How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess

A Guide to Building Resilience and Managing Mental Health

By: Caroline Leaf

Narrated by: Caroline Leaf

Increasingly, children ages 3-10 are struggling with anxiety, depression, and mental health challenges. These can be brought on by many factors—stress at home, upheavals in society, breaks in routine, isolation from friends, bullying or social pressure—and if left unaddressed, they follow kids into their teens and adulthood, causing mental, emotional, and relational problems that will steal their peace and joy.
But there is hope. Bestselling author Dr. Caroline Leaf helps you teach your kids how to

· recognize negative feelings and respond in a healthy way

· navigate a world that can feel scary and overwhelming

· manage uncomfortable or challenging situations

· replace toxic thoughts with brain-building practices that produce better outcomes

· develop resilience and emotional strength

Based on up-to-date research, clearly illustrated with case studies, and practically applied to the problems kids are facing today, How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess is what parents, caretakers, teachers, and counselors have been waiting for. Dr. Leaf shares a clear and effective five-step plan to teach your child how to manage their mind so they can live a life with greater resilience, health, and happiness.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Dr. Caroline Leaf (P)2023 Baker Publishing Group

Beyond helpful

This book is filled with incredible information, practical insights, and detailed steps on how to help all ages. I walked away encouraged and better informed.

Love everything

Dr. Caroline Leaf's book, "How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess: A Guide to Building Resilience and Managing Mental Health," offers a five-step plan to equip your child with tools for mental wellness. Here's a breakdown of the key points:

1. Gather Awareness:

This step involves helping your child identify negative thoughts and emotions.
Teach them to track their feelings and the situations that trigger them.
Encourage open communication about their mental state.
2. Reflect and Reframe:

Once your child recognizes negative thoughts, guide them in reflecting on their validity.
Dr. Leaf suggests challenging these thoughts and replacing them with more positive and empowering ones.
3. Write it Down:

Journaling is a powerful tool encouraged by Dr. Leaf.
Having your child write down negative thoughts helps externalize them and allows for easier analysis.
Positive affirmations can also be written down to reinforce healthy thought patterns.
4. Recharge:

This step focuses on the importance of self-care for mental well-being.
Ensure your child gets enough sleep, eats nutritious food, and engages in physical activity.
Encourage healthy relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation.
5. Renew:

The final step emphasizes the importance of building resilience.
Teach your child healthy coping mechanisms to deal with stress and challenges.
Encourage activities that promote a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
Additional points:

Dr. Leaf emphasizes the role of the parent as a supportive guide.
The book offers age-appropriate strategies for different developmental stages.
It's important to remember that this is a self-help book and may not be a substitute for professional help if your child is struggling with serious mental health issues.

Dull and uninformative

The information contained was not very helpful or different from any other book on the topic. The reading was boring. I just did not find it to be very informative.

For Young Children

I got this for my teen/pre-teen but could never talk to them in this way, it would be very condescending and definitely make things worse. This is for young children only. Wish it would have mentioned that. I wonder has this been tested in actual settings with children extensively? And what ages? The tone is like talking to a very small child. I can't imagine thinking about talking to kids over 7 in this way. I probably should have gotten her book geared towards adults and adapted it myself :/ Wise woman, great science, not what I was looking for. This book should say it is geared towards a younger age group only.