If you are going to read only one book this year then I strongly recommend you choose Brett Novick’s The Balanced Child. Brett offers a unique opportunity to learn about the ‘day-to-day’ challenges our children often face. In our fast-paced society, we as adults often forget that kids can struggle learning all the skills needed, not only to socially survive, but to flourish in reaching their full potential. This text is filled with practical social skills building scenarios useful for parents, teachers, and counselors. Each chapter covers the many facets of social/emotional development while offering the reader both clear understanding as well as concrete interventions for teaching and nurturing.

Kenneth McGill, licensed marriage & family therapist, president, New Jersey Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

In the smartphone-oriented world of today, much more interaction takes place via electronic means than in person. Consequently, youngsters have less opportunity to learn and practice social skills, and many find it difficult to fit in with peers and get along with others. Novick hits the proverbial bulls-eye with a highly pragmatic guide that provides much practical advice on building social skills and extending these to improve empathy, emotional regulation, tolerance, anger management, communication, and various life skills. He has a particular talent for capturing problems and solutions with creative and relatable analogies, and his interventions are easy to follow and simple to implement. Parents, teachers, and mental health professionals are likely to find many useful and valuable suggestions about handling a wide range of problems commonly encountered in home, school and various social settings.

George M. Kapalka, PhD, MS, ABPP, prescribing, clinical and school psychologist; Author, Parenting Your Out-of-Control Child