Hello, Cruel World! - by Melinda Wenner Moyer (Hardcover)

About the Book

"From the author of How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes comes a science-based, hopeful guide on how to raise children who will not just survive, but thrive in this challenging, terrifying world--and who could ultimately help save it. In the blink of an eye, our kids will be adults facing countless serious threats--climate change, gun violence, political polarization, and disinformation, to name but a few. We're not going to be able to solve all these intractable problems before our kids grow up--so how are we to prepare them for an impossibly complex and scary future? Plagued by this question, award-winning science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer interviewed parenting experts and researchers across multiple fields--psychology, education, information literacy, technology, business, and even addiction. What she discovered: even in these uncertain times, we can still teach our kids how to take care of themselves, fight for what they believe in, and bridge divides in ways most adults aren't equipped to do. In Hello, Cruel World!, Moyer provides practical, comprehensive, science-backed tools to help our children handle the world they will inherit. Her strategies help children develop three core attributes--coping mechanisms, connection techniques, and cultivation practices--so that kids can learn to set boundaries, take responsibility for their actions, build healthy relationships in turbulent times, and much more. By being activists in our parenting, we can set our kids up to not just survive, but also build a better world for themselves and future generations"--

Book Synopsis

From the author of How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes comes a science-based, hopeful guide on how to raise children who will not just survive, but thrive in this challenging, terrifying world--and who could ultimately help save it.

In the blink of an eye, our kids will be adults facing countless serious threats--climate change, gun violence, political polarization, and disinformation, to name but a few. We're not going to be able to solve all these intractable problems before our kids grow up--so how are we to prepare them for an impossibly complex and scary future?

Plagued by this question, award-winning science journalist Melinda Wenner Moyer interviewed parenting experts and researchers across multiple fields--psychology, education, information literacy, technology, business, and even addiction. What she discovered: even in these uncertain times, we can still teach our kids how to take care of themselves, fight for what they believe in, and bridge divides in ways most adults aren't equipped to do.

In Hello, Cruel World!, Moyer provides practical, comprehensive, science-backed tools to help our children handle the world they will inherit. Her strategies help children develop three core attributes--coping mechanisms, connection techniques, and cultivation practices--so that kids can learn to set boundaries, take responsibility for their actions, build healthy relationships in turbulent times, and much more. By being activists in our parenting, we can set our kids up to not just survive, but also build a better world for themselves and future generations.

Review Quotes

"A much-needed manual for building character in kids. Melinda Wenner Moyer is a leading voice on parenting, and her book is packed with evidence-based, nonobvious practical advice for nurturing resilience, kindness, critical thinking, and well-being." --Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again, and host of the podcast Re: Thinking

"In Hello, Cruel World!, Melinda Wenner Moyer tackles the most pressing and controversial issues in modern parenting with remarkable clarity and depth. Her strategies, rooted in cutting-edge science and real-world experience, help parents understand how to foster compassion and resilience, navigate the social media landscape, engage with kids in ways that will reduce bias and polarization, teach key information literacy skills, and more. Hello, Cruel World! is an essential roadmap for parenting in the 21st century--an indispensable guide for any parent trying to raise a confident, compassionate, self-aware child in today's tumultuous climate." --Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling co-author of The Whole-Brain Child

"Melinda Wenner Moyer has done it again. A timely companion to her best-selling How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes, Hello, Cruel World might be my new favorite parenting book. It's eminently readable and grounded in both solid research and the reality of modern parenting. If you've ever wondered (or worried) about how to guide your kids through the challenges of making friends, making smart choices around drugs and alcohol (even when their friends aren't), and staying competent, kind, and curious amidst the chaos of life, this is the book for you. If I could pick one book to put in the hands of every parent, this would be the one!" --Carla Naumburg, PhD, author of How to Stop Losing Your Sh*t with Your Kids

"It can be terrifying to make decisions as a parent in an increasingly overwhelming world full of bias, polarization, and disinformation. But having this book on my shelf just made the job easier, because Melinda Wenner Moyer brings her impeccable scientific reporting skills to grapple with all of the big questions that keep us up at night--and her solutions and strategies are realistic and empowering for parents and kids alike. Hello, Cruel World! is required reading for any parent hoping to raise good humans today." --Virginia Sole-Smith, New York Times bestselling author of Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture

"Melinda Wenner Moyer is a great writer--funny, sharp, and always impeccably researched and scientifically accurate. This new book is a masterclass for parents who want to help kids navigate the messy, imperfect world outside our homes and beyond our control." --Michele Borba, Ed.D., author of Thrivers

"If you're confounded by our culture and want to raise children who can not only navigate our world but evolve it for the better, Hello, Cruel World! is an essential guide. It's science-based, profound, and intuitive, and full of techniques to apply not only to our parenting, but to ourselves." --Elise Loehnen, New York Times bestselling author of On Our Best Behavior

"Moyer oozes empathy and can help you take a kids-eye view on even their most infuriating behaviors....one book that won't end up gathering dust on your nightstand." --New Scientist

About the Author

Melinda Wenner Moyer is an award-winning contributing editor at Scientific American, a regular contributor to The New York Times, and a former faculty member at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her first book is How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes. She also writes the popular Substack newsletter Now What.