Honeycomb Kids: Big Picture Parenting for a Changing World and to Change the World! [Paperback]

Anna M. Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 6, 2012

Honeycomb Kids is a parenting book for the 21st Century. Including more than 300 practical ideas and activities, it comes with two priceless benefits: not only does it help you prepare your children for an uncertain tomorrow, it also helps you shift to a better family life for today. Reading this book will empower your family to make the most of a world increasingly defined by over-population, rising prices, poor health, fast depleting natural resources and an unstable political, social, environmental and financial landscape. Feeling daunted by these realities? Don't be! This book shows you how to nurture the timeless values and resilience your children will need to become contributors, not just consumers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"One world. One humanity. One destiny. It can all start with one family: yours. Honeycomb Kids gives you the ideas and tools you need to parent with the future in mind."-- Tim Flannery, Bestselling author of Here on Earth and The Weather Makers

"Anna Campbell's "honeycomb" is a metaphor for a context in which parents can raise resilient, capable, caring kids who can make their way in, and contribute positively to, a world that currently appears to be careening toward environmental and economic ruin. Parents will find both honesty and inspiration."--Richard Heinberg, Author of The End of Growth and Peak Everything

"Transition initiatives attract people of all ages, concerned about the world our generations are creating for future generations to live in. We try to live more sustainably ourselves and work at building local community resilience. We recognise that this process of transition will possibly take several generations. Anna Campbell's Honeycomb Kids brings a fresh and very important new perspective to the Transition narrative. Written with skill, humour and heart, this book gives simple, practical and wise guidance for raising children who will undoubtedly be influential in building sustainable, resilient communities wherever they live in the future. Read it yourself, be inspired, and give it as a gift to anyone you know with children - the planet will thank you!"--Peter Driscoll, Co-founder, Transition Sydney

"Honeycomb Kids provides an important and timely contribution to the 'collective wisdom' of modern day parents across the globe. It is unique in its approach and scope and full of practical suggestions. This mother's journey is set to be an important catalyst for affecting change, for the betterment of families, communities and humankind."--Lenora Newcombe, President of Hunter Alliance for Childhood Inc.

"In prose that is engaging and easy to read, Anna Campbell spurs us to think hard about the lives we have chosen to lead and the examples we are setting for our children. Full of practical advice on how we can help our children grow into happy, healthy, and resilient individuals, Honeycomb Kids is a must-read."--Kate Hopper, Author of Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers

"Sustainable lifestyles and families lead to real wealth. Use this book to help you start investing now."-- David Wann, author of Simple Prosperity

"We face a pressing challenge of creating resilient communities able to meet the challenges of peak oil, climate change and over consumption. Honeycomb Kids provides an easy-to-read, handy tool for shaping a sustainable, fulfilling future. While it provides practical ideas for how to nurture children who focus on what really matters, it also challenges parents and community members to reconsider how we live. Hopefully it will generate conversations and action at dinner tables, schools, playgroups, places of worship, parties and even boardrooms throughout the country."--Dr. Graeme Stuart, Family Action Centre, The University of Newcastle

"Positive change in the world comes about with the rise of new generations, so this guide for parents helping children grow through both global and personal challenges is both needed and very welcome."--Tim Costello, Chief Executive, World Vision Australia

About the Author

Anna M. Campbell has lived in the cities and suburbs of the USA and Australia, as well as on a coral island, in a rainforest and a snow-covered national park. As a sustainable living educator, beekeeper, and public speaker, she now helps thousands of people each year discover the joys of sustainable living. Before moving to a small farm, Campbell worked with organizations as diverse as Yahoo!, P&O Resorts, the National Trust, the Variety Club Children's Charity and an aquarium where she regularly swam with sharks. Campbell's current project is the creation of a native bee sanctuary set within a garden full of plants of importance to humanity. She and her husband are having loads of fun and facing lots of challenges raising their children "honeycomb" style.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Cape Able (April 6, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980747503
• ISBN-13: 978-0980747508
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #775,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anna M. Campbell is a mother, beekeeper, balm-maker, public speaker, and sustainable-living educator. She and her husband are having loads of fun (and facing lots of challenges!) raising their kids "Honeycomb" style.

Anna has lived in the suburbs and cities of the USA and Australia,and in stunning environmentally-sensitive locations such as coral islands, rainforests and snow-covered National Parks. She and her family moved to Honeycomb Valley Farm in 2005 to pursue a more sustainable lifestyle, a lifestyle aimed at developing the capability and resilience of all family members. This lifestyle has led Anna and family on lots of adventures and it continues to deliver amazing life and learning experiences.

