Families, schools, and communities can prepare children and teens to THRIVE through both good and challenging times. Building Resilience in Children and Teens offers strategies to help kids from 18 months to 18 years build seven crucial “Cs” — competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control — so they can excel in life and bounce back from challenges. The book describes how to raise authentically successful children who will be happy, hardworking, compassionate, creative, and innovative. Dr. Ginsburg reminds parents that our goal is to think in the present and prepare for the future, to remember that our real goal is to raise children to be successful 35-year-olds. It’s about more than immediate smiles or even good grades; it’s about raising kids to be emotionally and socially intelligent, to be able to recover from disappointment and forge ahead throughout their lives. The stable connection between caring adults and children is the key to the security that allows kids to creatively master challenges and reach their highest potential. This book offers concrete strategies to solidify those vital family connections.
Resilience is also about confronting the overwhelming stress kids face today. This invaluable guide offers coping strategies for facing the stresses of academic performance, high achievement standards, media messages, peer pressure, and family tension. Young people too commonly survive stress by indulging in unhealthy behaviors or by giving up completely The suggested solutions offered here are aimed at building a repertoire of positive coping strategies.
Kids who have these healthy strategies in place may be less likely to turn to those quick, easy, but dangerous fixes that adults fear. The book includes a guide for teens to create their own customized positive coping strategies.
The second edition of this award-winning book continues to focus on parents, but now also offers wisdom about how schools and communities can best support families. It is updated throughout and entirely new chapters offer strategies on how best to: support military families, confront the negative portrayal of teens, prevent perfectionism and support authentic success. Finally, the book now guides parents how to recharge and rebound when their own resilience reaches its limits.
Visit Dr. Ginsburg's Web page for additional information about building resilience: www.fosteringresilience.com
Dr Ken Ginsburg’s work on resilience forms the basis of our entire adolescent medicine practice. Teaching young people to use their strengths to prevent and manage problems helps them to be in control of their own futures; teaching parents to recognize and build resilience in their children fosters productive family-based partnerships that last a lifetime and save lives. Whether 3 years old or 30, whether struggling with “normal” developmental issues or major medical or psychological stresses, Dr Ginsburg empowers parents to raise children who love, accept, and protect themselves. Isn’t that what we all want for our kids?
--Susan Sugerman, MD, MPH, President and Cofounder, Girls to Women Health and Wellness
Building Resilience in Children and Teens provides a rich and valuable resource for anyone who cares about overcoming the increasing pressures of student achievement. Dr Ginsburg has created a great way for adolescents to manage stress and offers effective strategies to prepare this often-overlooked age group to thrive. It was a super pick for our school and community books clubs—a must-read for any adult involved in middle schools!
--David Schrag, Principal, Stanley Middle School, Lafayette, CA
This book is about recognizing your child’s strengths and parenting from a place of what you can influence. By helping parents understand what is normal developmentally, [Dr Ken Ginsburg] helps us refocus our impression of teens as difficult, and in the process helps us enhance our child’s feelings of competence, setting the groundwork for raising children who can cope on their own in today’s complex world. As a parent of 9- and 19-year-olds, and as someone who has brought Dr Ginsburg to speak to parents and teens in our community, I can tell you his genuine concern for children comes through on the pages of this book. Not only is he a parent himself, but he is on the front lines with teens in his office every day. There’s no magic answer, but this book gives parents well-thought-out advice on raising children so they have the tools they need for authentic success in life. This book is one you will keep on your shelf to refer back to and share with friends.
--Sharon B. Greenstein, Parent Education Chairperson, Los Altos-Mountain View PTA Council
Dr Ginsburg has focused on one of the most critical traits necessary for student on their path to self-actualization. This book provides a commonsense approach and time-tested exercises for stress reduction for students. Building Resilience can be the “spark” to assist students in their social-emotional growth.
--Ray Piagentini, Professional school counselor and Past President, Illinois School Counselor Association
Dr Ginsburg masterfully integrates cutting-edge theory and research with his rich, insightful, and compelling vision for enhancing the lives of youth. No book better serves parents, practitioners, policy makers, and educators in its respective effort to promote the health and positive development of children and adolescents.
--Richard M. Lerner, Ph\D, Bergstrom Chair in Applied Developmental Science and Director, Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University, and author or editor of more than 70 books, including The Good Teen: Rescuing Adolescence from the Myths of the Storm and Stress Years
[Dr Ken Ginsburg’s] book…has become a vital part of our training and support resources for parents, professionals, and community volunteers. Over the years we have found…that Ken Ginsburg’s research-based and evidence-informed training and practical scholarship is an incredible asset in helping us support parents and expand the convoy of other supporting adults that understand the challenges of mobility and transition faced by America’s military-connected children and youth.
--Mary M. Keller, EdD, President and CEO, Military Child Education Coalition
