MSI Press Blog

  As a child, I imagined that the year 2020 would feature flying cars, magically calorie-free food, teleportation, and pets that were actually robots. What the actual year 2020 has brought is a complete dumpster fire. At the time of writing, we’re only halfway through, and so far we have experienced increasingly dangerous political divisions, major earthquakes, civic unrest, actual locusts (really), the deaths of cherished public figures, continuing protests for racial equality, massive fires, and murder hornets. We can’t forget about the murder hornets. Oh yes, as if all of this wasn’t already enough, we’re also facing an unprecedented global health crisis in the form of the coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19. The WHO first reported a novel virus on January 5, 2020, after a series of cases in Wuhan, China originally thought to be pneumonia proved to be from the same strand of a new disease. [1] The first cases outside China were reported on January 13. On January 20 t...

  Today's story behind the book is about Parenting in a Pandemic . From the publisher:  When the pandemic broke out, a number of MSI Press authors, specialists in various content areas, answered the call to write a book specifically for the pandemic. In all, 15 books were published to provide help to people suffering in many areas of life as a result of illness, closures, and the stress on a number of systems. Parents had to take on many more responsibilities than before. Schools were not running; doctors were not available; and so on and so forth. Dr. Liz Bayardelle, author of the award-winning book, Clean Your Plate! stepped forward to help. Parenting in a Pandemic is the result -- and it won an award, too. The advice contained in it is equally useful today. Literary Titan Gold Award Read more posts by and about Liz Bayardelle . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recentof  releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, a...

  The following excerpt comes from Parenting in a Pandemic , an award-winning book by Liz Bayardelle. Although the pandemic is past, thankfully, at least for now, some of the topics in this book are generic and apply at any time. Chapter 3: Bouncer Parenting is filled with many moments of intense emotional connection. Other times you get to watch your precious little flower unfold as they learn new things and master new skills. There are other times when it’s really just crowd control. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that parents should be as engaged as possible and attempt to make every moment into a learning experience, but show me a parent who swears they’ve never just wanted their kid to sit quietly for a few minutes, in one room, without wrecking anything and I’ll show you a darned liar. Newborns are stationary for a few blessed months, but after that kids are irritatingly mobile. Babies crawl everywhere and possess a mystical ability to find the single solitary lego...

  Temper tantrums. Whether you're navigating your toddler's grocery-store meltdown or managing a child whose frustration has hit peak volume during bedtime, tantrums can feel like the emotional equivalent of walking barefoot across Legos. It’s in these loud, chaotic, soul-draining moments that we parents are asked to summon something superhuman: calm. Franki Bagdade’s award-winning parenting guide,  I Love My Kids, But I Don’t Always Like Them , doesn’t offer a fairy tale version of parenting—it delivers real talk for real life. With a career in behavioral observation and a deeply personal understanding of parenting exhaustion, Franki meets parents where they are: frazzled, burned out, and wondering what on earth just happened. The book is refreshingly honest, peppered with humor, and built on hard-earned wisdom. Franki’s stories and strategies help parents stay grounded, even when their child’s emotions are spinning out like a top in a tornado. Her approach is not about perfe...