Overcoming Challenges: Building Resilient Children

Parents, schools, and society used to focus on raising resilient, independent kids. However, we’ve shifted to prioritizing concepts like happiness, kindness, and empathy while helicopter parenting has become the norm.

This change has resulted in Gen Z being more anxious, depressed, and less able to navigate the world independently. Almost 40 percent of young people have received mental health treatment, compared to 26 percent of Gen Xers.

In her new book, “Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up,” author Abigail Shrier delves into why a generation raised in a hyper-therapized culture is struggling with mental health issues and offers solutions.

Although Shrier isn’t a parenting expert, she shares insights on how to break the cycle of doom. She challenges the goal of raising happy kids and emphasizes the need for resilience instead.

She points to social media, iPhones, and a shift to “gentle parenting” as contributing factors to the current mental health crisis in young people. Schools increasingly focus on Social Emotional Learning, causing kids to be hyper-focused on their emotions and worry excessively.

Shrier’s book advocates for teaching kids conflict resolution, assigning chores, and instilling independence and respect through rules and tasks.

She also highlights the importance of sharing stories of grit and resilience from family history to empower children. Shrier advocates for caution in using therapy and medication with developing children, emphasizing the risks involved.

Ultimately, Shrier encourages embracing adversity as a way to build resilience in children and equip them to handle life’s challenges.