Published by Vermilion on 18th April 24, £12.99 paperback
‘Essential reading’
Philippa Perry
The world is making our children mad. The news cycle is relentless, leaving our children and those who care for them feeling constantly anxious. There are epidemic rates of ADHD, depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide in young people. The conventional medical model wants to put a plaster on the problems with diagnosis and medication, but we, as parents, need to dig deeper. Weinstock believes that we need to stop blaming our children and their ‘broken brains’ for the mental health epidemic. His book eloquently illustrates how it’s the world we are bringing them up in is making them mad, and the key role we play in how they see this world.
‘Illuminating’
Gabor Maté
Drawing on over 20 years of helping children and families, acclaimed psychotherapist and author, Louis Weinstock shows how we need a radical shift in our perspective: instead of trying to ‘fix’ our children, we need to change the environment in which they grow. And this begins with us, the grown-ups.
Louis Weinstock’s down to earth and readable book combines ‘on the couch’ case studies with history, psychology, and deep insight. He blends mindfulness, meditation, and visualisation and takes us on a journey that starts with exploring our own fears and weaknesses and ends in practical ways we can help build confidence, courage and authentic hope about the future in our children.
Louis Weinstock’s Key Messages:
- It’s not your child’s fault they are struggling, it’s the world we live in
- Children are much better at handling uncomfortable truths than we give them credit for
- We can’t ask things of our children that we haven’t already addressed ourselves
- We need to love the difficult-to-accept parts of our ourselves, so we can do the same for our children
- We can move from blame to responsibility with the right tools
- Children can often figure things out without needing us to rescue them.
Whether your child is struggling with mental health, or you are looking for ways to talk about difficult issues or you want to build their capacity to handle change and uncertainty, this book is a safe place to catch your breath and develop the skills to help them navigate life’s challenges.
Philippa Perry says of Louis Weinstock ‘I know of no one better to understand what young people are facing today’.
Feature Ideas;
- How to talk to your children about difficult issues such as war, climate crisis or sexual assaults
- Helping children with climate anxiety; climate grief; grief
- Narcissism in children (and parents)
- How to talk to our children about drugs
- Why ideas of success are driving our children mad
- Are too many children being diagnosed as mentally ill?
- How parents can help children conquer body shame
- How to help children worry less about social media by giving them a sense of agency
- Loneliness
- The dangerous myth – talking about suicide
- How to make a family a safe place for feelings and how to ask the difficult questions
- Why spending time on your needs, rather than your children’s makes you a better parent