Parenting Hard Kids

In Caring for Kids from Hard Places, Jayne and David Schooler discuss the reasons behind why children and teens sometimes exhibit potentially disruptive behavior. Together, they offer practical strategies on training, equipping and resourcing staff and volunteers to provide a responsive environment for children with behavioral challenges.

Angie, 6, and sister Polly, 4, are utterly distraught when they arrive to stay with foster carer Cathy Glass. Their older half-sister Ashleigh has accused their father of something horrible, and the two young sisters have been removed from home to keep them safe. Cathy tries to comfort the girls...

A family with a dark secret. A child who refuses to speak. Rosie must help her before it’s too late. Nine-year-old Caitlin has a secret, but she cannot tell anyone about it. When her mother is sectioned under the Mental Health Act she and her three siblings have to go and live with her...

Lara was seven when her birth mother died from a drug overdose. With no extended family to look after her, she was put into foster care. The care system failed Lara and now she is failing her son. Lara and her one-year-old son, Arthur, are brought to experienced foster carer, Cathy Glass, by...

The 32nd fostering memoir from international bestseller Cathy Glass Struggling to cope with three young children, Janie turns to experienced foster carer Cathy Glass. Helping the family each morning, Cathy soon uncovers how dangerous their situation has truly become. Riley and his two little...

Parenting Is Hard and Then You Die provides a biblical and comprehensive strategy for raising healthy kids in a world that is morally bankrupt, spiritually desolate, and increasingly dangerous. That strategy is clear and specific, rooted in the Bible, proved successful, and communicated in a fun, entertaining way.

Jackson is aggressive, confrontational and often volatile. His mother, Kayla, is crippled with grief after tragically losing her husband and eldest son. Struggling to cope, she puts Jackson into foster care. Cathy, his carer, encourages Jackson to talk about what has happened to his family, but...

Damian longs for home, but one man stands in his way … Damian is just seven when he is taken in by foster carer Cathy Glass. His mother, Rachel, loves her three young children dearly, but she is vulnerable, naive and unable to cope on her own. Cathy sets about helping Damian overcome his...

Little Jamey, 2½ years old, is placed with experienced foster carer, Cathy Glass, as an emergency. The police and social services have no choice but to remove two-year-old Jamey from home after his mother leaves him alone all night to go out partying. When he first arrives with foster carer...

Raising thoughtful kids in today’s world feels harder than ever. Because it’s not just about academics anymore. It’s about helping children think clearly in a world full of noise, emotional pressure, manipulation, black-and-white thinking, and constant opinions competing for their attention. How do you teach your child to question ideas without becoming disrespectful? How do you raise kids who can think for themselves without losing kindness, humility, or integrity? How do you help them become harder to deceive without teaching fear, cynicism, or blind skepticism? And maybe most ...

Divorce and family change can feel overwhelming—especially when you’re trying to support a young child who doesn’t yet have the words for what they’re feeling. Talking to Young Children Ages 3–8 About Divorce and Addiction: Answering the Hard Questions offers calm, developmentally informed guidance for parents who want their children to feel safe, secure, and emotionally supported during separation. Written by educator and author Laura Bennett, this book focuses on how young children actually experience divorce—through behavior, play, routines, and emotional regulation rather ...

Some parenting days are too hot for a full plan. Your child is melting down. You are already close to yelling. The morning is falling apart, bedtime has stretched too long, homework has turned into a fight, or everyone in the house is one more sentence away from making tomorrow harder. In that moment, you do not need a lecture about perfect parenting. You need the next right move. Parenting on Hard Days is a quick-reference guide for overloaded parents of children ages 0–18. Use it when the scene is already hard and you need to lower the heat, choose one usable response, and know where to...

You love your kids. So why does parenting sometimes bring out the worst in you? If you’re exhausted from yelling… If you feel triggered by small things… If you promise yourself you’ll stay calm — and then lose it anyway… You are not failing. You are overwhelmed And there’s a reason why- Modern parenting is relentless. The mental load is constant. The pressure to “get it right” is intense. And when your nervous system is overloaded, patience disappears — no matter how much you love your child. When Parenting Feels Too Hard isn’t another discipline manual filled with ...

What if the goal of education isn’t to raise obedient kids who memorize information… but capable kids who know how to think? Many parents feel stuck between two extremes: rigid traditional schooling that rewards compliance and fear-based homeschooling that simply recreates school at home. They want something different—but aren’t sure what that actually looks like. Homeschooling for Independent Thinkers is not about replicating a classroom, chasing perfection, or turning your home into school. It is about raising curious, disciplined, hard-to-deceive kids who can think critically, ...

It was all so unexpected. And now, she needs to fight the greatest battle of her life. Shirley is preoccupied with her non-stop daily routine: her demanding job at a law firm, raising her 18-month son and maintaining her loving relationship with her husband... Shirley’s busy life is turned upside down when her mother, who lives in Australia, comes over to visit and receives painful news – she has cancer. This terrible discovery is just the tip of the iceberg for Shirley, with many more struggles ahead, that she must face. Against all odds, and despite the challenges in her path, she ...

Gaia was groomed, abused and enslaved – but then she fought back Gaia Cooper is just 14 years old when she is groomed by a criminal gang and forced to commit organised credit card fraud. Despite being placed in care – somewhere Gaia should feel safe – she is left even more vulnerable, and...

Transform daily family chaos into calm connection using proven emotional regulation strategies for stressed caregivers. When you are running on empty, navigating public meltdowns or bedtime battles often leads to snapping, yelling, and crushing guilt. This empowering, compassionate listen helps...

Does “just five more minutes” keep turning into yelling, slammed doors, and the same exhausting argument every night? You ask your child to stop playing. They say, “One more.” You wait. You ask again. Suddenly the controller is gripped tighter, voices get louder, and a normal evening becomes another screen time battle. What if the problem isn’t simply that your child “won’t listen”? What if nobody ever taught them HOW to stop? Why Do I Get So Mad When I Have to Stop Playing? is a practical, funny, gamer-friendly guide that helps kids understand what is happening in their ...

Cribsheet meets The Sh!t No One Tells You in this no-holds-barred, judgment-free parenting guide that sets the record straight on every hot-button parenting topic by longtime journalist and founder of the viral #NoShameParenting movement. What if you could do more for your kids, by doing a whole...

In What They Don’t Teach in School: 7 Vital Life Skills to Teach Your Kids About Hard Work, Negotiation, Health, Relationships and the Key to a Happy and Successful Life, parenting author Frank Dixon shares practical, parent-friendly strategies to help children build strong character, emotional strength, and life skills they can use forever.