Raising Anti-Doomers
How to Bring Up Resilient Kids Through Climate Change and Tumultuous Times
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A guide to talk to your kids about tough, existential topics like climate change, war, pandemics, and more, in order to create a healthy home, and process your emotions so that you can take meaningful action.
Everyone—especially young children, teenagers and young adults—now reports higher levels of anxiety than ever before. Yet there's no playbook for parenting today. From the climate crisis to gun violence to political upheaval to racism, parenting in these times means bearing witness to chronic levels of uncertainty amidst societal and planetary transformation. Many are succumbing to fears and despair by becoming cynical “Doomers” (those who are extremely pessimistic or fatalist about global problems such as climate change and pollution).
In Raising Anti‑Doomers, psychotherapist Ariella Cook‑Shonkoff reveals that Doomerism is nothing more than fear or despair gone wild. We have a choice in breeding this response further into our culture—or not. Her book helps parents help themselves, and in doing so, help children, and future generations. Ultimately, when we reset our parenting dials to respond to present day needs and circumstances, we breathe hope back into the world by raising resilient generations to come—this book offers that hope at a time when we are desperately in need.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Therapist Cook-Shonkoff's insightful debut aims to help parents keep their families grounded during the current "polycrisis." Climate change, mass shootings, and social media usage loom large over childhood, Cook-Shonkoff suggests, and while such issues can bring up emotions that cause one to turn cynical or tune out, she cautions that parents can't afford to stay stuck in despair. She encourages adults to have age-appropriate discussions with children about tough topics and posits that giving kids knowledge to face realities about climate change is just as crucial as imparting wisdom on such widely acknowledged threats as stranger danger and sexual abuse. The author also provides mind-body exercises that parents can do with children to help them identify how emotions might show up in their bodies, such as "anger in fists" or "sadness in chest." Cook-Shonkoff offers no shortage of inspiration and practical guidance, as when she urges families to practice what they preach, including by volunteering at food banks or animal shelters. This smart, straightforward guide is a must for parents hoping to raise kids who will be part of the solution.
