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By Dr. Sheryl Ziegler
Coming May 6, 2025
Early Praise for The Crucial Years
"The Crucial Years is more than a book—it is a road map for any adult supporting children. Dr. Ziegler addresses science and strategies that aim to strengthen our children and ourselves. Forward thinking and prevention based, The Crucial Years is a must read!"
Eve Rodsky
New York Times bestselling author of Fair Play
What if the most important years in your child’s development… aren’t the ones you’ve been told to focus on?
Puberty is happening earlier. Kids are feeling anxious younger. And parents are being caught off guard.
The Crucial Years is your roadmap for navigating the emotional, physical, and psychological changes of middle childhood — a powerful yet overlooked stage that lays the foundation for lifelong mental health.Who This Book Is For:
✅ Parents of kids ages 6–12
✅ Educators, pediatricians, and mental health professionals
✅ Anyone raising kids in a post-pandemic, always-online, too-much-too-soon world
What You’ll Learn:
✅ Why puberty now begins as early as age 8 — and what that means for emotional development
✅ The new mental health risks facing kids ages 6–12 — and how to prevent them
✅ How to talk to kids about big feelings, identity, body image, and digital life
✅ Scripts, strategies, and support to raise confident, connected children
Whether you're parenting a curious 6-year-old, a moody 10-year-old, or a tween on the cusp of change — this book gives you the tools to show up with confidence and compassion.
"The Crucial Years is the ultimate survival guide….
Reassuring, empowering and grounded in research, this book is a must-have roadmap for any parent seeking to preserve their child's well-being as they make their way through middle childhood."
Phyllis L. Fagell
Licensed therapist, school counselor, and author of Middle School Matters
“No longer the forgotten years, The Crucial Years redefines the ages from 6-12 as a time of opportunity to educate and empower kids. With puberty beginning much earlier, Ziegler provides a developmental framework for understanding the intersection of kids' physical and emotional transformation during middle childhood. Her clear explanations and parenting scripts will be a useful tool for any parent navigating this period!”
Vanessa Kroll BennetT
co-author of This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained
"I wish this book were around when my kids were younger. At least I have an excuse for doing it all wrong."
Karen Alpert
author of the New York Times bestseller I Heart My Little A-Holes
"Seems like every stage of childhood is fraught with some kind of anxiety -- often on the part of the parents! Sheryl Ziegler helps us realize that discomfort does not mean disaster, and that as our 'middle childhood' kids surprise and sometimes worry us, that's not only normal, it's good. Changes ahead! Yikes! Yay!"
Lenore Skenazy
author of Free-Range Kids
An essential guide for parents and caregivers, this book offers insights, strategies, and understanding to navigate middle childhood (ages 6–12). Dr. Sheryl Ziegler, a seasoned clinical psychologist and mother, highlights ways to foster resilience, encourage open communication, and build lasting connections during this crucial period.
There is a pivotal sea change happening in children’s development. The age of puberty has been trending earlier for decades, and now starts as young as 8 years old in girls and 9 in boys. Bullying doesn’t just happen on the playground, but over text and DM. Depression and anxiety are drastically on the rise. Couple earlier puberty with ill-equipped, developing brains and the onslaught of new media and stressors that never existed when we were kids, and it’s clear that parents need a new guide to raise this new generation.
The Crucial Years is your essential handbook to navigating the often misunderstood and overlooked years of middle childhood (ages 6–12). As a mom and clinical psychologist, Dr. Sheryl Ziegler knows firsthand how challenging these years can be—yet she also recognizes that this is a tender age and pivotal opportunity to connect with your child before adolescence. Dr. Ziegler masterfully unlocks the enigma surrounding modern puberty and offers evidence-based strategies, interventions, and answers to middle childhood’s most perplexing questions and concerns. In these pages, she provides:
- Science-based advice to recognize the first signs of puberty and navigate the changes to come.
- Candid and actionable guidance for getting your kids to talk about anxiety, depression, and their complicated feelings.
- Insight into the changing world of gender and sexual identity, and how to guide your child through this complicated new landscape.
- A thoughtful and sensitive discussion of how race intersects with puberty and mental health, and how all parents can approach this mindfully and inclusively.
- A clear explanation of the invisible threads linking mood swings, self-image, and social media exposure.
- Road-tested, real-world guidance to handle bullies, mean girls, and other friendship and social challenges.
With The Crucial Years, you have all that you need to guide your child through the hazards and thrills of puberty and help them emerge as well-rounded, confident young adults.
Pre-Order Today
Pre-ordering helps support this work and ensures your copy arrives on launch day.
Let’s change the way we parent the middle years — together.
About the Author
Sheryl Ziegler, Psy.D. is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and a Play Therapist in private practice in Denver, CO. She is the author of Mommy Burnout: how to reclaim your life and raise healthier children in the process and the forthcoming book, The Crucial Years: the essential guide to mental health and modern puberty in middle childhood. She is a regular national and local news contributor on topics related to parenting and mental health and did a Tedx talk on "Why Moms are Miserable" which is all about the power of connection. She is the host of Dr. Sheryl's PodCouch and the founder of the parent-child puberty course, Start with the Talk. She is a frequent speaker on chronic stress, parenting and burnout both in the workplace and at home. Dr. Ziegler is Colorado’s NBC affiliate (9News) Parenting Expert for the franchise series Mental Health & Me.