A powerful toolkit for parents of both checked-out and stressed-out teens that shows exactly what to do (and stop doing) to support their academic and emotional flourishing.

Adolescents are hardwired to explore and grow, and learning is mainly how they do this. But a shocking majority of teens are disengaged from school, simultaneously bored and overwhelmed. This is feeding an alarming teen mental health crisis. As kids get older and more independent, parents often feel powerless to help. But fear not, there are evidence-backed strategies to guide them from disengagement to drive, in and out of school.

For the past five years, award-winning journalist Jenny Anderson and the Brookings Institution’s global education expert Rebecca Winthrop have been investigating why so many children lose their love of learning in adolescence. Now, weaving extensive original research with real-world stories of kids who transformed their relationships with learning, they identify four modes of learning that students use to navigate through the shifting academic demands and social dynamics of middle and high school, shaping the internal narratives about their skills, potential, and identity:

• Resister When kids resist, they struggle silently with profound feelings of inadequacy or invisibility, which they communicate by ignoring homework, playing sick, skipping class, or acting out.
• Passenger When kids coast along, consistently doing the bare minimum and complaining that classes are pointless. They need help connecting school to their skills, interests, or learning needs.
• Achiever When kids show up, do the work, and get consistently high grades, their self-worth can become tied to high performance. Their disengagement is invisible, fueling a fear of failure and putting them at risk for mental health challenges.
• Explorer When kids are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve their goals.

Understanding your child’s learning modes is vital for nurturing their ability to become Explorers. Anderson and Winthrop outline simple yet counterintuitive parenting strategies for connecting with your child, tailoring your listening and communication styles to their needs, igniting their curiosity, and building self-awareness and emotional regulation.

Positive Psychology is a branch of psychology that focuses on the empirical study of the attributes that enable individuals and communities to thrive. This anthology will introduce readers to the major areas of Positive Psychology through the research and writings of prominent scholars. Topics discussed in this text include an overview of Positive Psychology, positive emotion and longevity, wealth and happiness, the mind-body connection, and more. Readers will be given the tools to apply the concepts of Positive Psychology in their personal and professional lives. This anthology is a great resource for positive psychology courses and for professors, students, and individuals who are interested in the new science of happiness.

Jenny Anderson, MAPP, teaches courses and seminars in Positive Psychology. She has applied concepts of Positive Psychology in research and practice. This anthology stems from her capstone project in the University of Pennsylvania s Masters in Applied Positive Psychology program. She lives in Delaware with her husband and three children. Jenny implements positive psychology theories and techniques in her personal, professional, and family life.

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