Order Now!

Welcome to The Educated Parent.com

This site is dedicated to all parents who seek to be, and do, their best for their children. A companion to the The Educated Parent: Recent Trends in Raising Children (by Dr. Joseph Sclafani), this site contains relevant information about parenting as well as periodic updates from Dr. Sclafani about issues that are important to all parents.

Why Read the Book?

There is a great deal of research on effective parenting in social science journals which is "hidden" from the people who need the information - actual parents.

This book selects and translates a variety of important research findings and shares them with the general public. The Educated Parent has more detailed information than most "bookstore parenting books" yet it is reader-friendly. (more reasons to read the book...)

Excerpts from the Book

From Chapter 6:

"For your further reading, sections on 'divorce effects' in most child and developmental psychology textbooks have excellent summaries of the research data base, which as you can imagine is huge. In addition to its size, there is also a lot of conflicting information; some studies' findings are at odds with other studies. Two popular books by Judith Wallerstein have interesting information. Wallerstein generally believes that divorce effects go on through adulthood for most children, and that divorce is a life changing, generally negative event for children. More recently (2001), E. Mavis Hetherington, another well-respected, long time researcher in the area of divorce effects, published her book, 'For Better or For Worse.' Hetherington reported that 75% of the children she followed eventually were functioning as well as children from non-divorce homes. Who's right? They both are. What you get depends upon what and how you are looking for it.

...The one finding all researchers can agree upon is that extended family conflict harms children without exception. That is why you have heard it is better to get divorced than stay (fighting) together for the children. But even this is true only if you end the fighting." (more excerpts...)

Parent Information Update

Fall 2004 - Protecting Your Child/Teen in Cyberspace and Monitoring the Media

As discussed in Chapter One of The Educated Parent, child protection is the first role for every parent. The topic of internet exposure to children and teens is addressed in Chapter Eight. Recall that the internet can be a great source of information and an asset to your child's education. Now that American households are increasingly on-line, and children are drawn to the power and variety of the internet, child protection must address the downside of the internet — "cyber dangers." Cyber dangers include exposure to hate content and inappropriate sexual materials, access to drugs and alcohol, and the danger of sexual predators who work hard to lure innocent, unattended and unprotected children and teens. This update will focus on protecting children from on-line predators. (more...)