R. Bradley Snyder - The 5 Simple Truths of Raising Kids

This book provides an excellent overview of youth development. Educators and parents always look for advice and they will find many ideas about how to understand, support, and educate adolescents.

Gil G. Noam is the Founder and Director of the Program in Education, Afterschool & Resiliency (PEAR) and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School

In this wonderful book, Brad stands up for today's kids, debunks all the claims that they're somehow worse than the last generation, and offers sound, research-based advice on how parents and communities can do a better job raising them. Having worked for many years with all kinds of kidsfrom the privileged and the achieving to the abused and disabledBrad has an easy familiarity with how kids think. He channels their emotions into his chapters.

Neil Howe is a renowned authority on generations and social change in America. An acclaimed author and speaker, he is the nation's leading thinker on today's generations.

The 5 Simple Truths of Raising Kids will immediately change your relationship with your tween or teenand I promise it will be a change for the better! R. Bradley Snyder gives deep insight and practical guidance for what we all know is the most difficult and ultimately most important phase of parenting. Vulnerable teens seem to push parents and adults away, but they still need us. Snyder's easy to read book tells us how we can shift our perspective to remain a key player in our kids' lives. He answers all the questions parents ask me about teens, including the toughest ones about TV, driving, texting, sex, and drugs. Now I have the answers!

For parents, teachers, community leaders, and any adult who cares about the next generation of our citizens, The 5 Simple Truths of Raising Kids is an urgent must-read!

Carol J. Evans, President, Working Mother Media, and Author, This is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto

Every week my inbox is flooded with parenting books to review all with a common themeour kids are in a desperate state and need immediate intervention. R. Bradley Snyder's book, The 5 Simple Truths of Raising Kids takes away the dread and replaces it with hopefulness and humor.

The good news? Our tweens and teens are in pretty good shape (arguably in a better spot than my peers in Generation X). Snyder cuts through the hyperbole of modern statistics and gives parents tangible takeaways.

I'm better prepared for the tween years that I'm facing, having been able to discern fact from sensational headline. This doesn't mean parents have a free ride, but it does mean we're not in a cataclysmic situation. With care and attention, Snyder gives parents the tools they need to guide their kids through these years.

Nicole Feliciano, Editor & Founder of MomTrends.com, a parenting lifestyle website

Unlike many parenting books, this one makes you feel better about being a parent: better grounded in your own experience of growing up, better versed in current research on children, better prepared to respond positively and effectively to the worrisome things kids do. Brad's calm and authoritative style effectively defuses the anxiety parents so often feel when faced with hot-button issues like bullying and the siren song of television and social media. He reminds us that the needs of children, and the stages of development through which they pass, have not changed. Whether the context is food or video games, parents and children together can identify the central issue, and apply Brad's five simple truths to figure out what to do.

George C. Brackett, Former Director, Technology in Education Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Founder, Codman Academy Charter Public School, Boston

I had the opportunity to work with Brad conducting many kid-focused studies at Cartoon Network. I've seen him walk into a room full of kinetic nine-year-olds, and quiet them into rapt attention using only his calm, inquisitive voice. It was chilling, actually. He's like a kid whisperer. Brad's humanity is infectious, and his dedication to his work is inspiring. I can think of no better mentor to parents needing reassurance that kids are good, and everything is going to be okay.

Art Roche, creative executive for digital media and family entertainment

R. Bradley Snyder has spent the last 25 years working with, and for, young people. The list of organizations that depend upon his understanding of tweens and teens is wide-ranging and impressive, from parole boards to TV networks, communications and marketing gurus, school-boards, and parents among them all.

Now his The 5 Simple Truths of Raising Kids offers his understanding and insight to anyone seeking advice on dealing with the generation too often regarded as aliens.

They're not, says Snyder. Rather kids are kids, a statement more significant than the words themselves. Think of the problem with teens you see lamented in the popular press. Nearly every one of those problemssocial network addiction, teenage crime, sex drugs and rock and roll, etc., etc.is overstated, says Snyder. The solution? The simple (if little recognized) act of true parenting.

His reassuring guide to parenting is well-argued and filled with pertinent examples offered in clear, direct prose. You'll learn from his book, and enjoy the lessons. Like Spock two generations ago, Snyder's worth your attention. Well done!

Richard Peck, Author of Something for Joey

In an age where we're constantly sounding the alarm, it's a pleasure to get sound advice from a guy who's done his homeworkand a relief to know, in these days of helicopter parents and tiger moms, that I have a fighting chance as a parent.

Amy Silverman, Managing Editor, Phoenix New Times, author of award-winning stories about juvenile justice and mental health. Co-teacher, Mothers Who Write workshop, blogger, girlinapartyhat.com

The 5 Simple Truths of Raising Kids offers insightful lessons about how parents can enjoy their children more, while being better prepared for the challenges of parenting in contemporary society. Snyder uses his experience, research, and clear vision to write a book that all parents should read.

Aaron Kupchik, Ph.D., Author of Homeroom Security: School Discipline in an Age of Fear

In this book, Brad stands in front as a defender for our kids. They need one. In this day and age where we, as a public, seem to be okay with our children being demonized and blamed for what we consider to be their surprising lack of attention, their lower moral values and somehow irresponsible embrace of technology, Brad cuts through the misinformation and rhetoric to share with us a clear picture of what our kids' essential needs are, who our kids really are, and why they do the things they do. Without being preachy, he reminds us of our responsibility as parents, teachers, and communities and that, guess what, raising kids is hard. We have to pay attention, we have to practice what we preach, we have to be consistent. And at the end of the day, if we do these things, we will have cultivated a next generation who is smart, independent, generous, forward thinking and responsible and really, what's more important than that?

Terry Kalagian, Independent Producer/Consultant

Brad Snyder knows kids. And just as importantly, he knows how to articulate his knowledge of how kids think in a way that takes the mystery out of how they think and behave. In my years of working in children's television, Brad's ability to explain in a clear, concise way what motivates today's youth was always the quickest path toward understanding how best to communicate to kids.

One of the recurring themes Brad presents, that kids are kids, effectively demystifies a generation that has grown up with technology and influences my generation and others never had to wrestle with. Knowing that at a base level being a kid hasn't changed in many ways levels the playing field with memories of adults own time as a youth. That Brad goes on to expertly explain how these new technologies and influences factor into how young people today learn and interact with the world around them is like having a Rosetta Stone in many ways: Brad's book helps adults find common ground with young people, then explains how our differences aren't as mysterious or frightening as we once thought. Because, again, kids are kids.