The family's current project is the establishment of a native bee sanctuary set within an ethnobotanical garden (a garden full of plants of importance to humanity).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book to prepare our kids for whats to come! April 18, 2012

By aidansmama

Format:Paperback

This book is amazing. Anna, hit the mail on the head with this one. There are so many parenting books about specific issues, but none that combines all you need to know to help prepare your children to be self-sufficient and know how to survive in the world that they may be facing in the future. She compares the family working together to bees working as a team to make a honeycomb that produces good "the honey". I read this book on my kindle, but will be ordering the paper copy today, as this is a book I will refer to again and again. She gives you ways to help you kids such as conversations to have, things to do as a family to make the family unit stronger. How important it is to know your community and basic skills that many of us are lacking today. We are running out of resources, trees, oil, etc. We need to raise responsible children. Anna says and it is true, the Earth is not ours, we are borrowing it from our children. This is one of those books that you won't just read once. She has a great index so it will be easy to find what you are looking for at a quick glance. I hope Anna continues to write. I would love to see other books like this. Honeycomb Kids is a great book to give to new parents and other families as gifts. It would make a great read for a book club! Buying this book could only improve your insight, and help your family plan ahead. I recommend this book to everyone!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, Endearing, Inspiring, Useful, Rooted in Reality June 3, 2012

By Robert David STEELE Vivas HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

The author asked me if I would review this book, and sent me a PDF version. I've just gone through it and it earns a solid five. If you have any doubts, use Amazon's great Look Inside the Book feature, and read the specifics in the Table of Contents.

It was the table of contents that first impressed me. I've been an intelligence professional most of my life, and in the process of getting to 60 years of age, have developed four strategic analytic models that remains best in class today. I also read a lot -- across 98 non-fiction categories, with the last 1,800+ books reviewed here at Amazon (and accessible by category at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog).

I say all of that by way of saying that the author's selection and articulation of the core issues facing humanity -- immediately followed by the author's even more inspired outlining of key values, key behaviors, key perspectives -- all with citations interspersed and talking points for parents or mentors or teachers and children -- impressed me enormously.

Over 30 books are offered as recommended reading, all of them relevant, one in particular catching my eye: The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature.

My three boys are are 22, 19, and 16, so this book is too late for us, but I enthusiastically recommend it for every parent and every teacher who wishes to fill any child's mind and heart with the good stuff. Our schools are broken, as are our governments, our banks and corporations, our labor unions, our religions, our non-profits--all have been corrupted and lost their focus on the community and the well-being of humans. This book is a certain antidote. Not complicated, not high-faluting, not posturing, just really down to earth plain speaking very intelligently put together.

Mark Twain would say that the author spent a great deal of time -- an enormous amount of intellectual and emotional eneregy -- in making this book as concise, inspiring, and useful as it is. The word endearing came to me many times as I read this book.

Absolutely recommended, especially for those parents trapped in an urban environment and an industrial-era job who wonder how they might best prepare their children for the end of the industrial era that our government-banking legalized crime families have looted into collapse. I like this book. It's part of the solution.

A few other books I recommend that go deeper:
High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems
Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World
Designing a World That Works for All: How the Youth of the World are Creating Real-World Solutions for the UN Millenium Development Goals and Beyond
Reflexive Practice: Professional Thinking for a Turbulent World
Redesigning Society (Stanford Business Books)
Ideas and Integrities: A Spontaneous Autobiographical Disclosure

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Raising Contributors! Start NOW! April 26, 2012

By dana young

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I loved this book! I couldn't put it down - read it over one weekend. As a mother of multiples, what I have most disliked about other parenting books is the promise of an "easy fix", e.g., "do this, and all will be solved." Honeycomb Kids literally pushed me to think bigger. I thank Anna Campbell for giving me and all parents who read this book (everyone should) a reality check with true to life experiences and ideas. The book scared me and inspired me at the same time. Honeycomb Kids literally pushed all my "hot" buttons but didn't leave me hanging without suggestions as to how to move forward. The book struck a chord that's resonating deep, long and loud with me - and there are so many like me out there! I especially love the thought launchers -- I have marked many that we are already putting into action and more that we'll do over the next 3-6-9 months and forever. Brilliant stuff. I also appreciate that this was written by a real mom who is living this and experiencing this -- so much of this is doable even for those who cannot yet move to a farm. The book encourages us to take action NOW .. where ever we are... and help our kids become CITIZENS versus CONSUMERS; inspire their passions, embrace these amazing creatures, and empower them! Thank you Anna. I am sharing this book with all the moms I know!