Raising Anti-Doomers - by Ariella Cook-Shonkoff (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

A guide to talk to your kids about tough, existential topics like climate change, war, pandemics, and more, in order to create a healthy home, and process your emotions so that you can take meaningful action.

Everyone--especially young children, teenagers and young adults--now reports higher levels of anxiety than ever before. Yet there's no playbook for parenting today. From the climate crisis to gun violence to political upheaval to racism, parenting in these times means bearing witness to chronic levels of uncertainty amidst societal and planetary transformation. Many are succumbing to fears and despair by becoming cynical "Doomers" (those who are extremely pessimistic or fatalist about global problems such as climate change and pollution).

In Raising Anti-Doomers, psychotherapist Ariella Cook-Shonkoff reveals that Doomerism is nothing more than fear or despair gone wild. We have a choice in breeding this response further into our culture--or not. Her book helps parents help themselves, and in doing so, help children, and future generations. Ultimately, when we reset our parenting dials to respond to present day needs and circumstances, we breathe hope back into the world by raising resilient generations to come--this book offers that hope at a time when we are desperately in need.

Review Quotes

"It's a tough time to be a parent--but this book will make it markedly easier. And it will equip you and your family to make a real difference in the crucial and beautiful battle for a working future."--Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun

"Raising Anti-Doomers is the perfect resource for parents, those considering parenthood, and everyone who cares about how climate change is impacting how we raise children today. It is full of grounded wisdom on emotions and mental health, helping children learn to self-regulate, and building up a community of intergenerational support. Anyone who worries about how to raise climate resilient kids must read this book."--Jade S. Sasser, Associate Professor, University of California, Riverside

"Raising Anti-Doomers shares straight talk about what we confront from the impacts of the climate crisis, along with a dose of empathy and tips about how to face the challenges. But the overarching message is one of promise: because we can restore the planet for all species when we work together with love and resolve."--Lise Van Susteren, author of Emotional Inflammation

"Some of my biggest fears as a parent are that I'm not leaving my kids with the tools they need to sustain the planet and also that they'll tell me my pants are dorky. This book helps alleviate one of those fears."--Samantha Bee, comedian

"This book - through expert advice and well researched information - is the climate anxiety tonic that fully restores, refreshes and reinvigorates. With humor, empathy and compassion, Ariella Cook-Shonkoff offers clear, direct, and actionable steps we can take together through an immersive, all-encompassing toolkit. We are all welcomed into the warm embrace of the parent club, and are reminded that the future has yet to be written."--Harriet Shugarman, author of How to Talk to Your Kids About Climate Change

"This guide is a much-needed resource that will help parents and kids meet the realities of climate change together, and forge ahead with resilience--and hope."
--Richard Louv, author of Our Wild Calling and Last Child in the Woods

About the Author

Ariella Cook-Shonkoff is a licensed psychotherapist and registered art therapist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She works with children, teens, parents and adults to help cultivate authentic empowerment, heal and regulate in the face of distress, grief and trauma, rebuild relationships with the natural world, and connect with renewed creativity, hope and purpose.

Ariella previously served on the executive committee of the Climate Psychology Alliance North America, and currently co-chairs the Expressive Arts committee. Her writing has appeared in major outlets, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Glamour, and Salon.