Elizabeth Crary

I just finished reading "Pick Up Your Socks... and other skills growing children need!: A Practical Guide to Raising Responsible Children" by Elizabeth Crary. We use some of her books for preschool children and their parents at work, so I picked up this one when I saw it at a used bookstore. It's old enough that I thought it might be out of print, but it looks like Amazon has it in stock.

Anyway, it's really interesting -- more than being just about chores, it's also about practical ways of show more doing gentle discipline with school-aged kids and teens, helping them become internally motivated, etc. It also has what I thought was some useful info on the ages at which kids are commonly able to start doing different chores with help, doing it on their own with reminders, and doing it on their own completely independently. It's a very practical, tips-based book, with detailed examples that take into account different learning and communication styles. It also takes into account the idea that different families will have different values and goals for their kids, and so definitely isn't coming from that too-often irritating attitude of "XYZ is what will be best for all families". show less

"[The author] Elizabeth Crary is a parent educator with North Seattle Community College, mother of two children and author of over ten books and articles. . .She is a frequently requested speaker for conferences, workshops and parenting classes. Within the simplicity of her illustrations, Marina Megal captures the depth and variety of childhood emotions. She has pictured children with both the joy and frustration involved in social situations." Source: Inside the book's back cover. This book show more emphasizes involving children from preschool age and up in helping to find solutions to problems, which arise in their daily lives. Crary has developed a system called The SIGEP. Step 1--Stop and keep calm. Step 2--Identify the problem. Step 3--Generate ideas. Step 4--Evaluation. Step 5--The Plan. Crary gives real life examples of situations, along with possible dialogues and exercises. show less

Discusses options for dealing with being mad in a "choose your own story" format (which my daughter rejects, insisting we always read all the options). Not great literature, but the pictures are good, the suggestions are reasonable, it depicts a father and daughter, and it really works for my kid as a way of thinking about reactions to being mad.

Elizabeth Crary's book follows a story about a boy who doesn't want to wait his turn to jump on a mattress. This book is interactive where the teacher asks they child the questions and then turns to a certain page depending on what the child says. This is a great book for open-ended questions and problem solving.