The Resilience Recipe: A Parent's Guide to Raising Fearless Kids in the Age of Anxiety

"In these changing and challenging times, giving children the gifts of resourcefulness, optimism, confidence, a growth mindset, and resilience are key. This reassuring book offers a logical, easy-to-follow plan born from scientific methods to guide kids to those goals.” —Booklist

Help your child face all of life’s challenges with confidence. Based on the innovative Coping Cat program, this book offers a proven-effective “recipe” for raising resilient kids!

We live in an age of anxiety. Amidst climate change and natural disasters, a troubled economy, and one of the largest global pandemics in modern history—is it any wonder our kids are anxious and stressed out? Add in the pressures inherent in social media and consumerist culture, as well as the pressure of academic success, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. The good news is that you can help your child manage anxiety and stress—no matter what life throws their way. This book will show you how.

Written by two pioneering experts in child psychology and anxiety, The Resilience Recipe offers an evidence-based plan grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help kids build emotional resilience and adaptability, worry less, and thrive—despite the stressors of modern life. With this guide, you’ll learn to help kids feel more in control of their moods and emotions; cope with difficult experiences; and recognize the first signs of stress and anxiety in both their mind and body, so they can find quick relief. You’ll also discover a wealth of tips and strategies to help you manage your own anxiety.

Most importantly, you’ll find a solid action plan to help your child feel strong and capable in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Muniya S. Khanna, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, and founder/director of The OCD & Anxiety Institute. Prior to this, Khanna served as faculty in the department of psychiatry at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She is an expert in the cognitive behavioral treatment of childhood anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, having been involved in some of the most important research in the field in the last twenty years. Khanna is author of numerous scientific papers, chapters, and treatment manuals; and is a pioneer in web-based mental health research, spending the last decade working toward improving access to evidence-based mental health services in under-resourced populations by leveraging technology. In partnership with Philip C. Kendall, she developed digital interventions for child anxiety, including Camp Cope-A-Lot and Child Anxiety Tales; as well as hosting www.copingcatparents.com, a website to inform and empower parents of children and teens with anxiety.

Philip C. Kendall, PhD, ABPP, is a Distinguished University Professor and Laura H. Carnell professor of psychology at Temple University, where he is director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic. He has produced more than 800 publications, including several books and more than twenty treatment manuals and workbooks. His treatment for anxiety in youth, Coping Cat, has been translated into over a dozen languages. Coping Cat has been evaluated in numerous randomized clinical trials conducted in different countries, examined by literature reviewers, and subsequently given the designation of an “empirically supported treatment.” His contribution to our understanding and treatment of child anxiety is immeasurable.

Foreword writer David H. Barlow, PhD, is professor of psychology and psychiatry emeritus, and founder of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University. He is past president of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and past president of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy.