bullied online. One in five teens has been bullied at school. More than half of bullying behaviors will stop in less than ten seconds when another student intervenes.

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Distracted Driving: 97% of Teens Admit to Texting and Driving

Recent AT&T surveys found that texting while driving is prominent among both teenagers and business commuters. Watch the video above.

See the findings from a new AT&T texting while driving poll, showing that nearly half of commuters text and drive. Learn about the risks of texting while driving and take the pledge at http://www.itcanwait.com.

97 percent of teens say texting while driving is dangerous — but 43 percent admit to doing so.

• Almost all teens (nine in 10) expect a reply to a text or email within five minutes or less, which puts pressure on them to respond while driving.
• According to 77 percent of teens, adults tell kids not text or email while driving — yet adults do it themselves "all the time."
  AT&T Teen Driver Survey - Executive Summary
• Hispanic teens (54 percent) are more likely to admit to the practice of texting while driving than Caucasian (41 percent) and African American (42 percent) teens.

PROM is a Four Letter Word

The event of prom is no small matter, endless movies have been crafted around this big dance– can we say “Footloose” without our toes tapping?

With nostalgia comes temptation, not only for teens, but parents. Local St. Johns County parents with seniors graduating this year may remember when the legal drinking age was 18. Coupled with memories of your own senior prom, well meaning, otherwise logical parents may be tempted to relax an otherwise firm “no alcohol” policy for this special event.

Let’s talk you off the ledge and back into your parent pants.

P is for planning. Seniors want to have a good time at prom. Regrettably, they’ve grown up in a media culture that has shown them images of good times being had with alcohol, and alcohol only. The best way to mediate this attitude is to literally plan for a goodtime. What happens before prom and after prom are often more important than the prom. Contrary to popular belief, teens are not wired to drink; they’re wired for fun and risky behavior.  Pool parties, slip and slides with bubbles, scavenger hunts and other types of crazy and somewhat goofy activities make memorable events. If you’re not planning for fun, they’ll find it on their own.

R is for respect. Most teens don’t respect parents who provide alcohol to minors and the largest portion of alcohol to minors comes from a small percentage of parents. The adage “their going to do it anyway” is a slippery slope for parents trying to convince themselves they’re doing the right thing by providing alcohol. There are many things teens “might” do when given the opportunity – sex, drugs, speed, steal, lie – at the end of the day, we’re obligated to provide the framework for good decisions, not try to mediate potential bad ones.


O is for omnipresent. Defined as, “present everywhere”, our teens once believed we were omnipresent. No matter where they were, or what they were doing, we somehow knew or found out everything. As they get older, carry more responsibility, and prove themselves worthy, we loosen our omnipresent grip. Consider however, that a teen’s brain is rapidly developing until about 21 to 22 years of age. Their decision making still has very much to do with two things – 1) what is everyone else doing? and 2) will I get caught? A healthy dose of omnipresence before big events such as prom reminds your teen that you still care enough to check up on them and gives them a powerful out should they face an overdose of peer pressure.

M is for memories. Remind teens that the best way to remember prom is to add nothing but fun. Who wants to risk having their head end up in a toilet, have a date that pukes all over them, or be so hung over you can’t make it to the beach the next day? When they send their own teen off to prom, the memory of how you handled their prom, from pictures to rules to curfew will undoubtedly be fresh in their minds. Let’s keep the parent pants on and enjoy prom. Be the wall between teens and alcohol.

Provided by PACT Prevention Coalition of St. Johns County

Visit www.PACTPrevention.org for more information and remember, "Be The Wall!"

Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy

National Best Seller!

By Emily Bazelon

Being a teenager has never been easy, but in recent years, with the rise of the Internet and social media, it has become exponentially more challenging. Bullying, once thought of as the province of queen bees and goons, has taken on new, complex, and insidious forms, as parents and educators know all too well.

No writer is better poised to explore this territory than Emily Bazelon, who has established herself as a leading voice on the social and legal aspects of teenage drama. In Sticks and Stones, she brings readers on a deeply researched, clear-eyed journey into the ever-shifting landscape of teenage meanness and its sometimes devastating consequences. The result is an indispensable book that takes us from school cafeterias to courtrooms to the offices of Facebook, the website where so much teenage life, good and bad, now unfolds.

Along the way, Bazelon defines what bullying is and, just as important, what it is not. She explores when intervention is essential and when kids should be given the freedom to fend for themselves. She also dispels persistent myths: that girls bully more than boys, that online and in-person bullying are entirely distinct, that bullying is a common cause of suicide, and that harsh criminal penalties are an effective deterrent. Above all, she believes that to deal with the problem, we must first understand it.

Blending keen journalistic and narrative skills, Bazelon explores different facets of bullying through the stories of three young people who found themselves caught in the thick of it. Thirteen-year-old Monique endured months of harassment and exclusion before her mother finally pulled her out of school. Jacob was threatened and physically attacked over his sexuality in eighth grade—and then sued to protect himself and change the culture of his school. Flannery was one of six teens who faced criminal charges after a fellow student’s suicide was blamed on bullying and made international headlines. With grace and authority, Bazelon chronicles how these kids’ predicaments escalated, to no one’s benefit, into community-wide wars. Cutting through the noise, misinformation, and sensationalism, she takes us into schools that have succeeded in reducing bullying and examines their successful strategies. The result is a groundbreaking book that will help parents, educators, and teens themselves better understand what kids are going through today and what can be done to help them through it.

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Look At Us Now, Mother!

Take a look behind the scenes at Kirschenbaum Productions as the crew is working on their latest film Look At Us Now, Mother!

A humorous, moving, intimate and courageous film following the transformation of an abusive mother and tumultuous mother-daughter relationship to that of acceptance and love as we follow the personal story of the filmmaker. 

Gayle's mother

Mother's Day Offer:

There is truly a great offer going on for this upcoming Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12^th! Honor your mother with these special gifts from Kirschenbaum Productions. All you have to do is give a donation. Look At Us Now, Mother! is Emmy Award winning Gayle Kirschenbaum’s upcoming documentary about the fully-charged relationship between her and her mother over the years; a story of how they went from abuse to friendship. HBO writes about Gayle, “You have a great style and are an infectious on-camera presence, and your mother is a force.”

Learn more - click here.