UBC Press Kids Need... book

'Kids Need... cards are any easy to use tool for professionals to explore children's needs and wants with carers. Using a creative approach, each card features a child's "need" such as; a room of their own, fresh fruit and vegetables, and pocket money. Participants are invited to place cards under one of three headings: "Kids Need", "Kids Sometimes Need", and "Kids Don't Need".The cards encourage participants to raise general discussions and can be used as part of a therapeutic tool or as an assessment of parenting skills.'- ChildRightWhat is the difference between children's 'needs' and 'wants'? How should parents respond to the demands of their children? Do all children need the same things?Kids Need... cards present a creative approach to exploring children's needs and parents' knowledge. Each card features a child's 'need', for example 'a room of their own', 'pocket money', 'to make mistakes' or 'to be criticized', and participants are invited to place cards under one of the three header cards: 'Kids Need', 'Kids Sometimes Need' and 'Kids Don't Need'. The cards are designed to be flexible and adaptable, and can be used to encourage general discussions, as therapeutic tool, or as an aid to the assessment of parenting skills.Kids Need... is a fun, accessible and effective game that will be particularly useful to professionals working with parents and families, including social care workers, counsellors and educators.

Mark Hamer is a social worker in child protection who works on the Option 2 programme in Cardiff - an intensive intervention programme to assist families in which parents have a problem with substance misuse - which was awarded a national Community Care award for its innovative work. He has written a number of books on social work and child care and hosts the social work resources website, www.another-way.co.uk.