Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking: Powerful, Practical Strategies to Build a Lifetime of Resilience, Flexibility, and Happiness
Several years ago Dr. Tamar Chansky, one of the nation’s leading clinical experts on children and anxiety disorders, realized that roughly half of the children she sees in her clinical practice exhibit “negative thinking.” These children see only those things that are wrong with themselves, the world, and the future. Distinct from the type of thinking Dr. Chansky encountered in children with anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, children who engage in negative thinking supersize their problems: Nothing ever works for me. There’s no point. I give up. This negativity creates emotional hurdles that often hinder children from achieving success and happiness, both now and in the years to come.
Now in this landmark book, Dr. Chansky thoroughly analyzes the underlying causes of children’s negative attitudes and provides numerous strategies to help parents and their children manage negative thoughts, build optimism, and establish emotional resilience. She shows how to buffer kids from disappointment, failure, and frustration by helping them to think more accurately about their problemsâto right-size them.
Freeing your Child from Negative Thinking provides parents, caregivers, and clinicians with the tools they need to relieve a child from the burden of these emotional hurdles and to build the positive, confident mindset that will set them on their way to a bright, happy future.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars More great advice from Tamar Chansky
I own “Freeing your child from anxiety” and was happy to see Dr Chanksy tackle this topic. Once again, it’s packed with very practical advice and gives a great perspective as to what might be going on in my kid’s mind. I recommend this book to anyone with a “Glass half-empty” child.
5 Stars Practical ideas for parents and educators
Chansky has written an amazingly practical guide to specific techniques that can help parents, teachers, and therapists work together to guide young children, school age children, and teens cope with anxiety and negative thinking so that they keep their “power” and avoid the trap of learned helplessness. As an educator for more than 35 years, I was delighted with this book’s relevance and research-based approach to a wide-spread difficulty faced by more children and teens every year.
5 Stars Wonderful insight into the negative child
I really enjoyed reading this book. There are some wonderful tips that you can follow when dealing with your child. So far, my 9 year old daughter seems somewhat receptive. We’re working on it. This book is a great starting point! I really needed to get a handle on the negative thought process and figure out why she struggles through it.
5 Stars Easily the best book for parents on the subject!!
As a child psychologist, this is the book I wish I had written. It is an absolutely essential book for parents who have children of any age. Dr. Chansky has a gift of explaining information in a way that is understandable and does not demean parents. She gives you a starting place with real strategies that work. I will be buying many copies to offer to parents. Although I have bought several hundred parenting books, this is the first time I felt compelled to write a review. No need to hesitate, just buy this book.
5 Stars Excellent book - I can’t recommend this enough
I am just about finished with this and can’t wait to put in a good word, because it is full of such fantastic advice, much of which isn’t stuff that would come to a parent intuitively. I’ve already put some of the suggestions to use with great results. It’s written in a very clear and straightforward way, easy to understand, and with great examples and scripts that help you take the step from understanding the concepts (ie help child make problem smaller and specific rather than blow it up) to practice.
Thank you Tamar Chansky!
Filed under: Parenting Advice Book Reviews