Raising Resilience: How to Help Our Children Thrive in Times of Uncertainty

USA Today Bestseller

Foreword by Amy Schumer

Child development expert and author of How Toddlers Thrive, Dr. Tovah Klein gives parents the confidence they need to help children and teens build resilience and flourish in an unpredictable world.

Whether it’s national or global events affecting our sense of safety or stressors in our day-to-day lives, we are constantly confronted with situations that threaten the wellbeing of our children. Thankfully, there is good news that has not yet been reflected in the headlines: we can mitigate the effect of such rampant uncertainty by guiding our children to manage adversity and become more resilient. The key is parental involvement.

Raising Resilience is a lifeline for every family contending with life’s many stresses and traumas—from the most commonplace to the most devastating—including peer conflicts, divorce, family tensions, death, moving, academic struggles, and larger personal and national events. Through her years of experience and ongoing research, developmental psychologist Dr. Tovah Klein offers parents and caregivers five specific resources that children can develop, enabling them to face adversity, adjust, and thrive where they might otherwise falter or break down under pressure.  

Dr. Klein has devoted her professional life to helping children flourish by supporting them to build the inner tools to deal with devastating events and everyday stressors. Using clinical data and building on evidence-based interventions to offset and heal from traumatic events, she shares a five-point plan with actionable strategies, illustrative stories, and conversation prompts so parents can guide their children to become resourceful, adaptive, and able to grow and flourish now and into the future. 

Wise and hopeful, this essential guide empowers parents and caregivers with practical guidance for instilling in their children the emotional intelligence, cognitive flexibility, and social know-how they need to manage life’s challenges and create a lasting capacity for meaningful, happy lives. Accessible, compassionate, and authoritative, Raising Resilience is a timely resource that shows parents how they can confidently build strong relationships with their children and raise them to be motivated, self-assured, and kind—all of which are qualities desperately needed in our ever-changing world.

Tovah P. Klein, Ph.D. is a psychology professor at Barnard College, Columbia University; Director of the Center for Toddler Development; and author of How Toddlers Thrive: What Parents Can Do Today for Children Ages 2-5 to Plant the Seeds of Lifelong Success. In her roles as a researcher and professor and in direct care with parents and children for over thirty years, Klein has helped to define what every child needs to thrive, regardless of their life situations. Working worldwide with programs addressing the needs of children, she is highly sought after as a developmental expert on a range of timely topics and an advisor to children's media and organizations, including National Geographic Kids, Apple TV+, the Children's Museum of Manhattan, the Hunts Point Alliance for Children, Room to Grow, and Ubuntu Pathways South Africa. She lives in New York City with her family.