Lisa writes the nationally syndicated humor column "It Is What It Is" and is the author of LIFE: It Is What It Is, Untying Parent Anxiety: 18 Myths That Have You in Knots—And How to Get Free, and How To Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids—And Be Ok With It, available on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, and at select bookstores everywhere. Lisa is a MentorMama at SocialMama, the free networking app for moms, and is a regular contributor on GrownAndFlown, This Mama Wines, MommingHubb, More Content Now, Wickedlocal.com, and Care.com. Her work has also appeared in TIME Magazine’s TIME for Parents, on LittleThings, Mamalode, 50 Shades of Aging, and on PBS Kids. She’s also the founder and moderator of The Vomit Booth, the popular Facebook parenting group where parents go to bond over the madness of parenthood. Lisa lives with her husband and two daughters just north of Boston in a tiny coastal town of twenty thousand people crammed onto a teensy peninsula. Visit her online at www.lisasugarman.com. 

https://www.familius.com/book/how-to-raise-perfectly-imperfect-kids-and-be-ok-with-it/

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ABOUT THE BOOKHelicopter parent, tiger parent . . . lawnmower parent? 

Generation Z has a reputation of entitlement, but this attitude is often fostered by parents who mow down every obstacle in their child's path, never letting them fail. In How to Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids and Be OK with It, humorist Lisa Sugarman takes her humanistic approach to parenting Gen Z kids and tells it like it is. Sugarman reminds parents that it's okay (and beneficial) for children to confront obstacles, it's okay if your children are not perfect, and it's okay to say "No." The goal is not to raise perfect children; the goal is to raise kind, responsible adults, and it's a process.

How to Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids reminds the reader that mistakes and problems lead to lessons. Fixating on raising the smartest, fastest, most successful child will never result in a happy child (or a happy parent). With healthy doses of humor and reality, Lisa Sugarman reminds us that our kids were never meant to be perfect, and perfectly imperfect kids can become wonderful, well-rounded adults if we just allow them to grow.

Dr. B Your Best (Ben Bernstein) joins Familius CEO and co-founder Christopher Robbins for a discussion about strategies to crush stress and B Your Best even in challenging and uncertain times.

Crush Your Test Anxiety: https://www.familius.com/book/crush-your-test-anxiety/

Stressed Out! For Parents: https://www.familius.com/book/stressed-out-for-parents/

Stressed Out! For Teens: https://www.familius.com/book/stressed-out-for-teens/

A Teen's Guide to Success:https://www.familius.com/book/a-teens-guide-to-success-2/

Ben's background, from his website https://www.drbyourbest.com/: "As a young child I was a prodigious piano player. I immersed myself in Mozart, Beethoven and Bartok and my imagination took flight. Yet when I was forced to perform in recitals and competitions playing the piano became a nightmare. I sat in front of audiences and judges and my hands and knees shook. No one helped me. All I heard were unanswerable questions and non-sequiturs, What’s the matter with you? It’s all in your head! You’ll grow out of it.

It took me years to work through my performance anxiety and the physical, mental and spiritual suffering that went with it. Through my own self-study and training, I brought myself out of the shell of tension, self-doubt and distraction so I could live fully in the freedom of who I am. We all have that birthright: to live into our fullest potential. When I work with people I see what they are capable of, what binds them to unproductive habits, and I train them to be their best. 

From my own experiences and training, I now pass on to every person I work with– whether it’s a high school student with poor SAT scores, a business executive who stutters during presentations, or a parent seized by indecision."

About the Publisher: Familius is a global trade publishing company that publishes books and other content to help families be happy. We believe that the family is the fundamental unit of society and that happy families are the foundation of a happy life. We recognize that every family looks different, and we passionately believe in helping all families find greater joy. To that end we publish books for children and adults that invite families to live the Familius Nine Habits of Happy Family Life: love together, play together, learn together, work together, talk together, heal together, read together, eat together, and laugh together. Founded in 2012, Familius is located in Sanger, California.

Dr. Mike Patrick joins Dr. Carla Marie Manly for a conversation about family wellness and family dinners. Dr. Mike is an emergency medicine physician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. He serves as Medical Director of Digital Health for Nationwide Children’s and hosts two podcasts for the hospital: the award-winning PediaCast for parents… and PediaCast CME for healthcare providers. He began his journey in social media and podcasting in 2006 as a means to promote health literacy and advocate for children and families in his primary care practice. Since then, millions of listeners in all 50 U.S. states and over 100 countries have tuned-in to his weekly podcasts for pediatric news, answers to listener questions, interviews with pediatric and parenting experts and free Category 1 CME Credit. In addition to podcasting, Dr. Mike promotes health and wellness on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. He appears weekly on local CBS affiliate 10TV and has contributed to several digital and print publications, including the 700 Children’s Blog, KevinMD, Parents Magazine, Working Mother and Reader’s Digest. He is a Spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics and serves on the Executive Committee of the AAP’s Council on Communications and Media. Most recently, Dr. Mike developed and directs an academic healthcare communications curriculum and co-authored the textbook, Social Media for Medical Professionals. These endeavors equip students, residents and his colleagues with skills needed to engage the public in an efficient, effective and professional manner.

Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D. and Bri DeRosa of The Family Dinner Project discuss Eat, Laugh, Talk: The Family Dinner Playbook.

https://www.familius.com/book/eat-laugh-talk/

Research has shown what parents have known for a long time: sharing a fun family meal is good for the spirit, brain, and health of all family members. Recent studies link regular family meals with higher grade-point averages, resilience, and self-esteem. Additionally, family meals are linked to lower rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy, eating disorders, and depression.

Eat, Laugh, Talk: The Family Dinner Playbook gives you the tools to have fun family dinners with great food and great conversation. The book includes conversation starters as well as quick and easy recipes to bring your family closer. You will find tips for bringing your family to the table such as setting dinnertime goals, overcoming obstacles, managing conflicting schedules, and how to engage everyone in the conversation. 

Eat, Laugh, Talk also includes real stories from families who have successfully become a part of The Family Dinner Project’s growing movement. Let’s do dinner!

Carla Marie Manly, Ph.D. and Mary Potter Kenyon discuss Mary's book Expressive Writing for Healing, and the importance of creating in uncertain times.

https://www.familius.com/book/expressive-writing-for-healing/

Writing is one of the oldest and most effective means of self-exploration, self-expression, and self-discovery. In this new guided journal, Mary Potter Kenyon offers readers an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and significance of loss and allows the griever to sort through all the conflicting emotions that arise after a death. By interweaving her own experiences of loss, the proven research behind writing as a method for healing, and blank pages with carefully chosen quotes, Kenyon gives readers space to express the feelings that are sometimes too painful to speak aloud. 

Mary Potter Kenyon works as Program Coordinator for Shalom Spirituality Center and is a public speaker, a workshop presenter, and a writing instructor. Mary is the author of five previous Familius titles, including the award-winning Refined by Fire: A Journey of Grief and Grace, Expressive Writing for Healing, and the upcoming Called to Be Creative, and is widely published in newspapers, magazines, and anthologies, including ten Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

Karen Kleiman is a well-known international maternal mental-health expert, with over thirty years of experience. As an advocate and author, her work has been featured on the internet and within the perinatal mental health community for decades. In 1988, Karen founded The Postpartum Stress Center, a treatment and training facility for prenatal and postpartum depression and anxiety disorders, where she treats individuals and couples.

Karen has been interviewed for, featured in, and reviewed by local and national TV, magazines, radio shows, and health websites. Her national television appearances include Katie, Inside Edition, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. A few popular magazines and websites that have featured her work or interviewed her include Self, Fit Pregnancy, HuffPost, Today'sParent, Parenting, Working Mother, CNN.com, and Mothering.

Social media: @postpartumstress

Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: https://familius.com/good-moms-have-scary-thoughts

About the Publisher:

Familius is a global trade publishing company that publishes books and other content to help families be happy. To that end we publish books for children and adults that invite families to live the Familius Nine Habits of Happy Family Life: love together, play together, learn together, work together, talk together, heal together, read together, eat together, and laugh together.

Twitter/IG: @familiustalk

About Carla Marie Manly, PhD:

Dr. Carla Marie Manly is a practicing clinical psychologist, author, and advocate who makes her home in Santa Rosa, California. Utilizing a mindfulness-based, holistic approach, Dr. Manly focuses on helping others achieve joy and balance from the inside out.

https://familius.com/1joy-from-fear

https://familius.com/aging-joyfully

IG/Twitter: @drcarlamanly

Maria Sansone is an Emmy award-winning television host, multi-media broadcaster, content creator, and mom of two.

Maria has had an illustrious broadcasting career in NYC and Los Angeles where she anchored the popular morning show, “ Good Day LA”. 

Now, she’s taking her on camera talents to Boston where she can be seen weekdays on “The Hub Today” on NBC and on social media (@mariasansone), where she’s developing unique content like her weekly show “Real Cooking LIVE”.

About the Publisher:

Familius is a global trade publishing company that publishes books and other content to help families be happy. To that end we publish books for children and adults that invite families to live the Familius Nine Habits of Happy Family Life: love together, play together, learn together, work together, talk together, heal together, read together, eat together, and laugh together.

Twitter/IG: @familiustalk

About Carla Marie Manly, PhD:

Dr. Carla Marie Manly is a practicing clinical psychologist, author, and advocate who makes her home in Santa Rosa, California. Utilizing a mindfulness-based, holistic approach, Dr. Manly focuses on helping others achieve joy and balance from the inside out.

https://familius.com/1joy-from-fear

https://familius.com/aging-joyfully

IG/Twitter: @drcarlamanly