Mindful Parenting for ADHD - by Mark Bertin (Paperback)

About the Book

Parents of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face many unique daily challenges. Kids with ADHD are often inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive--and as a result, parents can become frustrated or stressed out. In Mindful Parenting for ADHD, a pediatrician presents a proven-effective program for helping both parents and kids with ADHD stay calm in the present moment. Parents will also learn how to let go of judgments, reasonably assess their child's strengths and weaknesses, lower stress levels for both themselves and their child, communicate effectively, and cultivate balance and harmony at home and at school.

Book Synopsis

Written by a pediatrician and based in proven-effective mindfulness techniques, this book will help you and your child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) keep calm, flexible, and in control.

If you are a parent of a child with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you probably face many unique daily challenges. Kids with ADHD are often inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive, since ADHD affects all of self-management and self-regulation. As a result, you might become chronically frustrated or stressed out, which makes caring for ADHD that much harder. In this book, a developmental pediatrician presents a proven-effective program for helping both you and your child with ADHD stay cool and collected while remaining flexible, resilient, and mindful.

Bertin addresses the various symptoms of ADHD using non-technical language and a user-friendly format. In addition, he offers guidelines to help you assess your child's strengths and weaknesses, create plans for building skills and managing specific challenges, lower stress levels for both yourself and your child, communicate effectively, and cultivate balance and harmony at home and at school.

If you are a parent, caregiver, or mental health professional, this book provides a valuable guide.

Review Quotes

"Mindful Parenting for ADHD is a gift to lost and overwhelmed parents. Bertin offers a clear, compassionate, comprehensive, and practical guide to parents struggling to find the calm within the seeming chaos of life with a child with ADHD, along with succinct tools for managing it."
--Christopher Willard, PsyD, author of Child's Mind and Growing Up Mindful, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School

"Mindful Parenting for ADHD represents a rare blend: a concise and accurate guide to what ADHD is (and is not), an evidence-based resource for families on behavior management and skill enhancement tools for their children, and an introduction to the kinds of mindful practices (including but not limited to meditation) that both calm and focus parents and model thoughtful strategies for their offspring. Difficult and important issues--the adolescent years, working with schools, and decisions about medication--are addressed head on. Sensitive, easy to read, and profound, this book will resonate with families everywhere who hope for both action and reflection in raising their challenging children."
--Stephen Hinshaw, PhD, professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley, professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco, and author of The ADHD Explosion: Myths, Medication, Money, and Today's Push for Performance

"A practical, hands-on set of tools for parenting kids diagnosed with ADHD, Mark Bertin's book will be a great support to many. Mark provides clear and simple ways to bring mindfulness practice to bear on navigating the ups and downs of family life. He offers the valuable perspective that, while life cannot, by nature, be perfect, it is possible to do the work of raising your child to live well and happily."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness and Real Happiness

"As the parent of a child with ADHD, and as a holistic physician and mindfulness coach who supports many children and families living with ADHD, I find this book an invaluable resource. Every chapter offers simple, doable, and transformative mindfulness practices; practical, achievable action items; grounded perspective; a long-term view; and most importantly, hope and compassion for children and parents living with ADHD."
--Amy Saltzman, MD, director of the Association for Mindfulness in Education and author of A Still Quiet Place

"At last, a pediatrician who understands ADHD and can communicate what parents need to manage it effectively. This workbook is like the world's best office visit--only this time, you can take it home with you and use it when you need it!"
--Elaine Taylor-Klaus, CPCC, PCC, parenting coach, parent educator, and cofounder of ImpactADHD.com

"Having ADHD can not only be difficult for the child who suffers the consequences of his or her behaviors, but can also place great stress on the family. Parents don't understand why their child acts the way he does, and because they are unsure, they often react in a way that may not always be helpful. That's where Mark Bertin's new book Mindful Parenting for ADHD comes in! Within its pages, parents will grow to better understand ADHD and find the tools necessary to respond to their child's behaviors with compassion, as well as structure, using a focused, mindful approach. Mindful Parenting for ADHD underscores the need for parents to take care of themselves in order to meet the challenges of parenting a child with ADHD with calm, kindness, and consistency. Written in a reassuring style and filled with easy-to-use worksheets that cover a myriad of topics from setting limits to improving communication or making the most of homework, I wish all parents of children with ADHD could receive the gifts offered in this wonderful book! They and their children would all be the better for it!"
--Patricia O. Quinn, MD, developmental pediatrician, Washington, DC, coauthor of Putting on the Brakes: Understanding and Taking Control of Your ADD or ADHD and Understanding Girls with ADHD, andauthor of Attention, Girls! A Guide to Learn All About Your AD/HD

"In Mindful Parenting for ADHD, Mark Bertin provides an essential guide for parents and clinicians. Parents of children with ADHD and clinicians will benefit from Bertin's relatable writing style, examples, research, and easy-to-accomplish suggestions and recommendations. Most importantly, Bertin gives families and clinicians hope."
--Stephanie Moulton Sarkis, PhD, NCC, LMHC, psychotherapist and author of five books on ADHD, including 10 Simple Solutions to Adult ADD (www.stephaniesarkis.com)

"Mark Bertin offers a compassionate guide for parents to navigate the challenging journey of raising a child or teen with ADHD. He reminds them to start by taking care of themselves with mindfulness and compassion, which then allows them to share their full wisdom and loving presence for the benefit of their children. I will be wholeheartedly recommending this book to all of the families in my practice who are living with ADHD, so that they can do more than 'just live with it, ' but thrive!"
--Dzung X. Vo, MD, pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist, author of The Mindful Teen

"This book is the ultimate gold mine of understanding your child with ADHD in a new and insightful way. Bertin explains how practicing mindfulness changes the way you as a parent see your child through the lens of truly understanding the ADHD experience. You will learn to act instead of react, understand instead of judge, and stay calm instead of banging your head against the wall. Best of all, Bertin gives you specific, easy-to-follow tools for dealing with challenging behaviors. It all comes down to being mindful, and understanding the ADHD brain and the behaviors that are borne from that. A fabulous book for parents looking for a better way to manage their challenging children, as well as for professionals working with these children. I'll be recommending this one to my clients!"
--Terry Matlen, ACSW, director of www.ADDconsults.com, and author of The Queen of Distraction and Survival Tips for Women with AD/HD

"This innovative book combines the best of what is known about ADHD, its deficits in executive functioning, and the types of science-based management strategies they require, as well as possible medications to combine with them, along with the latest practices for incorporating mindfulness into everyday life situations, such as parenting. Parents of children with ADHD struggle not only with managing their children but also with far higher levels of parenting stress, depression, anxiety, and marital strife than do typical parents. This combination of mindfulness practices with more traditional behavioral and medical treatments for ADHD is likely to prove exceptionally useful for parents for both stress reduction and improved parent-child relationships."
--Russell A. Barkley, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina

About the Author

Mark Bertin, MD, is a developmental behavioral pediatrician in private practice in Pleasantville, NY. He is assistant professor of pediatrics at New YorkMedicalCollege, on the faculty of the Windward Teacher Training Institute, and on the editorial board of Common Sense Media. His blog regarding topics in child development, mindfulness, and family is available through huffingtonpost.com, psychologytoday.com, mindful.org, and elsewhere. For information about his online mindfulness classes and other resources, visit www.developmentaldoctor.com.

Foreword author Ari Tuckman, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in West Chester, PA, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. He presents frequently on ADHD and related topics to both professionals and members of the public.