Charlene Costanzo Gives Baby Naming Tips in A PERFECT NAME

Author, speaker, and workshop leader Charlene Costanzo has added more conscious parenting resources to her website. According to the bestselling author of The Twelve Gifts of Birth and A Perfect Name, telling children the stories behind their given names can help children see that they are valued and valuable.

"If you are presently considering names for a child, keep in mind the meaning of the names and the way you approach this process," says Charlene. "Keep notes about the process too. Someday, weave the steps of your process into a story for your child. If you already have children, reach back and recall the stories behind their names."

Memory and story-prompting questions include:
When did name search start?
What resources were used?
What factors entered into the selection process, such as family ancestry, nationality, religion, nicknames, initials, and the meaning of names?
Did any unusual, touching, or funny things happen during the process?
How and when did the search conclude?
What were the final deciding factors?

"Hearing one's personal naming story can help build self-worth and inner strength," Charlene adds. "You might wish to make for each child a hand-crafted book of their naming story or place a written version of it in a scrapbook or other keepsake place of honor."

According to Charlene every name has a story behind it. Over the years, in presentations and workshops, she has heard many naming stories. Some were dramatic, some were funny, some were glamorous, some were sad. All were told with a sense of wonder and appreciation.

In the Tips and Tools section of her website, Charlene tells her own naming story and makes available the full text of her baby-naming picture book, A Perfect Name. Published by Dial Books for Young Readers in 2002, the story was written to offer inspiration to parents and entertainment for both parents and children. In the story, hippopotamus parents struggle, lovingly, like human parents, to choose a name for their new baby. Since the book is now hard to find, Charlene is sharing the tale freely on her website, hoping it will stir the storyteller in parents and encourage them to capture, preserve, and recite their own personal stories.

Charlene Costanzo is an award-winning author, workshop facilitator, wife, mother, and grandmother. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Bonaventure University and an M.A. in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica.

Charlene has been speaking and writing about the inner resources of strength, beauty, courage, compassion, hope, joy, talent, imagination, reverence, wisdom, love, and faith since she published The Twelve Gifts of Birth in 1999. The bestseller contains a message that tells children about the gifts they received when they were born. The Twelve Gifts collection has since grown to include The Twelve Gifts for Healing, The Twelve Gifts in Marriage, The Thirteenth Gift, and Touchstones: Stories for Living The Twelve Gifts.

In A Perfect Name, Charlene used the picture book format to show how parents can help children see and appreciate their goodness, gifts, and worthiness.

Readers can learn more about Charlene Costanzo and her collection of inspirational books at http://www.TheTwelveGifts.com.