Erma Bombeck once said, “When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.”

What parent hasn’t wished for a nice safe place to go when their children are wild and unruly?

Muskogee Public Library is a nice safe place for parents and children, but we also have books that will help you deal with those times when you want to crawl into a “nice safe playpen.”

“So This Is Normal Too?” by Deborah Hewitt approaches several behavior problems of young children with parents, teachers and child care providers in mind. The book is written with a guidance approach in mind. While behaviors such as finicky eating, temper tantrums and tattling may be normal for a child, they are still challenging behaviors. Hewitt’s approach teaches the child care provider and the parent supportive ways to provide the proper guidance for a child who is exhibiting these and other such behaviors.

“Parenting Preschoolers with a Purpose” by Jolene L. Roehlkepartain is based on Search Institute’s framework of Developmental Assets. The framework of Developmental Assets list forty assets that encourage purposeful parenting instead of reactive parenting.

The list of assets can be found at http://search-institute.org/assets/assetlists.html.

“Parenting Preschoolers with a Purpose” teaches a parent how to help their children from ages 3 to 5 how to build assets. The assets are both internal and external. The author breaks the assets into eight categories such as support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, and constructive use of time. The book not only talks about the assets, but suggests concrete activities for parents to do with their preschooler.

At the other end of the spectrum of child rearing, “Parenting at the Speed of Teens,” uses the asset building approach to deal with teen problems. Parents who have teenagers or who have survived the teenage years know all too well that the teen years can be a tumultuous time. In the teen years, children are changing rapidly and trying to learn to deal with these changes as well as trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be in the future. “Parenting at the Speed of Teens” gives parents suggestions for ways to teach their child to make good choices, and handle the pressures of life as they grow into adulthood.

Stop by Muskogee Public Library to find these books and more to help you through the rough times as well as the good times.