Sharing a long list of life lessons that were learned the hard way, this is the definitive character road map for all young adults who are transitioning from high school to the next chapters of their lives. This list is also a helpful reminder for parents who want to model the right behaviors and lead by example. In fact, a majority of the suggestions included are applicable to people of all ages who want to be the best version of themselves. Written by a father of four, this list was personally delivered to his oldest son as he was dropped off at school. Now it's being shared with a broader audience in hopes of helping others avoid some of the common pitfalls that young adults from all walks of life face on a daily basis. Relevant and straightforward, mixed with a heavy dose of common sense and humor, this is a must-read for all high school graduates!
LAUGH & LEARN This bestselling book is a collection of amusing anecdotes and useful advice on a wide range of subjects: money, relationships, parenting, business, work, cars, food & drink, life & death, education, health, technology, media, aging, time, animals, baseball, sailing, sex, writing & publishing and law. The book is the sad—and also humorous and helpful—story of what the author did wrong over a lifetime and what he learned from his mistakes, plus what he learned from observing other people, companies, animals and events. Marcus often fantasizes about traveling back in time to warn himself not to make stupid mistakes. He says, "The ten-, twenty- and sixty-year-old me might have ignored the advice of parents, teachers, doctors and accountants—but not the advice of me. If I talk to myself I have to listen. While technology will not yet allow me to go back and talk to myself, I can warn and advise anyone else who's willing to pay attention. That's why I wrote this book. And maybe by looking back I can influence my own future."
No parent is perfect. But let’s just say some need more guidance than others. My Bad Parent is a reminder of the lesson all parents will unavoidably pass down: Do as I say, not as I do. With full-color candid photos and wry captions, this book exposes the least effective techniques for raising healthy, balanced children. It chronicles the high adventure of raising a child to adulthood, or at least until the kid can do a keg stand all by himself. My Bad Parent tackles the toughest issues in modern parenting, including: •The number of feet in the air it is permissible to launch a child •The proper size paint bucket used as a motorcycle’s sidecar •The right time to introduce a toddler to the exciting world of political extremism •What’s better for a toddler—a standard or a retractable leash?
“I don’t own a single share of stock.” —Michael Moore Members of the liberal left exude an air of moral certitude. They pride themselves on being selflessly committed to the highest ideals and seem particularly confident of the purity of their motives and the evil nature of their opponents. To correct economic and social injustice, liberals support a whole litany of policies and principles: progressive taxes, affirmative action, greater regulation of corporations, raising the inheritance tax, strict environmental regulations, children’s rights, consumer rights, and much, much more. But do they actually live by these beliefs? Peter Schweizer decided to investigate in depth the private lives of some prominent liberals: politicians like the Clintons, Nancy Pelosi, the Kennedys, and Ralph Nader; commentators like Michael Moore, Al Franken, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West; entertainers and philanthropists like Barbra Streisand and George Soros. Using everything from real estate transactions, IRS records, court depositions, and their own public statements, he sought to examine whether they really live by the principles they so confidently advocate. What he found was a long list of glaring contradictions. Michael Moore denounces oil and defense contractors as war profiteers. He also claims to have no stock portfolio, yet he owns shares in Halliburton, Boeing, and Honeywell and does his postproduction film work in Canada to avoid paying union wages in the United States. Noam Chomsky opposes the very concept of private property and calls the Pentagon “the worst institution in human history,” yet he and his wife have made millions of dollars in contract work for the Department of Defense and own two luxurious homes. Barbra Streisand prides herself as an environmental activist, yet she owns shares in a notorious strip-mining company. Hillary Clinton supports the right of thirteen-year-old girls to have abortions without parental consent, yet she forbade thirteen-year-old Chelsea to pierce her ears and enrolled her in a school that would not distribute condoms to minors. Nancy Pelosi received the 2002 Cesar Chavez Award from the United Farm Workers, yet she and her husband own a Napa Valley vineyard that uses nonunion labor. Schweizer’s conclusion is simple: liberalism in the end forces its adherents to become hypocrites. They adopt one pose in public, but when it comes to what matters most in their own lives—their property, their privacy, and their children—they jettison their liberal principles and embrace conservative ones. Schweizer thus exposes the contradiction at the core of liberalism: if these ideas don’t work for the very individuals who promote them, how can they work for the rest of us?
