DR. STUART SHANKER
World-renowned professor of psychology discusses how stress affects children’s behavior…and what we can do about it
There is no such thing as a bad kid. According to world-renowned professor of psychology Stuart Shanker, even the most frustrating, annoying or troubling behavior has an explanation—and a way forward. In SELF-REG: How to Help Your Child (and You) Break the Stress Cycle and Successfully Engage with Life, now available in paperback, Dr. Shanker reveals a revolutionary new understanding of stress and how it affects children’s emotions and behavior. He shows how children’s “bad” behavior is often an expression of their inability in the moment to respond to everything going on in and around them. We are seeing a generation of children and teens with excessively high levels of stress and, as a result, an explosion of emotional, social, learning and behavior problems. Shanker explains why self-regulation is so critical to our well-being and shows us how to identify stressors and reduce them. He shares practical advice for parents to help their kids engage calmly and successfully in learning and life.
Dr. Shanker discusses:
- Why our ability to thrive—to complete tasks, form friendships, and learn—depends on being able to self-regulate.
- The difference between misbehavior and stress behavior.
- Why emphasis on willpower and self-control is not only misguided but actually counter-productive.
- How our kids feed off our stress and we feed off of theirs…and what can be done to break the cycle.
- The link between behavior and energy: how hyper-arousal and hypo-arousal affect behavior and how they can be managed.
- How many of the “tricks” parents use to calm or quiet our children (i.e. giving them an iPad to watch or video game to play) actually makes it harder for your child to calm down.
In SELF-REG, Dr. Shanker helps children (and parents) develop the capacity to manage themselves to meet all challenges and live up to their fullest potential.
About the Author:
Dr. Stuart Shanker is a distinguished research professor emeritus of psychology and philosophy at York University and the creator of The MEHRIT Centre and the Self-regulation Institute. He is a former president of the Council of Early Child Development. Dr. Shanker attended the University of Toronto, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. At the University of Oxford, he obtained his D. Phil. with distinction. His expertise has been sought internationally, and he has been an adviser on early child development to school boards and government organizations across Canada and the United States.
