HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR ____ SO YOUR KIDS DON'T HAVE TO

Harwood offers a wide-ranging personal growth guide.

“Growth is rarely a walk in the park,” warns the author, a longtime therapist, at the beginning of her book, adding, “But just because it’s work and not necessarily fun doesn’t mean it won’t come with a tremendous amount of fulfillment and relief.” The growth in question involves moving beyond harmful or inadequate generational strategies in dealing with a wide range of challenges, from childhood trauma to abusive relationships to financial insecurity to violence and war. Each section concentrates on a different issue and includes insets called “Trusty Tidbits” that can take the form of quick summaries or brief exercises intended to underscore the author’s discussion points (for example, “1. Find two medium-sized shoe boxes. 2. Label the first box: ‘Things I wish I had done differently’”). In addition, “Stop Signs” flag the most important warning signs under any behavioral heading. Each section also includes extensive citations for further reading. Throughout, Harwood adopts the tone of a life coach, reminding readers that everybody feels loneliness or insecurity at times and encouraging them to overcome such feelings with empathy and self-understanding. The book’s recurrent theme is that by learning adaptive new ways of thinking, adults will be better able to help kids deal with the same kinds of issues. “None of us can come to this journey fully equipped with all the knowledge and resources we need for every possible scenario we will face,” the author reminds readers, and that’s where her book comes in. The upbeat tone is the work’s strongest element; no matter how potentially dark a topic is, Harwood is quick to remind readers that they aren’t as helpless as they might feel. “We’re not all powerful,” she writes, “but nor are we ever completely void of the ability to impact our situation.” She even offers levelheaded advice about her own profession, counseling readers that they should approach finding the right therapist with much the same caution as they would finding the right dating partner.

An enthusiastic and involving guide to helping yourself so that you can help others.