Strengths Based Parenting

Written for parents to help their kids make the most of their talents — and to help parents make the most oftheir own talents so they can be truly effective mothers and fathers. Includes access codes for strengths assessments for parents and kids.

What makes your children thrive in school — and what's the right school and learning environment for them? What extracurricular activities are best suited to their innate gifts? What will lead them to happy and fulfilling lives? And how can you be the most effective and supportive parent possible?

Strengths Based Parenting addresses these and many other questions on the minds of parents today. But unlike many parenting books,Strengths Based Parenting focuses on understanding your children's innate talents and strengths — what they're naturally good at and what they thrive doing — not their weaknesses and “areas for improvement.” Grounded in decades of Gallup research on strengths psychology — as highlighted in StrengthsFinder 2.0, which has sold nearly 5 million copies to date —Strengths Based Parenting shows parents how to uncover their kids' top talents and then how to use that knowledge to help their kids thrive, compete, and succeed.

Crucially, the book also helps parents uncover their own innate talents and shows them how to use those talents and strengths to be the most effective parents they can possibly be.Strengths Based Parenting includes one access code for the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment, which more than 11 million adults have used to learn their innate talents. The book also includes one access code for the StrengthsExplorer assessment, geared for children aged 10-14, to help them identify their unique talents. Additionally, a section ofStrengths Based Parenting is devoted to the topic of “strength spotting” for younger children (infants to age 10). So the whole family can take the first step to discovering their innate talents.

There's nothing more empowering and fulfilling for parents and their kids than to live a thriving, successful life driven by everyone's innate gifts, not their weaknesses. The strengths journey is one that the whole family embarks on together, andStrengths Based Parenting will guide parents and their kids to more fulfilling, productive, and happy lives.

Mary Reckmeyer, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of Gallup’s Donald O. Clifton Child Development Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Under Reckmeyer’s leadership, the center has received national attention for excellence in early childhood education, workplace contribution, and developmental results and has helped thousands of children build their lives around their strengths. The center has served as a model for schools nationwide and as a training center for teacher development and education.

Reckmeyer has been with Gallup for more than 30 years. She has served as an Educational and Strengths-Based Development Consultant and Seminar Leader; has studied talent-based interviews of more than 2,000 individuals, including children, teachers, and parents; and helped create the Clifton StrengthsExplorer, an assessment designed to identify talent in young people. Reckmeyer also coauthoredHow Full is Your Bucket? For Kids, based on the #1 New York Times bestsellerHow Full Is Your Bucket?

Reckmeyer is a former preschool and elementary teacher who holds degrees in educational psychology and education. Her research focus is on youth strengths development, parents of minority achieving students, learning disabilities, educational programming, and lifespan development. She has studied outstanding schools and has conducted formal research into what makes an outstanding child care center.

Reckmeyer studied at the University of Texas and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She and her husband live in Lincoln, Nebraska, and have four children.