From the former editor-in-chief of Real Simple, enjoy this hilarious and deeply insightful take on the indignities of middle age and how to weather them with grace: "A pure pleasure to read" (Cathi Hanauer, author of Gone). Do you hate the term “middle age?” So does Kristin van Ogtrop, who is still trying to come up with a less annoying way to describe those years when you find yourself both satisfied and outraged, confident and confused, full of appreciation but occasional disdain for the world around you. Like an intimate chat with your best friend, this mostly funny, sometimes sad, always affirming volume from longtime magazine journalist van Ogtrop is a celebration of that period of life when mild humiliations are significantly outweighed by a self-actualized triumph of the spirit. Finally! Featuring stories from her own life, as well as anecdotes from her unwitting friends and family, van Ogtrop encourages you to laugh at the small irritations of midlife: neglectful children, stealth insomnia, forks that try to kill you, t.v. remotes that won’t find Netflix, abdominal muscles that can’t seem to get the job done. But also to acknowledge the things you may have lost: innocence, unbridled optimism, smooth skin. Dear friends. Parents. It’s all here: the sublime and the ridiculous, living together in the pages of this book as they do in your heart, like a big messy family, in this no-better-term-for-it middle age.
Getting drunk homecoming night your senior year is never a good idea, but Jake Hayes never expected it all to end with a car crash and a t-post embedded in his throat. His biggest regret about it all? What he never said to Samantha Shay. He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again. When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.
An invaluable book that does for parents and their young children what You Just Don't Understand did for men and women Did you know that when you say "How many times have I told you not to?" your toddler thinks you are actually changing the subject rather than reiterating a question? Based on years of clinical experience and original child development research, What Did I Just Say!?! shows how conventional communication styles actually prevent parents from saying what they mean and cause children to hear something entirely different than what was intended. The authors demonstrate how a simple understanding of the logic of language and of childhood thinking can dramatically improve parent-child communication. Among the subjects covered are understanding the complex experiential world of young children; putting structure, rules, and boundaries into children's lives while still fostering individuality; encouraging healthy emotional responsiveness and interpersonal sensitivity while decreasing anger and aggression; focusing a child's attention; and foiling behaviors such as tuning out and forgetting. By helping parents understand the very different linguistic and experiential world of children, What Did I Just Say!?! offers a foundation for parent-child communication that will last a lifetime.
'Joyous, wise, reassuring and laugh-out-loud funny. I love these two women so much.' Elizabeth Day 'I can say with full confidence that Jane Garvey and Fi Glover are the two funniest women on planet earth right now.' Dolly Alderton 'A book like no other. Honest and very, very funny. Some bits made me want to cheer - a sentence on parenting teenage girls was so good I may get it tattooed on myself, possibly in Hebrew.' Sara Cox 'You'll laugh, you'll nod your head so vigorously in agreement that you'll end up with whiplash and you'll buy a copy of this book for all your friends for Christmas. If you loved the late, great Victoria Wood, then you'll love Fi and Jane too.' Red magazine Award-winning broadcasters Fi Glover and Jane Garvey don't claim to have all the answers (what was the question?), but in these hilarious and perceptive essays they take modern life by its elasticated waist and give it a brisk going over with a stiff brush. They riff together on the chuff of life, from pet deaths to broadcasting hierarchies, via the importance of hair dye, the perils and pleasures of judging other women, and the perplexing overconfidence of chino-wearing middle-aged white men named Roger. Did I Say That Out Loud? covers essential life skills (never buy an acrylic jumper, always decline the offer of a limoncello), ponders the prudence of orgasm merchandise and suggests the disconcerting possibility that Christmas is a hereditary disease, passed down the maternal line. At a time of constant uncertainty, what we all need is the wisdom of two women who haven't got a clue what's going on either.
