Building Happier Kids: Stress-busting Tools for Parents

by Hansa Bhargava MD FAAP

Kids today are facing unprecedented pressures—and their mental health is suffering. As a parent, you may feel burned out and exhausted yourself—and perhaps overwhelmed by the idea of taking on your child’s stress. But Building Happier Kids offers practical, concrete steps you can take to help your kids and yourself! Dr. Bhargava prescribes taking an intentional pause from modern life’s nonstop pace to focus on ways you can meaningfully impact your family’s emotional well-being. Overscheduling, homework, and every-present electronic devices may make these seem easier said than done, but Dr. Bhargava offers realistic, balanced advice that will help you prioritize health and restore the happiness of childhood.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Self Help

250 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2022

Reviews

[Laura (thenerdygnomelife) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A basic look at common parenting challenges, in a book that would be great for newer parents. I appreciated how it summarizes research in a digestible way, from across a wide array of health topics (screen use, sleep, parental stress management, anxiety in kids, etc.). Each chapter starts out with a helpful screening quiz for identifying your family's need for improvement in that area. Practical and actionable, with good reminders of the basics.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely basic book for people who have no understanding of stress responses or parenting techniques in children and adolescents. The section on sleep and interpersonal connection techniques was well done (and had some nice evidenced based strategies), but the later parts about positive stress/toxic stress were rushed and underdeveloped. There was also a bizarre section about what to do if your kid comes out as LGBTQA+, which read like something written circa 1995. It begins on page 210 “even parents who have reservations about LGBTQA+ lifestyles…” The idea that a sexual or gender orientation is a “lifestyle” is frankly laughable and so out of date for a book published in 2022. Next time I interact with a hetero, I will be sure to let them know I support and love them, but just can’t agree with their sinful straight lifestyle! (sarcasm intended). Beyond that odd fulcrum, this book is bland, underwritten, and unfocused. There are better parenting/developmental psychology books out there that are more lively and well-researched. Note: I say this as someone who is NOT a parent but inhales these types of books like candy—cross-cultural parenting is a research interest of mine. Your mileage will vary depending on your personal interest/background understanding.

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

For starters, I am a teacher and definitely not a parent. I studied human development in university, and I wanted to find a book to not only keep me informed but to better help and understand my students.

What initially drew me to this book was how it contained information pertaining to phenomenons that exist it todays world, such as life after a pandemic and the rise of social media. I appreciate how digestible the writing is, and how the research is easy to understand and presented honestly. Each chapter offers the reader to reflect their own lives by asking them to take a quiz, and the author provides takeaways at the end of the chapters to highlight the main themes of the reading. This book is a great starting point for any parent who wants to become more aware of what can affect the development of their children and how they can set them up for success.

While a majority of the book is written openly, the section pertaining to children who identify as LGBTQIA+ was a bit of a disappointment. While the author is able to address difficult topics with grace, such as self harm and assault, it felt as if this particular topic was approached as something that is still taboo. The sentence that did not settle well with me particularly was, “You can acknowledge how someone feels and give them support without necessarily agreeing with them.” This reduces sexuality and gender identity as something that can be disagreed with. I would encourage parents to instead have open conversations with their children to better understand them with an end goal of supporting and accepting them.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book. Each chapter starts with a quiz to assess your current status. Then the author lists tools on how to achieve each skill such as strengthening mental health. Each chapter ends with “toolbox takeaways” that help you to successfully achieve the skill. I liked this format along with the clear and concrete suggestions. There are also examples throughout to highlight how to use the skills or reasons why the skills are beneficial.